Exploration and the discovery of new worlds have fascinated children for generations but now Christopher Columbus is the source of inspiration for young language learners. This project, run in collaboration with a school in Spain, has linked exploration and discovery with language and made huge contributions to the Year 4 pupils’ understanding of the historical, geographical and cultural aspects. This is a wonderful example of a CLIL (content and language integrated learning) project which can be used early in a child’s language learning experience.

The English and Spanish schools planned the content of the project together and taught the project in both languages for a term before exchanging work to help the children with their language study. Pupils were excited at the idea of researching a person in history, a discoverer. This project saw the children involved in a range of activities including research, word games, coat of arms design and even the production of a musical.

A new topic for for both teachers and pupils, the story of Columbus generated much enthusiasm for learning. Pupils are enthusiastic to use the Spanish they had learned and can name in Spanish the foods the discoverers brought back, the countries involved in the discovery, the points of the compass and animals.

The project was conceived and managed by a non-specialist who involved a specialist language teacher to assist with the delivery. The project has given the non-specialist the encouragement to improve her own language skills. There are now two other English schools involved and there are plans to involve a Mexican school they have links with in the project. This project also receives the Spanish Embassy Language Prize.

Language(s): Spanish and English

Haddon Primary School is a County school situated just outside the city boundary of Nottingham. It has a total of 269 children across both key stages and nursery.