Language of communication
Torriano Junior School, London

‘Our cross-curricular approach to learning English and languages enables children to make informed choices when composing and expressing their ideas. It offers strong support to children with English as an additional language.’

Bavaani Nanthabalan,
Head, Torriano Junior School, London

English is often the second language at Torriano, which has a high number of Bangladeshi and Somali pupils, including several refugee children. The school has risen to this challenge with an innovative method of teaching grammar that helps children learn not only English, but also other languages such as French and Italian.

The teaching of grammar is based on a toolkit called the ‘List of Magic’. This is a visual display of the building blocks of language – everything from verbs to metaphors and similes. Children learn what they are, when they should be used and for what purpose. Children learn to talk confidently about their writing and choice of words and this feeds into their learning of other languages.

Language learning is also linked across the curriculum. So, for example, Italian is taught alongside the Romans in history and children visit the local Italian shop and learn to ask for items and pay for them in Italian. The languages programme has also enabled a close link with one of the receiving schools – a specialist languages teacher from this school now works with the Torriano teaching team.

Source: Rose Report, April 2009 (For further information on the Rose Report, please see the Independent Review of the Primary Curriculum in PML Policy)