Middle school language question

[Anonymous]

As other posters have confirmed, those middle school classes meet the Md state requirements. I think you have to define competitive when you are talking about admissions especially for STEM applicants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:High school teacher and mom. Just a heads up. Students now need to take two years of the same foreign language IN HIGH SCHOOL, so it is a disadvantage for may students to start a foreign language so early. Many kids who don't love foreign language arrive as 9th graders already having taken 2-3 years of a language and only have the choice of continuing the same language at a pretty high level OR take an entirely different language for two years. For a person who doesn't love world languages, neither is a great option. My oldest child took three years of Spanish in middle school (hated it) and was then faced with the choice I am speaking of. It was not a pleasant experience. If I had it to do over again, I would have had him put off foreign language entirely in middle school. He could've still reached level four of a language if he loved it in high school. Instead, I would've had him take the high school technology credit in 8th grade (needed for graduation) to check off that box before high school.

I am not putting down foreign language or denying its benefits. Some kids love it and really excel at it. But for kids who don't, this can be a real hardship.

a) You are wrong. Taking 2 years in MA fulfills the requirement.

b) You are also giving bad advice. Learning languages as early as possible makes it easier to learn languages. And kids who start in HS have no chance of taking AP if they really enjoy it.

A) MA? Do you mean MS or MD?

Regardless, the reason the high schools are pushing two years IN high school is to meet the UMD entry standard. Not a HS graduation requirement but schools want you to be UMD eligible.

B) It depends on the kid. Mine both started in 6th and I’m glad they did. For mine, earlier the better. For those with learning differences or different priorities, it can better to wait for college admissions purposes so they don’t get too advanced if that’s going to be a struggle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are only required to take two full years of the same world language to meet the high school graduation requirement. You can choose whether to have your middle school world language classes appear on your high school transcript. If you count them for high school credit, you’ve met don’t HAVE to take more world language courses to graduate, but every high school counselor is going to tell you that colleges with competitive admissions are looking for at least two years of the same world language taken IN HIGH SCHOOL, regardless of what you took in middle school. That’s what pp mom and teacher is referring to.

One of my kids attended our local middle school and took a full year of Spanish 1A in 6th grade (would be one semester if taken in high school) and a full year of Spanish 1B in 7th grade (would also only be one semester if taken in high school). This was during Covid distance learning and she really struggled with virtual classes. I had her retake Spanish 1B as an 8th grader because I knew she really had no foundation to move on to Spanish 2. She still struggled to get a C. We ended up not counting any of her middle school world language classes on her high school transcript. She took Spanish 1A and 1B her freshman year and Spanish 2A and 2B her sophomore year and did much better. She met the graduation requirement, and her transcript shows two years of world language in high school. That was what was best for her.

My other child attended the Humanities magnet at MLK MS, which happens to be a Junior IB school. Junior IB schools require kids to take a full year of world language every year, so my child who went to MLK took Spanish 1A and 1B in 6th grade, 2A and 2B in 7th grade, and 3A and 3B in 8th grade. That dc then attended Poolesville HS, where the only options available were to switch to a different world language or take Spanish 4A and 4B as a freshman and then AP Spanish as a sophomore or just not take two years of Spanish in high school. My kid really didn’t want to take AP Spanish or switch to a new world language, so they only went through Spanish 4 as a freshman and then stopped taking a world language. This is against the advice from counselors on how to be competitive in college admissions (two years of same world language taken IN HIGH SCHOOL). This is what mom/teacher pp was talking about.

You don’t get to choose whether the MS language class appears on your HS transcript. It does. But it only goes into the GPA is it helps it. Regardless, 2 years in a single language satisfies the requirement — regardless of whether they are from MS or HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks. Next question- school website says they offer Spanish 1 and 2. What do kids do in 8th if they take Spanish 1A and 1B in 6th?

Take Spanish 3 at the high school during it’s PD 1 and then go to MS for the rest of their schedule.

[Anonymous]

If you want to start in middle school, then take the full year Spanish 1A in sixth. Then full year Spanish 1B in seventh and Spanish 2 in eighth. That will put you on a reasonable path to still take four manageable years in high school school. Both my children did this and found they really enjoyed foreign language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you want to start in middle school, then take the full year Spanish 1A in sixth. Then full year Spanish 1B in seventh and Spanish 2 in eighth. That will put you on a reasonable path to still take four manageable years in high school school. Both my children did this and found they really enjoyed foreign language.

This is the best way to do it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to start in middle school, then take the full year Spanish 1A in sixth. Then full year Spanish 1B in seventh and Spanish 2 in eighth. That will put you on a reasonable path to still take four manageable years in high school school. Both my children did this and found they really enjoyed foreign language.

This is the best way to do it

My kid would have found that too slow. And a benefit of doing the regular schedule (1A/1B in a year) is that that (along with math) is one of the few ways your kid can be challenged academically in MS. Breaking that into 2 means many kids won’t feel that challenge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you want to start in middle school, then take the full year Spanish 1A in sixth. Then full year Spanish 1B in seventh and Spanish 2 in eighth. That will put you on a reasonable path to still take four manageable years in high school school. Both my children did this and found they really enjoyed foreign language.

We did not have this option but it’s a good plan as it’s very hard with no textbooks and structure to the classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to start in middle school, then take the full year Spanish 1A in sixth. Then full year Spanish 1B in seventh and Spanish 2 in eighth. That will put you on a reasonable path to still take four manageable years in high school school. Both my children did this and found they really enjoyed foreign language.

We did not have this option but it’s a good plan as it’s very hard with no textbooks and structure to the classes.

My kid has been doing French and not Spanish, but there has definitely been structure, and the teacher makes copies of the textbook and workbook sections that they are using (though so think there are new textbooks and workbooks this year).

[Anonymous]

Not all middle schools offer it this way anymore. My older daughter was able to take Spanish 1A as a full year, but 3 years later they only offered Spanish 1A/B because "many students wanted to have the seal of biliteracy in HS" according to the principal. I was frustrated, because now she'll be in Spanish 4 by HS and totally unprepared for it... (MS and HS Spanish classes are different beasts in my experience).

[Anonymous]

Watch out if you take 1A/1B in 6th, and 2A/2B in 7th, you may only have the option to go to the high school for 3A/3B for 8th and that schedule may not work for all middle school families. We ended up having our kid skip language in 8th grade and are going to restart him in 2A/2B for 9th grade for a hopefully easy A and a transition back to foreign language.

[Anonymous]

It is going to depend on your kid. Mine took the full year in 6th, 7th and 8th and was able to take on a second FL in 8th (Chinese) and carried them both on in HS. But that's her thing. Her brother didn't do this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks. Next question- school website says they offer Spanish 1 and 2. What do kids do in 8th if they take Spanish 1A and 1B in 6th?

Full year, they take spanish 3 in 8th. You need to talk to the school.

They might have to take Spanish 3 at the HS first period and then get busses to a full day at the MS.

Some middle schools don’t even offer WL in 6th grade for this reason and for what PP said about still needing to take so many years in HS if you’re college bound.

[Anonymous]

How do we rally more foreign languages being offered in MS? Our MS only does Spanish and French

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do we rally more foreign languages being offered in MS? Our MS only does Spanish and French

Regional language magnets