Language Angels started back in the early 2000s, when foreign language teaching first came to prominence at primary school level. We soon realised that schools and teachers had little or no support with foreign language teaching and we found there were two major problems in primary schools:

• Firstly, teachers were (understandably) wary of foreign language teaching. Perhaps they struggled themselves at school and felt they couldn’t develop the skills to teach the subject with confidence. Or they simply couldn’t contend with the stress of further training, on top of a workload that keeps on increasing.
• Secondly - headteachers struggled to fill the skills gap. There’s a shortage of qualified language teachers and assistants – either for full time or visiting roles. On top of this – I don’t have to tell you – budgets are stretched to the limit.

Both problems seemed insurmountable, so we created Language Angels as a ready-made solution.

Written by teachers and for teachers, it’s a new breed of classroom resource – without the usual price tag of high-end digital learning.

• It uses games, songs and interactive whiteboard materials – including digital audio files - to help with pronunciation.
• Every lesson comes pre-planned, reducing teacher workload.
• Any teacher can use it - whether they have language skills or not.
• And it's fully compliant with the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence across Early, First and Second Level.

Each lesson is built around specific goals and subject themes so that pupils can develop their language skills as a series of building blocks. Teachers are equipped with answers to questions that might emerge during the lesson – and with reliable customer support, they can escalate any questions that present more of a challenge.

That makes it ideal for teachers. And headteachers find it invaluable too. Why is this?

• Reporting is easy. It comes with a built-in tracking and progression tool, so you can measure the progress of each pupil, each class, and the school as a whole.
• We are competitively priced, with prices starting at just £99.00 (exc. VAT). You can tailor your subscription to cover certain key phases (just EYFS/KS1 or just KS2) as well as the whole of primary phase or even include multiple languages - the choice is entirely yours!
• Plus, it’s future-proof - continually updated and improved, as the curriculum evolves.

We believe that Language Angels is the complete answer to the challenges of teaching languages in primary school. Not just a low-cost alternative to finding language specialists, but also a more reliable – and more enjoyable – solution.

Yes - we are completely curriculum compliant. Our resources have all been written around the attainment targets as stipulated in the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence and are fully curriculum compliant. As experienced teachers, linguists and trainers, we are always abreast of any changes and ensure these are immediately reflected in our materials.

Yes - Language Angels is a complete scheme of work with enough units and materials provided for the teaching of languages through the whole of primary phase. The Starting Off and Moving On teaching types are designed for pupils in P1 and P2, and suggestions on which units to teach are indicated on all our sample unit planners for this learning stage. The pedagogy and methodology of these units is tailored specifically to this learning phase. Units for pupils in P3-P7 are spread across the 3 other teaching types: Early Language, Intermediate and Progressive. Short, medium and long-term planning is all provided as well as our fully resourced lessons. We provide every document you could wish for from policies to progression mapping! We are, however, not one size fits all. All schools are different, and no two classes are the same, so there is not one ‘unique’ SoW at Language Angels. It will depend on classes taught, level of challenge required, and the choice and order of units intended to be covered by your school. Our Curriculum Guidance page will fully support you with everything you will need in terms of planning documentation. There is also the option of downloading and using one of our recommended and very popular unit planners to ensure that all your pupils will meet and exceed attainment targets stipulated in the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence. Once subscribed, we also offer a bespoke planning service to ensure the teaching and learning of a language is maximised.

Yes, we work with many schools that have mixed-age class teaching. As we categorise our resources into ‘Teaching Types’ and not to specific years or age groups, it is easier to cater for mixed-age teaching, and schools can tailor our programme to the needs of their pupils. Our programme is flexible, and, depending on the needs of the school and the pupils, we can organise our units to cater for this. There is always progression within a lesson, across a unit and across the teaching types. Our units are not designed to be taught to a particular year group but allocated to a class, based on the level of their language knowledge and the linguistic stretch and challenge required.

With mixed-aged classes we create planning that can run across a two-year rolling programme to ensure no pupil will have the same lesson or material presented twice. Following our unit flow suggestions will ensure pupils meet all the attainment targets and requirements stipulated by the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence. We always provide differentiated desk-based activities in our lessons, so there is always the correct amount of stretch available to accommodate all levels of pupil interaction and ability. Our Tracking and Progression Tool will show how pupils are progressing, either on target, below or above, and will also indicate which of the attainment targets have been met.

There is automatic progression built into every lesson, in every unit and across the teaching types. To evidence this progression and allow the opportunity to measure this progression, we have created a bespoke Tracking and Progression Tool. This tool will show which units have been completed, which attainment targets have been met and also at which level of challenge. For pupils in P3-P7, it also provides the opportunity to input data to generate raw scores, percentages and/or statements from the bespoke Language Angels assessment in all 4 language learning skills.

