Stockwell Primary School, Lambeth Local Authority

Why was Portuguese chosen?

In the London Borough of Lambeth 38% of the population is from an ethnic minority. Approximately 150 languages are spoken; the main ones after English being Portuguese, Yoruba, French, Spanish and Twi. Portuguese speakers come from eight different countries and are drawn to the Borough by an already well-established Portuguese-speaking community. Portuguese is  used in a wide range of professions such as sales, housing, health, childcare and the law, as well as in social contexts.

Stockwell Primary School (417 pupils) is in the heart of Lambeth and its intake reflects the local community (24% pupils are fluent in Portuguese, mostly from mainland Portugal, a few from Angola and Brazil).  

How was provision introduced?

In 2000, the Education Action Zone approached Stockwell with a proposal to teach Portuguese as an MFL for the benefit of all children. A partnership was created with the Portuguese Department of Education to offer after school Portuguese classes.

Between 2003 and 2006 a pilot project was initiated with Luisa Ribeiro (Advisory Teacher for Portuguese Pupil Achievement and Modern Foreign Languages) teaching Portuguese as an MFL at key stage 2, to promote the language and culture to all children.

How does the curriculum model work?

Now, Year 3 pupils learn Portuguese through a cross curricular approach (having learnt Spanish in Year 2 and Italian in Year 1; all pupils learn French for approximately 45 minutes a week from Year 4 upwards). Language clubs are available after school for mother tongue and non-native speakers.

Teachers and teaching assistants are trained to teach languages in partnership with Goldsmith’s College. One class teacher has a PGCE with Brazilian Portuguese specialism and there is a Portuguese teaching assistant. The school is a two form entry and in Year 3, one class is taught Portuguese by the class teacher and the other by the TA, supported by the class teacher.

This enables all children to access a native speaker model of the language whilst the TA and class teachers’ joint planning and collaboration in Portuguese lessons enables the language to be fully embedded in the curriculum and reinforced by the class teacher throughout the week.

How are languages embedded across the school?

The whole school ethos celebrates pupils’ achievements through multilingualism and diversity, e.g. National Food Day, Portuguese celebration days, assemblies, displays, competitions and events.

From the languages spoken by pupils in the school, a ‘Language of the Week’ is introduced across the school every Monday in assembly. It is discussed at Tuesday’s staff meeting to make sure it is used in lessons in small ways throughout the week.

The school has been involved in numerous projects to promote languages e.g., ‘Sing Portuguese’, festivals, dance events, writing competitions, cooking, history and of course international links.

What are the benefits for the Portuguese-speaking children?

In Year 3 Portuguese lessons, there is a special role for native speakers: helping others. A native speaker is usually allocated to a group of pupils. This increases motivation and raises the profile of children with behavioural problems in a positive way. Pupils new to Portuguese enjoy learning from their peers and this sends out an invaluable message about the value of languages. The class teacher uses targeted language in aspects of the school day, such as when taking the register, talking about the weather or writing the date on the board.

Portuguese-speaking children show evidence of raised self-esteem and appreciation of their home language and culture through their experiences of assisting the teacher. They also excel in French as they have foundations in another Romance language and transfer their skills.

The after school language clubs provide a good opportunity for native speakers to further expand their vocabulary by revisiting content learnt in other subjects through Portuguese, in turn helping to reinforce learning across the curriculum. Portuguese aids learning in other subjects and progress is analysed in every year group. Planning and working in partnership with literacy and numeracy coordinators helps to increase cross curricular approaches as part of implementing a creative curriculum.

All of these projects have had the backing of the Head Teacher Janet Mulholland and the Assistant Head for Inclusion, Cidalia Fraga. Strong support at a level of leadership is crucial for the success of MFL teaching in any school.

Resources and training

Lambeth LA has produced a scheme of work for teaching Portuguese at key stage 2. It is based on the QCDA Schemes of Work for Key Stage 2 French, German and Spanish.

The resource was developed because of the increasing demand for the teaching of Portuguese as a modern foreign language and also as a mother tongue.  It provides a useful tool for helping to raise the achievement of Portuguese-speaking pupils, and also provides the opportunity to increase knowledge of the language amongst all pupils and teachers.

The international dimension

An important strand in the scheme of work is that of intercultural understanding. The study of Portuguese-speaking cultures offers a rich opportunity to consider aspects of life in Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guine-Bissau, Sao Tome, Timor and Macau. Resources available within the pack include songs, poems, games and traditional stories from all continents where Portuguese is spoken.
The pack is available to all - for details contact Luisa Ribeiro:
Email: luisafribeiro@hotmail.com Telephone: 07780 694843

Language learning and teaching also develops pupils as global citizens and gives teachers a more profound knowledge of the cultural, social, and educational reality of Portuguese speaking countries. British Council funding has allowed school leaders and teachers to visit Portugal and Brazil in order to visit schools and job shadow.

Melissa de Villiers, an education journalist writing in British Council Learning World magazine, claims in her article, ‘Our Global Community' that international activities help schools around the UK put community cohesion policies into place:

Working with an International Partner school is a useful way of exploring issues around identity. After all, children first need to investigate their own culture in order to explain it to an audience of international peers. They can then discover similarities and differences with their partner school’s culture- and perhaps delve into deeper issues such as racism, migration and cultural stereotyping.

Stockwell Primary is developing a partnership with a school in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and pupils are comparing their local communities through photographs of their cities and schools.

Where next?

Transition to secondary school and opportunities for progression in learning Portuguese are naturally a concern, especially considering that the number of secondary schools in the borough offering Portuguese in curriculum time is relatively small.

Luisa Ribeiro recommends that primary schools offer Asset Languages so that transition to secondary school is facilitated. This provides an indication of children’s competence in Portuguese to secondary teachers whilst also offering the children a means of gaining more formal recognition for their language skills, a rewarding process which can help motivate children to continue seeking opportunities for further learning beyond primary school.

Lambeth Academy is one local secondary school offering Portuguese GCSE in Lambeth. Feedback indicates that children who learned Portuguese are making fast progress in Spanish or French in Year 7.

When Stockwell Primary began after school Portuguese classes in 1997, the Portuguese community in the school was disengaged, isolated and under-represented. Community projects such as family learning have helped to overcome this situation. The impact of Portuguese language teaching on self-esteem is changing the community. At Stockwell parents feel integrated and engaged.  Like other schools in Lambeth Stockwell aims to recruit Portuguese-speaking parents as governors.

Lambeth LA is keen to continue developing resources at  primary and secondary levels, schemes of work to teach Portuguese and training for school leaders and class teachers across boroughs to deliver and support the increasing demand for Portuguese teaching.

October 2010