Y9 Spanish Primary Project
On Thursday 25th June, the Spanish department took 15 students from Year 9 to teach Year 4s and 5s from Staines Prep and Pyrford CoE Primary. The Y9s planned and prepared all their own resources and the schools we visited were very impressed by their hard work, creativity and excellent teaching skills. Some of the topics they taught in Spanish include safari animals, sports and fruits, and the Y4s and Y5s got to play a range of games from Guess Who and Bingo to Pictionary and Twister. A lot of fun was had by all and we cannot wait to do it all again next year.
Many thanks to Staines Prep and Pyrford CoE for warmly welcoming us into their schools, to Mrs Abbes-Muslia, Mrs Stebbings, Ms Lee and Miss Martínez for their help with the project, and to the following students for attending the trip. The Spanish department really appreciates the hard work these Y9s put into making this a successful and educational experience for the Y4s and Y5s:
Alice M, Anaya G, Diya P, Emillie P, Imogen P, Jasmin C, Jess K, Kaitlin H, Madalaina P, Odina M, Riyana C, Shloka K, Sofia I A, Vihana V and Ziva B.
Mrs Victoria Tommasi, Head of Spanish
Some quotes about their experience from the students who took part:
- Jess (9M): I enjoyed creating an interesting and engaging “lesson” with my partner and had fun presenting to our younger audience. The Primary Project helped me realise what aspects of presenting most captivate an audience (e.g., colourful displays and repetition).
- Anaya (9P): I loved it when the students had their full attention on us and wanted to learn. I also enjoyed the repeating as they would shout as loud as possible. This Primary Project has helped me with my speaking and being confident in speaking Spanish words the right way.
- Alice (9M): What I enjoyed most about the Primary Project was teaching the kids and playing games with them as it reminded me of when I was in primary school. I think the project did make me a bit more confident and is making me consider a potential career in education.
- Kaitlin (9P): I enjoyed being able to teach the Spanish topic to many groups because we were able to teach to a variety of different children. I loved how we could be independent and could interact with the children without their teachers. The Primary Project has helped me with my confidence and making myself speak clearly. It also showed me the importance of pronouncing words correctly.
- Imogen (9P): I enjoyed being able to work with young people and teach them new things they didn’t know and would like to learn, for example sports. I liked that I could be creative with designing flashcards and games for the kids to play and it was fun to have an opportunity to educate others. Taking part in the Primary Project has helped me remember sports vocab and pronunciation in Spanish, and it has also helped me with my future career choice, as I learnt what it was like to work with others and educate them.
- Ziva (9Z): I really enjoyed having a chance to teach people I didn’t know previously and giving the children a good experience with Spanish. The Primary Project has made me consider teaching as a profession.
- Odina (9M): I enjoyed all of the Primary Project, from start to finish. However, I most definitely enjoyed going to the primary school and teaching the children the Spanish vocab. It was really nice seeing the children engaging and wanting to learn Spanish. Their enthusiasm and engagement made me really happy and very proud. I think it helped me a lot with my confidence as I am not someone who is usually comfortable performing or presenting in front of people, but this project has helped me to develop that confidence and the ability to present myself and represent my school.
- Emillie (9P): I most enjoyed spending time with the children and playing games with them. I think the Primary Project helped me and gave me confidence which is helpful because I am going to study Spanish for GCSE. I also think that it helped me to interact with others in Spanish and helped me talk more easily in everyday Spanish.
- Diya (9M): I most enjoyed seeing the kids and teaching them. It was funny seeing them make mistakes but then soon learnt from them. The Primary Project definitely improved my confidence. At first, I started off a bit scared but then as it went on, I got on well with the kids and I felt I could really engage with them without getting embarrassed or feeling nervous.
- Riyana (9L): I enjoyed teaching the children as it was an interesting experience to be the teacher and teach a topic in Spanish. It was nice to see the children enjoying what we taught them and engaging in our activities too. I think that the Primary Project has helped me with my confidence for presenting and has improved my Spanish pronunciation, as we repeated the vocabulary multiple times and so I learnt from any mistakes I made too.
- Madalaina (9P): I really enjoyed how fun (and stressful) teaching is. I also like seeing how much the kids appreciated and enjoyed us being there. I think by myself this wouldn’t be something I would normally do, so the Primary Project helped with being more confident when talking in front of a few people. I think it also helped with my Spanish pronunciation and confidence in Spanish.
- Vihana (9M): During the Primary Project, I most enjoyed teaching the children, especially the very enthusiastic ones. It was fun challenging them against each other and seeing them compete in our games. I believe the Primary Project has helped me learn new vocab and also helped with my confidence when speaking Spanish, which will be particularly useful in exams. Also, I have learnt that teaching children is actually quite fun and engaging.
- Shloka (9P): I enjoyed communicating with and getting to know the primary school children. I also enjoyed the experience of teaching them as they were funny and sociable; it was a very valuable experience. I think that my confidence increased and I learnt more about teaching strategies that could be used for other children or for me personally.
How the visiting schools found the Project:
- Staines Prep: The [Y9] leaders did an amazing job – they were so confident and well-prepared. Our children really enjoyed the morning, and all went away having learned something new. Please congratulate the girls on their hard work.
- Pyrford CoE: Thank you so much for this afternoon. The Year 4 children (and teachers!) absolutely loved the afternoon. Your students were fabulous teachers and had worked very hard on their resources.