Can a middle schooler take more than one foreign language?

[Anonymous]

We are from out of town planning a move to Montgomery County for the next school year. My kid takes French right now but is a heritage speaker of Spanish (my husband is a native speaker but I'm not). In the past year or so she's become very passionate about language-learning and now wants to improve her Spanish. At the middle school we're coming from she was planning to "double up" on languages in 7th grade and keep going with the French while also taking a "Spanish for Heritage Speakers" class. Does anyone know if this is also generally allowed in MCPS? I was trying to look online but it wasn't very clear whether students must pick a single language or can take two.

[Anonymous]

Around here international families enroll their kids in native language classes on the weekends, and pursue another language in MCPS. We're French. My kids go to the French weekend school (they have fluent and intermediate levels), and one learned Latin and the other Spanish in MCPS. We know Spanish, German and Japanese speakers who all go to weekend schools too.

In high school, students do have the option of studying several languages, but I don't know how that works out in the middle school schedule. You would need to call the school and ask.

[Anonymous]

Call the counselor and ask. This likely varies by school.

[Anonymous]

+1 to PP. You'd enroll your kid in French, and then you'd enroll in Escuela Argentina, or Isabella & Ferdinand's DELE program, or whatever other Saturday morning school you found.

Once your kid was in high school and was ready, you could drop them into AP Language one year and then AP Literature the next year, or you could skip it if you wanted to pursue credentials outside of school instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+1 to PP. You'd enroll your kid in French, and then you'd enroll in Escuela Argentina, or Isabella & Ferdinand's DELE program, or whatever other Saturday morning school you found.

Once your kid was in high school and was ready, you could drop them into AP Language one year and then AP Literature the next year, or you could skip it if you wanted to pursue credentials outside of school instead.

It's good to know this is the norm! We are Jewish, so Saturday language schools are pretty much off the table for us. My kid will already have Hebrew/Sunday school obligations so I think if she were to take a Spanish class it would be during school hours. We're not sure what school she'll end up at yet but when we do we'll call and see if she can swing it.

[Anonymous]

Typically, all students in MCPS take English, Science, Math, Social Studies, and PE. This leaves two classes for electives (art, band, tech). At some point they will need a technology class of some sort. I can't say that I have seen a student take more than one language, but it could be possible if the school offers both Spanish and French. There is a class for Spanish for native speakers. I am not 100% sure that all middle schools offer that. It would only be if they had enough students to fill the class.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't do this to my student, it's a lot.

[Anonymous]

Some middle schools don’t even offer WL until 7th grade so it would be unlikely your child could enroll in level 2 of any WL. I’ve rarely seen it happen for 8th graders after they complete level 1 and need level 3. However, they have to take it at their home HA first period and then ride a bus to their middle school of record. This makes their school day longer and it’s more expensive for the county. Given the current economic state I don’t see this as an option for the future. Also, it means your 8th grader is riding a bus with HSers. And if you’re in a consortium it’s not your school of choice.

[Anonymous]

Heritage language in middle school is a waste of time.

Your kid can develop heritage language at home much better than at school.

High school has dedicated heritage languages classes and advanced classes they can skip into.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1 to PP. You'd enroll your kid in French, and then you'd enroll in Escuela Argentina, or Isabella & Ferdinand's DELE program, or whatever other Saturday morning school you found.

Once your kid was in high school and was ready, you could drop them into AP Language one year and then AP Literature the next year, or you could skip it if you wanted to pursue credentials outside of school instead.

It's good to know this is the norm! We are Jewish, so Saturday language schools are pretty much off the table for us. My kid will already have Hebrew/Sunday school obligations so I think if she were to take a Spanish class it would be during school hours. We're not sure what school she'll end up at yet but when we do we'll call and see if she can swing it.

If you change your mind, I don't think EA has a non-Sat program but I think I&F does. If you're Spanish citizens you can study through an embassy program. Again, there might be other weekday options too. GL.

[Anonymous]

It's going to eat into her STEM courses if that matters.

[Anonymous]

My children did both French and Spanish while in middle school. Great decision. Wonderful skill for life and needed in this world

[Anonymous]

You could look at middle schools that the two way immersion elementary schools feed into - that would give your daughter peers with Spanish experience and she could still take French to continue that.

Two Way Immersion (elementary program)- https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/eld/

Silver Spring International MS has both Spanish and French Immersion programs, while I don't think you can be a part of the program if you are new to immersion, it would be a school that had a lot of students interested in learning other languages and different levels of the languages available.