Freshman Language Decision

[Anonymous]

This is my first time posting a topic here, but this board is pretty awesome, and I think it may be the best place to get input. We do not in the DC area, but again — there are no forums like this in my home state.

Our DS is going into Freshman year HS, and he is bilingual in Spanish. He attended an immersion K-8, and my spouse is a native Spanish speaker. At his incoming HS, he tested into Adv Hon Spanish, but that is basically an AP level course, and Freshman are not eligible to enroll.

His options are to take another language for a year or to enroll in a new Heritage Spanish offering. Heritage Spanish is an honors level course, but there are apparently only a handful of kids in it. That doesn’t make for the best social environment, but it could be great for individualized instruction. The other language option would probably be Latin or French, but I’m not sure it makes sense to take a single year then go back to Spanish.

I’m looking for any advice thoughts — also with an eye toward college applications in a couple of years.

[Anonymous]

You want him to take 4 yrs of the same language, ending with AP, or if AP isn’t offered, dual enroll at college or take it online. Colleges don’t care about his immersion elementary school.

[Anonymous]

We are in a similar situation, with bilingual kids who tested into AP level Spanish. My kids take French instead – there’s not enough Spanish offered at their school to give them four years of Spanish and they have become fluent in French. They can also take the AP exam without taking the class – they spend a little time studying with the prep materials, but it was not a difficult exam for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are in a similar situation, with bilingual kids who tested into AP level Spanish. My kids take French instead – there’s not enough Spanish offered at their school to give them four years of Spanish and they have become fluent in French. They can also take the AP exam without taking the class – they spend a little time studying with the prep materials, but it was not a difficult exam for them.

Our public high school has a lot of bilingual kids. They recently created a program partnering with a local university to have kids that test into this program be eligible to dual enroll in Spanish classes at the university and end high school with a minor in Spanish. Pretty cool! Just sharing, probably too late for your child, but would be great to see this at more high schools that are in close proximity to universities

[Anonymous]

I would try to take AP Spanish first, even if that is below his level of Spanish knowledge. And sit the AP Spanish exam to get a good score to show college admissions people.

[Anonymous]

All these people suggesting that he take AP Spanish in 9th grade aren't reading the OP -- that's not an option.

I would have him take either the heritage Spanish class -- not every moment of the day needs to be a social opportunity and taking a small, highly differentiated class sounds like a good learning environment -- or switch languages for all of high school. His choice.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Really helpful, and we are now thinking either: 1) take French all the way through or 2) take Heritage followed by their Span 5 level offerings. If he decides on #1, we will encourage an outside AP Spanish course.

It sounds like 4 years of one language at school is the way to go though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All these people suggesting that he take AP Spanish in 9th grade aren't reading the OP -- that's not an option.

I would have him take either the heritage Spanish class -- not every moment of the day needs to be a social opportunity and taking a small, highly differentiated class sounds like a good learning environment -- or switch languages for all of high school. His choice.

After hearing back from his advisor and talking through it, this is exactly what he decided to do. He will also be the only freshman in that class, which is kind of cool. Thanks for the help!