In our Intermediate teaching type, we have created an entire unit entitled ‘Traditions & Celebrations’ dedicated to celebrating and understanding more about key festivals, traditions and celebrations from French-speaking, Spanish-speaking and Italian cultures. This enables pupils to learn more about the heritage and the culture of the language they are learning. These lessons are also accessible in our Supplementary Resources area of the website and are listed in the Cultural Events tab on the Lesson Resources page.

Yes, our platform and resources are absolutely suitable for non-specialist teachers. The scheme was originally created by Francesca Pini (one of the CEOs at Language Angels) when she was tasked with preparing a cluster of primary schools in Barnet, North London, to embed and sustain a language in their schools. The schools had no language specialist teachers available to them. A programme was gradually created with exciting and age-appropriate content where native audio support was attached to every single instance of the language in the fully resourced and planned lessons. Staff members were equipped with all the tools and knowledge required for the successful teaching and learning of a language and, at the same time, Language Angels was born. Our aim is to try to help as many primary school pupils as possible get the very best language learning experience. To achieve this, we want to make it possible for primary school teachers to deliver a fully compliant primary language curriculum as part of their normal teaching day, irrespective of their linguistic ability and without adding to their stress levels or workloads. Our continuous CLPL programme also helps upskill members of staff as they embark on the language learning journey with their classes.

Most definitely. Linguists may use our scheme differently and often have the skills and knowledge to weave in other resources but, importantly, subject specialists like how the methodology and pedagogy is clearly explained and are confident that, by following our planning, the three pillars of language learning and the attainment targets are addressed and met. Our resources save teachers hours of planning, giving them back time and energy that they can then use to deliver outstanding lessons in class. Specialist language teachers particularly love our desk-based activities, listening, reading and writing tasks, karaoke songs and interactive games along with the creative cross-curricular units.

Yes, Language Angels does offer various forms of assessment. There are two versions of assessment: less formal and more formal.

• Less formal – using the ‘Pupil Self Assessment’ sheets, giving pupils the opportunity to reflect on their work. This is available in all units for classes from P1-P7.
• More formal – using our bespoke Language Angels skills assessments – assessing the language learning and progression of your pupils in the 4 key language learning skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing). This is available in units aimed at P3-P7 classes only.

Some schools assess 2 skills every half term, whilst other schools choose to assess all 4 skills termly – it all depends on your school’s assessment policy.

Yes, we have a strong focus on the 3 pillars of language learning (phonics, grammar and vocabulary) in our resources. Whilst our Starting Off and Moving On units do touch upon these pillars where appropriate, our units aimed at P3-P7 classes have been specifically designed around them.

• Phonics: There are 4 sequential and progressive phonics lessons incorporated into all our long-term planning. These 4 lessons build up pupils’ phonetic knowledge, moving from the phoneme on its own, to seeing it in high frequency words and then finally incorporated in context in a longer piece of text. Each year group/teaching type in KS2 has a particular group of phonemes to focus on. These have been carefully considered by the teaching team at Language Angels and are constantly revisited and revised in the subsequent lessons, including the end of unit revision lesson. Phonics mats are also available in the ‘Planning’ section of the Curriculum Guidance page (Stage 4), with both a teacher and pupil friendly version available to download.
• Grammar: Grammar is introduced implicitly in the Early Language units, then moves towards a more explicit approach in our Intermediate and then Progressive units. The grammar we choose to teach has been carefully considered by the teaching team at Language Angels and will be age-appropriate for pupils at this stage of their language learning journey. Once introduced, any grammar is constantly revisited and recycled in the units that follow. Full grammar documentation is available in the ‘Planning’ section of the Curriculum Guidance page (Stage 4). This clearly explains what grammar is taught in our various units.
• Vocabulary: Essential vocabulary to be covered by the end of primary phase has been summarised on a ‘Core Vocabulary Mat’ which can be found in the ‘Planning’ section of the Curriculum Guidance page (Stage 4). This is the minimum, most useful age-appropriate, non-negotiable language we recommend is taught at this stage of learning. Beyond this, for every Language Angels unit we have created a ‘Unit Glossary’ containing all of the core language vocabulary that is covered and presented to pupils in that unit, along with the English translations.

We offer free live CLPL webinars at various points in the school year. The focus alternates between curriculum guidance and support (planning, assessment, methodology, pedagogy, Ofsted/inspection requirements etc.) to linguistic confidence and teacher upskilling. Our CLPL is always recorded and can be accessed through the Languages CPD Hub, a new teacher training portal created by the amazing team at Language Angels. We also offer personalised, bespoke Language Angels CLPL, for which schools can use their allocated CLPL budget.

