#5. Celebrating languages
Written by Kate Percival, MAT lead at Primary Languages Network
Managing Effective Primary Languages for Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs): A series of blog posts outlining a five-point strategy for trust-wide success.
Links to the other blog posts here
Languages to be proud of
“I’m not sure whether it’s worth sharing our progress on the school website or social media feed; not sure who would want to see the lack of real quality work in school.”
A real quote from a primary languages coordinator in a network school. They truly believed work needed to be perfect before it could be presented and you can feel their despondency. Not through lack of passion for languages but for fear that others just weren’t on the same page.
The upshot is that after engaging in several elements of PLN professional development, this coordinator was able to re-frame their own understanding of what progress in primary languages means and change the narrative amongst their colleagues to encourage them to share and celebrate. As a trust lead for languages, you will also want to ensure that language learning that is visible and a positive experience for all across your MAT.
If you’ve read the previous four blog posts and you’re here for the finale, a huge thank you and I really hope you have gained some useful insight along the way.
You may be at the stage where your trust is collaborating on every level, both pupils and teaching staff feel supported with the right scheme of work and the right professional development to drive standards even further. Progress is being tracked, assessed and moderated. So what next? This is certainly cause for celebration. However, at PLN we truly believe that celebrating languages should be happening along the way too. And that can be from the smallest of actions. So please don’t wait to have everything else in place before flying the flag for language learning; encourage the schools in your trust to engage with some of the ideas below whilst you engineer opportunities to drive forward trust-wide celebration.
Don’t underestimate the small wins.
A welcome sign in a different language or languages can really set the tone and give the message that ‘languages matter here’. As a vision statement poster promising a school’s intent and target language signage in and around the school. Small yet very achievable steps that purposefully start to raise the profile of languages in a school community.
Languages on display
Working walls in classrooms are great, but research tells us that the display children take most notice of is their own work. Select a few pieces of work from a range of abilities and rotate which ones get to be displayed every few weeks. Children will feel validated and their self-efficacy will certainly get a confidence boost.
A progress wall in a shared area of the school is the ultimate display of target language writing. Anyone passing by will clearly be able to see the stage each year group is working at, as well as the four-year continuum of learning.
Build a culture
My favourite example of a school-wide culture of language learning is the office staff member asking the language coordinator each week ‘What’s the Spanish word of the week?’ to add to the school newsletter. Imagine a school or even a trust where each week there is a commitment to add one more target language phrase to their repertoire. Those phrases we say all day every day (Look at me, stand up, listen please) - why not see them as incidental language opportunities? A culture of language learning thrives on consistency. Aim for low stakes, high visibility habits that move beyond individual classrooms.
Increase visibility
Curriculum webpages and schools’ social media are great platforms to share the learning and experiences of each school. Not only do portals like See Saw and Class Dojo allow two-way communication with parents and carers but the wider school community and visitors are also able to see clearly the value and progress of language learning.
Assemblies are a great way to highlight languages. Whether it’s a chance to congratulate the ‘linguist of the week’, spotlight a word or phrase in a home, heritage or community language, sing a song or play a whole-school game in the target language, it certainly increases visibility and pride in language learning.
Language ambassadors not only promote student leadership but they can really inspire language learning amongst a school and indeed a trust too. Feature their role or some of the work they do in your trust’s newsletter, interview them about what they enjoy about language learning.
How does your MAT measure up?
We've built a free audit tool so you can assess language provision across your trust in under 20 minutes — with built-in RAG scoring, a trust-wide dashboard, and benchmarks built in.
Promote languages in a trust-wide capacity:
You are in the privileged position to be able to drive forward trust-wide activity. Competitions are a great way of getting all schools involved in one project. How about launching a simple poetry writing task, a poster design on a certain theme or a tongue twister challenge? Feature those pupils (and staff) who took part in your trust-wide social media and promote the collaboration.
Of course, language celebration days are a chance to pause the normal timetable to focus on the enjoyment and power of learning about language and culture. Why not coordinate so that every school in your trust focuses on this on the same day, which could be European Day of Languages, Cultural Diversity Day or International Mother Tongue Day to drive forward trust-wide engagement. Everybody has a ‘language story’. Find out what members of your trust have to say about their journeys with languages and share those stories to build a sense of belonging to a larger linguistic community.
Do you have a language learning app that all children can participate in, such as the Primary Language Network’s Language Boosters web app? A trust-wide league table would certainly highlight dedication to language study. Do you have an award specifically for language learning amongst your other accolades at annual awards ceremonies? Can you support schools to apply for accreditation that recognises their commitment to language learning, such as the International Schools Award or the PLN Primary Languages Development Award?
There are so many initiatives that would have an impact on a trust-wide level.
And remember, celebrating success drives momentum, and momentum drives further success. By making language learning visible and valued at the trust level, you remove the silo mentality and ensure every pupil and indeed member of staff feels like a linguist.
At PLN we have a professional development journey for our MAT members (which include Astrea Academy Trust, Co-op Academies and Cambrian Learning Trust) to support aspects of teaching and learning, subject leadership, tracking and assessment, pupil progress and moderation, allowing you to oversee trust-wide progress effectively.
Not yet a trust member? Head to our booking page to attend an introductory session on Driving Excellence in Primary Languages for MAT or cluster Leads for Languages and Curriculum Directors in charge of trust-wide MFL.
Kate Percival, MAT Lead and MFL Consultant, Primary Languages Network