Repeating Foreign Language

[Anonymous]

DD took French 1A in 6th and 1B in 7th. I feel like her fundamentals are poor during covid years. Her grades were A's but it's pretty easy to get an A in these middle school classes imo. We are deciding what to do next year. Is it a crazy idea for her to not take any languages in 8th, then just repeat French 1 again in 9th? Then continue her on a four year language path where she finishes senior year with French 4. Would that look strange on her HS transcript that she took languages in MS but repeated the same language at level 1 in HS? What is the downside of this?

[Anonymous]

With an A grade a repeat is not only a ridiculous suggestion, but the school will not allow it. Move along now, stop wasting everyone's time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With an A grade a repeat is not only a ridiculous suggestion, but the school will not allow it. Move along now, stop wasting everyone's time.

I don't necessarily agree with this. 1A and 1B aren't particularly difficult. If a child doesn't have fundamentals, by the time they get to level 3 in high school, it can be quite difficult.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With an A grade a repeat is not only a ridiculous suggestion, but the school will not allow it. Move along now, stop wasting everyone's time.

I don't necessarily agree with this. 1A and 1B aren't particularly difficult. If a child doesn't have fundamentals, by the time they get to level 3 in high school, it can be quite difficult.

are you a Moco guidance counselor or French teacher ? no. move along.

[Anonymous]

The downside is that she can’t skip a language senior year where is if she does French for junior year, and wants to have more room in your schedule senior year, it’s OK to stop taking it after yeR four

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The downside is that she can’t skip a language senior year where is if she does French for junior year, and wants to have more room in your schedule senior year, it’s OK to stop taking it after yeR four

NP. I don’t understand what you’re saying. Couldn’t she meet the graduation requirement by taking French 1 in 9th grade and French 2 in 10th grade? It’s great to take a foreign language for more years, but it’s not required.

[Anonymous]

Instead of taking no foreign language in 8th grade and then starting all over with French 1 in 9th grade, why wouldn’t you just see if she is allowed to retake French 1b in 8th grade, which will help her brush up on her fundamentals, and then she can take French 2 in 9th grade.

[Anonymous]

My son struggled with Spanish 1a and b in 7th and 8th. I really wish someone would have suggested starting over in 9th. He would have probably improved his grades and learned a bit more. He was never going to take enough language for fluency. Spanish 3 was a disaster and the end of languages for him. No issue with college acceptances.

[Anonymous]

HS transcripts start with 9th grade. The gamesmanship of this idea is solid. Just work with your daughter to understand the thought process behind it. If it's a way to get an easy A on HS transcript, think of the lesson that teaches. If it is way to better prepare her with a solid foundation in a foreign language- stress that point. Students who struggle in advancing language classes often didn't have a strong enough grasp of the foundation. It's not the worst idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The downside is that she can’t skip a language senior year where is if she does French for junior year, and wants to have more room in your schedule senior year, it’s OK to stop taking it after yeR four

NP. I don’t understand what you’re saying. Couldn’t she meet the graduation requirement by taking French 1 in 9th grade and French 2 in 10th grade? It’s great to take a foreign language for more years, but it’s not required.

Many colleges “recommend” four years of language. I think that’s the requirement PP meant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The downside is that she can’t skip a language senior year where is if she does French for junior year, and wants to have more room in your schedule senior year, it’s OK to stop taking it after yeR four

NP. I don’t understand what you’re saying. Couldn’t she meet the graduation requirement by taking French 1 in 9th grade and French 2 in 10th grade? It’s great to take a foreign language for more years, but it’s not required.

Many colleges “recommend” four years of language. I think that’s the requirement PP meant.

Interesting; my child’s counselor always says that colleges like to see two years (different levels) of the same foreign language taken during high school regardless of what you did in middle school, as though it doesn’t matter what the levels are.

My child’s middle school was a middle years IB school, so she is in Spanish 4 as a ninth grader. She really didn’t want to take Spanish 5, but the counselor is telling her it’s pretty important to have two years of foreign language in high school. DD is really wishing she hadn’t come into high school at such a high level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:HS transcripts start with 9th grade. The gamesmanship of this idea is solid. Just work with your daughter to understand the thought process behind it. If it's a way to get an easy A on HS transcript, think of the lesson that teaches. If it is way to better prepare her with a solid foundation in a foreign language- stress that point. Students who struggle in advancing language classes often didn't have a strong enough grasp of the foundation. It's not the worst idea.

It is not gamesmanship. Some kids just are awful at languages. I have an ADHD kid who barely pulled out a decent grade. A repeat, especially during COVID years where kids barely spoke, is beneficial to learning foreign language foundations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HS transcripts start with 9th grade. The gamesmanship of this idea is solid. Just work with your daughter to understand the thought process behind it. If it's a way to get an easy A on HS transcript, think of the lesson that teaches. If it is way to better prepare her with a solid foundation in a foreign language- stress that point. Students who struggle in advancing language classes often didn't have a strong enough grasp of the foundation. It's not the worst idea.

It is not gamesmanship. Some kids just are awful at languages. I have an ADHD kid who barely pulled out a decent grade. A repeat, especially during COVID years where kids barely spoke, is beneficial to learning foreign language foundations.

I have a kid with ADHD who took 1a in 6th, 1b in 7th (virtual the whole year), repeated 1b in 8th, and still needed to start over with 1 this year, in 9th grade. There was no gamesmanship; she just really struggled and I knew she couldn’t possibly pass 2 if she hadn’t learned much of the content in 1. It’s no easy A for her, even after this much time.

[Anonymous]

My DD also got A's in Spanish 1a/b and 2. She didn't feel she learned basics well enough for when she started Spanish 3 as a freshman. She tried to see if she could retake Spanish 1 but her counselor said no since she got As in Spanish 1 and 2.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:HS transcripts start with 9th grade. The gamesmanship of this idea is solid. Just work with your daughter to understand the thought process behind it. If it's a way to get an easy A on HS transcript, think of the lesson that teaches. If it is way to better prepare her with a solid foundation in a foreign language- stress that point. Students who struggle in advancing language classes often didn't have a strong enough grasp of the foundation. It's not the worst idea.

Middle school grades in language classes also are on the transcript in MCPS.