During the free trial period it is possible to download a suggested long-term unit planner to see a possible sequence of units based on a wide range of school scenarios. Once subscribed, if schools are unable to find a suitable sequence of units based on the ones offered in the Unit Planning function, a bespoke unit planning service is provided where a member of our teaching team will work closely with you to design the most appropriate long-term plan to meet the specific needs and requirements of your school.

Rather than organising our resources by age, we divide them into teaching types, because our scheme is not a one-size-fits-all approach. As such, we organise our resources by level of linguistic knowledge, competence and confidence. This helps schools pick the units that best match the level of stretch and challenge they want to present to each of their classes. Our teaching types act like stepping-stones, and pupils are taught according to their level and ability. As pupils progress, previous language is recycled, revisited and consolidated and any new language introduced gradually becomes more complex and sophisticated.

The teaching types are as follows:

• Starting Off: The very first stage of the language-learning journey aimed at Early level. Immersive and pictorial lessons, with a focus on music and rhythmic regulation.
• Moving On: Aimed at pupils in P2, these units consolidate previously learnt core language and expose the children to a wider range of vocabulary. Pupils at this level will be able to demonstrate more of an understanding of what is being read to them, will develop fine and gross motor skills and will explore emotional self-regulation.
• Early Language: These units are aimed at pupils in P3, and these lessons work mostly on vocabulary, on single nouns (with article/determiner), building up memory skills and formulating very short simple sentences from memory by the end of a unit.
• Intermediate: These units build on our ‘Early Language’ units. Pupils start to work at phrase level. More grammar is incorporated into the lessons along with longer speaking, reading, listening and writing exercises. More is expected from pupils in their oral responses and written work.
• • Progressive: These are our most challenging units. Lessons are more content-rich, and the pace is faster as more language is presented to the pupils. This teaching type encourages pupils to produce written paragraphs and speak more fluently and accurately from memory. Pupils will be expected to recall and recycle more of the language they have learnt in the units they have studied from our previous teaching types.

Our programme is flexible so, depending on the needs of your school and pupils, we can organise the unit flow to meet your specific needs.

Essential vocabulary to be covered by the end of primary phase has been summarised on a ‘Core Vocabulary Mat’ which can be found in the ‘Planning’ section of the Curriculum Guidance page (Stage 4). This is the minimum, most useful age-appropriate, non-negotiable language we recommend is taught at this stage of learning. Beyond this, for every Language Angels unit we have created a ‘Unit Glossary’ containing all of the core language vocabulary that is covered and presented to pupils in that unit, along with the English translations.

We provide documentation for both staff and pupils to clearly show which phonemes we have chosen to introduce to your pupils at this early stage of their language learning journey.

Phonics mats, providing an overview of which sounds are covered in each teaching type, can be downloaded and printed from the ‘Planning’ area of the Curriculum Guidance page (Stage 4). Four dedicated, sequential phonics lessons introduce 4 or 5 sounds at a time and have been designed to be used at the start of each year for pupils in P3-P7. The units within our teaching types will then focus on the sounds going forward. Each dedicated phonics lesson revises the sounds previously introduced to pupils, so they consolidate and improve their phonic knowledge of the language.

Grammar is weaved into every unit across all three teaching types for pupils in P3-P7. It is introduced implicitly in the Early Language units then moving towards a more explicit approach in our Intermediate and then Progressive units. The grammar we choose to teach has been carefully considered by the teaching team at Language Angels and will be age-appropriate for pupils at this stage of their language learning journey. Once introduced, any grammar is constantly revisited and recycled in the units that follow. Full grammar documentation is available in the ‘Planning’ section of the Curriculum Guidance page (Stage 4). This clearly explains what grammar is taught in our various units.

Yes, every lesson in every unit contains a variety of activities (whole class/pair and desk-based) covering all 4 of these skills which are clearly labelled in the lessons. These activities become increasingly more challenging as pupils move through the teaching types. There are also extra consolidation activities in all 4 skills offered in the ‘Worksheets’ tab section of your resources page. Early Language units focus more on listening and speaking but still provide some age-appropriate materials for reading and writing. As the children progress there is an equal focus on all 4 of the skills in progressively more challenging activities.

There are thousands of schools around the UK (plus many British schools abroad) using our platform and resources to deliver modern language lessons at primary phase. You can find many testimonials from real, named teachers in real, named schools on our website: https://languageangels.com/testimonials/scott

Yes! The Language Angels platform is fully aligned with:

• The English National Curriculum
• The Scottish Curriculum for Excellence
• The Curriculum for Wales

Each version is carefully mapped to the specific targets and outcomes of that curriculum. Progress tracking and reporting are also tailored to ensure the data you receive matches the requirements of your chosen curriculum.

To access the curriculum-aligned version you need, simply use the drop-down menu in the top-left corner of our homepage (just below the Language Angels logo).