Repeating Spanish 1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a pushy sort of parent and the last person to tell you that kids should repeat a year of any subject.

Having said that, there is no room for error once they get to high school. Their content mastery has to be as perfect as possible, because the classes are more challenging and the pace is brutal, particularly if they take all advanced courses.

So... get a tutor in middle school. It will solidify knowledge and fill in any gaps before high school.

PP who got a tutor.
Yep, we plan to continue with the tutor over the summer. This is the first tutor we've ever had for either kid. Son is a straight A student otherwise (scoring high 90th percentiles on MAPs as well, so not just due to grade inflation.) We were mostly worried that he wasn't "getting it" in terms of either what he needed to learn, how he needed to learn it, or what the teacher expected, so decided to intervene early.

We have a straight A kid/high MAP. We use the free MCPS tutoring. Spanish 3 is much harder than 2. We use a Spanish tutor. Big help.

[Anonymous]

Is it Spanish 1A or Spanish 1?

Like a PP said, taking Spanish 3 or even 4 as a freshman can be a tough go. It is actually helpful to be in a lower language class going into HS. Colleges don't care about middle school classes at all.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Turns out it was a mistake on the recommendations chart that they send to our child for next year.

The new plan is for DC to complete 1B this semester and move to Spanish 2A/B as a 7th grader. This thread has made me rethink the strategy a bit because DC is generally not a strong student. I still don’t think it makes sense to repeat Spanish 1 next year given the current grade is actually on the cusp of an A, but repeating Spanish 2 might be wise. OTOH I think DC might also prefer to do an entirely new language in HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a pushy sort of parent and the last person to tell you that kids should repeat a year of any subject.

Having said that, there is no room for error once they get to high school. Their content mastery has to be as perfect as possible, because the classes are more challenging and the pace is brutal, particularly if they take all advanced courses.

So... get a tutor in middle school. It will solidify knowledge and fill in any gaps before high school.

I got my kid a tutor in 9th grade when she was in level 4. I wish I had done it earlier and plan to do so with my younger child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parent of high schoolers to offer another perspective. I wish I had slowed my kids down in foreign language and made sure they nailed the basics because levels 1-3 did not do much for them in that regard. When they started to struggle in levels 4-5 it was too late to retake a year (you can really only get away with that in level 1-2). Granted this could be a remote-learning effect as they both went through levels 3-4 during the remote school year.

Anyway they could always progress to level 2 because I agree Bs are fine, but don’t be afraid to have them repeat that one of you are sensing some lack of grounding in the basics.

+1. The first year is by far the easiest and a B is a relatively low grade at some schools. Your kid's teacher knows if they have mastered the material... I wouldn't second guess it, particularly at this age.

I would register for Level 1 and see how they do second semester. If the kid can bring the grade to A, then contact the counselor to move them into level 2. If not, then I would really use this as an opportunity to slow things down now while you can. (Another options would be to ask whether your school offers all-year 2A (followed by yearlong 2B in 8th grade). Our school used to do this but doesn't anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a pushy sort of parent and the last person to tell you that kids should repeat a year of any subject.

Having said that, there is no room for error once they get to high school. Their content mastery has to be as perfect as possible, because the classes are more challenging and the pace is brutal, particularly if they take all advanced courses.

So... get a tutor in middle school. It will solidify knowledge and fill in any gaps before high school.

I got my kid a tutor in 9th grade when she was in level 4. I wish I had done it earlier and plan to do so with my younger child.

May I ask if the tutor has material to work on with your child? My kid is currently taking Spanish 4 but there is no book or material posted on Canvas. The teacher just plays a video every Friday and expects the students to answer questions on the video without any prep.