Please walk me through world language trajectory in high school

[Anonymous]

DD is in Honors Spanish 3 in 8th grade. What should she take for 9th grade?

At her high school, there are levels 4, 5 and 6, but also AP classes. When do you know you're ready to take the AP course? I've heard some people say you can actually go straight from level 3 to AP. Is that advisable if it's not a language spoken at home or something the student has taken in immersion?

So confused.

[Anonymous]

If Spanish, take level 5 then AP Spanish Lanugage in 11th. If desired AP Spanish Literature in 12th.

There are a large number of native speakers in the Spanish classes, so it can be intimidating for those who are not native speakers to speak. A good teacher will try to balance this phenomenon

[Anonymous]

I'd go with Spanish 4 for now. You can always talk with someone at the high school about changing that (if necessary), and the middle school teacher may also have a sense of what would be the best fit.

Another thing to thing about long-term is college admissions. If your child might be considering highly selective colleges, they tend to prefer 3-4 years of world language during high school. So not much point to rush to do AP language in 9th grade and then be penalized for having only one year of a foreign language.

[Anonymous]

Yes, agree with the PPs - Spanish 4 in 9th, Spanish 5 in 10th and AP Language in 11th. AP Lit in 12th if desired.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd go with Spanish 4 for now. You can always talk with someone at the high school about changing that (if necessary), and the middle school teacher may also have a sense of what would be the best fit.

Another thing to thing about long-term is college admissions. If your child might be considering highly selective colleges, they tend to prefer 3-4 years of world language during high school. So not much point to rush to do AP language in 9th grade and then be penalized for having only one year of a foreign language.

OP here. Thank you, I think she is selective college material! But is 4 years really necessary if you reach the AP level in the language, if the student wants to free up periods for other AP courses, or high-level topics?

[Anonymous]

Yes, this sequence is what the teacher recommended for my non native speaker kid who is a very high performer. Teacher said skipping from 4 to AP only recommended for high performing native speakers. My kid plans to stop after AP lang in 11th to do other things.

Levels 4 and 5 do a lot of practicing the language through learning about culture. A lot more writing, speaking, presenting in the language rather than just learning vocab and grammar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, this sequence is what the teacher recommended for my non native speaker kid who is a very high performer. Teacher said skipping from 4 to AP only recommended for high performing native speakers. My kid plans to stop after AP lang in 11th to do other things.

Levels 4 and 5 do a lot of practicing the language through learning about culture. A lot more writing, speaking, presenting in the language rather than just learning vocab and grammar.

OP here. Thank you, that's good to know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If Spanish, take level 5 then AP Spanish Lanugage in 11th. If desired AP Spanish Literature in 12th.

There are a large number of native speakers in the Spanish classes, so it can be intimidating for those who are not native speakers to speak. A good teacher will try to balance this phenomenon

DC is currently in 8th and in Spanish 3. They have straight A's so far but it's a hard class.

Given that they have 0 interest in AP Spanish Lit, I was going to suggest they retake Spanish 3 in 9th to keep up with it while taking a break. They expect to have a fairly demanding course load and with the transition to HS, maybe it's a welcome break. They can still take AP Lang their senior year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd go with Spanish 4 for now. You can always talk with someone at the high school about changing that (if necessary), and the middle school teacher may also have a sense of what would be the best fit.

Another thing to thing about long-term is college admissions. If your child might be considering highly selective colleges, they tend to prefer 3-4 years of world language during high school. So not much point to rush to do AP language in 9th grade and then be penalized for having only one year of a foreign language.

My thoughts as well as I approach this situation. My kid has had DLI since first grade, but it the language just has yet to click like other subjects. If selective schools want to see 3-4 years, why not just back and do Spanish 2 in 9, 3 in 10, 4 in 11, and AP in 12? It would be some easy "A"s and could focus on more rigorous math and science classes instead.

[Anonymous]

For a non-native speaker, or even a native speaker, it seems like a very bad decision to go from Spanish 3 straight to the AP class, especially as a freshman. You'd have to be nearly bilingual to do this.

[Anonymous]

My kid is in 4 in 9th. He plans to take 5 in 10th and AP in 11th. He will drop for 12th.

He seems to be relieved that 4 has been less soul sucking grammar and more presentation/project based. He struggles Q1 when it's grammar and verb review, but that's over quickly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd go with Spanish 4 for now. You can always talk with someone at the high school about changing that (if necessary), and the middle school teacher may also have a sense of what would be the best fit.

Another thing to thing about long-term is college admissions. If your child might be considering highly selective colleges, they tend to prefer 3-4 years of world language during high school. So not much point to rush to do AP language in 9th grade and then be penalized for having only one year of a foreign language.

OP here. Thank you, I think she is selective college material! But is 4 years really necessary if you reach the AP level in the language, if the student wants to free up periods for other AP courses, or high-level topics?

Colleges want courses completed in high school, not just middle school. A student who does Calculus in 8th grade would be expected to find ways of continuing with math through high school. Same goes for foreign languages.

Harvard, for instance, recommends "four years of a single foreign language" in high school. If a student completes AP foreign language in 9th, that's just one year (instead of the ideal of four), so they'll wonder why she didn't start a new language in 10th grade. If a student completes AP foreign language in 11th grade, that's three years taken in high school, and there's not much time to make progress in a new language, so they'd understand more why a student didn't do a foreign language senior year.

[Anonymous]

Start a new WL and take 3 years in HS. Colleges only care that you took 3 years in HS. Why are you wasting your time in MS?

[Anonymous]

Taking AP Spanish as a freshman and without 4 or 5 is going to be way too fast-paced. My DD was also in Hon Spanish 3 as an 8th grader and did Hon Spanish 4 as a freshman and 5 now as a sophomore. She could do AP next year but she doesn’t enjoy it and her counselor said it was fine not to continue. Her friend is more interested in Spanish so she skipped 5 and is taking AP now. It’s a very rigorous course. If your daughter is aiming for selective colleges and enjoys Spanish, taking 4 and then AP would be a good plan.

[Anonymous]

Mine took AP Spanish as a sophomore after Spanish 4, partly because I was confused about the options. (That’s what I did way back in the 80s.). She is not a native speaker. She got As and a 5 on the test so it worked fine and actually nice to have one less AP to study for her sophomore year. I figured if she didn’t do well she could always retake if her junior year after another year of Spanish. She did take two more years of Spanish but it’s not ideal because it’s mostly literature and some of it is really boring. So I think there are pros and cons to skipping 5. But definitely take 4 as a freshman—3 is the first year they really start putting things together and you need 4 to really solidify what you did in 3.