TJ Freshman year - Foreign Language

[Anonymous]

DD made it to TJ and is currently doing Spanish 2 in MS, heard from other parents and teachers at the last night event at TJ saying that Spanish is much harder and was advising to switch another language like Russian or Germen. Any advice would be helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD made it to TJ and is currently doing Spanish 2 in MS, heard from other parents and teachers at the last night event at TJ saying that Spanish is much harder and was advising to switch another language like Russian or Germen. Any advice would be helpful.

I have a sophomore at TJ and was told the same thing. My DC came from a Spanish Immersion program as well. Spanish is the toughest language at TJ. My kid opted to repeat Spanish 2 as a freshman and did not regret it. It's tough, but the teachers are also excellent.

[Anonymous]

For native English speakers, German is the easiest language to learn. I don't know about Russian since there's a whole different alphabet to learn. Great cultural learning that would go with either language!

[Anonymous]

The German, Russian, and Japanese teachers are known as being super nice and not giving a ton of homework. The Spanish and French teachers are known as giving a ton of work. The Latin teacher is great, but there is a lot of homework. Chinese is pretty much only taken by native speakers.

My daughter takes one of the "easy 3" and has had a fabulous experience. But she did not take a language in MS either. Many kids opt out of language after year 3 to have more room for electives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD made it to TJ and is currently doing Spanish 2 in MS, heard from other parents and teachers at the last night event at TJ saying that Spanish is much harder and was advising to switch another language like Russian or Germen. Any advice would be helpful.

There's a placement test. She could take it and see how she goes.

[Anonymous]

She should take the language she is interested in.

[Anonymous]

Spanish will be more work than the other languages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Spanish will be more work than the other languages.

+1

That's the reputation and my kid's experience at TJ. It's like the Spanish teachers are determined to make this a "TJ" level class. I guess that's a good thing, but it by far has been the class my kid has struggled with the most. Anecdotal evidence from friends taking Russian and German is that those are fun/easy classes. YMMV

[Anonymous]

Anyone with personal experience with Latin at TJ? DD is doing Latin 1 at AAP MS in 8th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone with personal experience with Latin at TJ? DD is doing Latin 1 at AAP MS in 8th.

If your child really loves Latin then she should stick with it at TJ because the teachers are very good. But they are demanding, which is why she should only do it if she's good at and likes it. My DD only stayed with Latin at TJ because she'd already taken 2 years of it, but she struggled to get B's as she didn't particularly enjoy it so she didn't spend a lot of time with it.

[Anonymous]

PP here - I had hoped DC could take 2 yrs of Latin and then move on to Spanish, perhaps even take Latin 2 and Spanish 1 at the same time. Looks like Span is quite tough at TJ as well. Would be fine if other courses weren't even more challenging.

Do kids who take Russian, German or Japanese really feel they will have any future use for these languages?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP here - I had hoped DC could take 2 yrs of Latin and then move on to Spanish, perhaps even take Latin 2 and Spanish 1 at the same time. Looks like Span is quite tough at TJ as well. Would be fine if other courses weren't even more challenging.

Do kids who take Russian, German or Japanese really feel they will have any future use for these languages?

2 years of foreign language sophomore year is going to be tough. 4 core classes, plus Latin, plus PE leaves one elective. Most kids will take a STEM elective (AP Bio or AP Chem or AP CS) or their extra social studies class or basic CS if they didn't get it freshman year or music (band/orchestra). TJ is not the place to go to do extra foreign language. Most kids get their 3 years, then free up spots for STEM.

[Anonymous]

Latin at TJ is challenging. The Latin 2 class started 6 chapters beyond what was covered in Latin 1 in middle school, so it was an uphill climb to get caught up with the gap, while the teacher was presenting new material at the accelerated TJ pace. It is not impossible, but do not expect to earn top grades at the beginning, as students who took Latin 1 at TJ will be reviewing, while your student will be learning material for the first time.

[Anonymous]

Does it look bad to take one year of language in MS and then switch to a different language for 2-3 years in high school? Kid is taking Latin in ms and might drop it for Russian or Japanese at TJ.

[Anonymous]

Do kids who take Russian, German or Japanese really feel they will have any future use for these languages?

Sure. Many technical articles are in German. We have German relatives. We travel to Europe not infrequently. Germanic heritage is an important part of both mine and DH's backgrounds. German may be an "easy" class at TJ, but it is still immersion based and she is already quite fluent. TJ is hard enough. If you have an option, there is no shame in your child seeking out a language that will allow them to have a happier experience at TJ.