Foreign Language at Potomac School

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Starts in 4th.

They cite some research somewhere about focusing on literacy in English in the early grades. FWIW this pace allows for AP Lang and AP Lit by junior and senior year, and the IS/US spanish instruction is very good. But there is no early elementary foreign language available.

Hmm. Other schools offer AP Lang and AP Lit starting in junior year and still offer early foreign language exposure to their LS students.

Yes. My point was that, even without the early language exposure, it doesn’t appear to slow down the desired language progression of reaching ap lang and lit.

PP you’re responding to. Sorry, I misunderstood. I thought you were saying that because of the focus on English literacy at the expense of foreign language exposure in the early grades, Potomac kids were on track to take AP *English* lang and lit in 11th and 12th, which is pretty standard across the board, of course. I realize you meant AP lang and lit in Spanish or whatever FL. Sorry for the confusion.

👍👍 my bad for not clarifying foreign language APs!

[Anonymous]

I had a big issue when touring Potomac with their delay in starting language back when my kids were in elementary/middle--my kids ended up attending a different school that started language in K. I can tell you now that my kids are in HS, the language taught at other schools K-5 is so minimal, starting language in middle school is completely fine. What you want to make sure of is that by the end of 8th, your child will at least place into level 2 of a foreign language for HS so they can take the AP test Junior year.