HS combining French 4, 5 and AP French in one class

[Anonymous]

People who keep saying she should take French 3, is that allowed? She already took it and got credit for it.
Op, I’d reach out to the teacher asap and understand how the class will run and how your daughter will be taught at the French 4 level.

[Anonymous]

They are doing this at my child's school as well. My child had French 3 last year. I don't know how the teacher will effectively teach French 4, French 5, and AP French. This week they seem to be doing getting to know you exercises, so the real instruction and differentiation hasn't started.

[Anonymous]

OP, get a tutor to do an intensive refresher and then, academically, if your daughter can do well, I think picking the French back up is the right idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really doesn’t matter if it’s reasonable. It’s where you all find yourself. I think apps are right that missing the year is going to hurt. And that’s also where you find yourself.

That leaves you with at least two options. First is get a tutor ASAP. Second is drop the class. But complaining isn’t going to change your situation because you can’t redo last year and the school isn’t going to add another class.

Good luck. It’s tough to be feeling
Overwhelmed already, especially with everything that needs to be done over the next few months.

Given that she's a senior and applying to colleges, I'd say drop to level 3. You really should have seen this coming, OP.

Won't dropping to level 3 replace the sophmore year grade so she will still only have 2 years of HS French? Doesn't sound like that is an option. Either kid drops the class altogether for something else (what I would do), or if OP insists her kid needs 3 years in HS to maximize competitive college admissions chances, kid stays in the current class and hires a tutor (likely several sessions a week).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know why people are jumping on OP for her daughter not taking French 3 last year when it’s clear her hands were tied since it conflicted with another class that she needed. Are y’all daft?

+100 the posts attacking the OP are crazy. Her kid couldn’t have possibly taken both courses as a junior. With the shortage of French teachers, this expectation that kids do four years in high school to get into certain schools needs to go away. My kid’s school doesn’t even offer French 4 this year (no teacher), so my current junior might find herself in the same situation next year (if they actually find a teacher).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD is taking French 4 as a senior. She didn’t take French last year since the only time it was offered was during an AP Chem class she needed.
Anyway, it’s day 2 and she is miserable since most of the class is AP level of native.
She is miserable and worried that this will tank her GPA. Is it reasonable to accept that one teacher can teach to 3 levels? She needs to take the class since most colleges want 3 years of a foreign language.

Has she tried talking to the teacher about expectations for the French 4 level?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I was all on your side when I read your title before reading your post... but not now. What do you expect when you miss an entire year's worth of language practice?!

+1.

It’s not about sides, but your child will certainly have a more difficult time catching up.

OTOH, combining 3 different Spanish levels does it seem like it will be a good learning environment for anyone! The AP will be bored with the 4 and will constantly be lost. IF the teacher isn’t amazingly skilled at teaching and managing their own expectations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People who keep saying she should take French 3, is that allowed? She already took it and got credit for it.
Op, I’d reach out to the teacher asap and understand how the class will run and how your daughter will be taught at the French 4 level.

Of course it's allowed to repeat a class! It's not uncommon for languages. Sometimes it's not even because of a missed year, but happens when the kid gets to high school, and the middle school level of the same class is known to not be as rigorous as the high school level of that class. Some families decide to have their kid repeat the course, to solidify concepts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I was all on your side when I read your title before reading your post... but not now. What do you expect when you miss an entire year's worth of language practice?!

+1.

It’s not about sides, but your child will certainly have a more difficult time catching up.

OTOH, combining 3 different Spanish levels does it seem like it will be a good learning environment for anyone! The AP will be bored with the 4 and will constantly be lost. IF the teacher isn’t amazingly skilled at teaching and managing their own expectations.

Teaching combined levels means the teacher works separately with each group for the concepts that are different, and does review for basic concepts with the entire class. There are ways to do it, and usually with two levels in the same room, it's fine. But 3 levels... the school is pushing it, and the teacher is probably stressed out.

The point is, though - the school wouldn't have done that if they could find an extra teacher! So this isn't likely to get fixed this year. OP and kid have to deal with the consequences of their poor judgment, they have no control over the hiring of a new teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid has been in French 5/6 for 2 years. It has worked out ok. I think 3 levels in one class sounds like too much differentiation.

They may not have enough students at each of these three levels to form separate classes. How many students typically take French in HS versus Spanish in HS or another language??

The issue is often not enough French teachers. And probably fewer kids taking it.

It's combine in APS, and there are only 12 kids in the class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op her. She took French 3 in 10th and got an A. So now she is taking French 4. I knew there would be some language loss but almost all the kids in the class have taken 4 and 5. In fact, she thinks she’s the only student at level 4. Not blaming anyone and she is a math person so didn’t feel the need to get tutors (plus we are poor). Just need to make sure she can meet some of the language reqyirements some colleges want.

This is terrible and the school should be working to help her out since they are the ones economising by mashing three levels in one class.

People can't generalise until they find out the bolded. It sounds like if she's the only one, they're going to work her up since it's easier for them. Not fair.

[Anonymous]

OP, is there an online or virtual option?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know why people are jumping on OP for her daughter not taking French 3 last year when it’s clear her hands were tied since it conflicted with another class that she needed. Are y’all daft?

+100 the posts attacking the OP are crazy. Her kid couldn’t have possibly taken both courses as a junior. With the shortage of French teachers, this expectation that kids do four years in high school to get into certain schools needs to go away. My kid’s school doesn’t even offer French 4 this year (no teacher), so my current junior might find herself in the same situation next year (if they actually find a teacher).

That is not why people are jumping on OP. People are saying she made a bad plan. If she wanted Spanish 4 as a senior she needed to have her daughter do something to keep her daughters skills intact during Junior year, like tutoring or
Some online work. If she wasn’t going to do that, she either needed to skip Spanish 4, get her some mega tutoring now to catch her up or accept the stress and potential bad grade. None of this is ideal, but it is the reality of public school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op her. She took French 3 in 10th and got an A. So now she is taking French 4. I knew there would be some language loss but almost all the kids in the class have taken 4 and 5. In fact, she thinks she’s the only student at level 4. Not blaming anyone and she is a math person so didn’t feel the need to get tutors (plus we are poor). Just need to make sure she can meet some of the language reqyirements some colleges want.

This is terrible and the school should be working to help her out since they are the ones economising by mashing three levels in one class.

People can't generalise until they find out the bolded. It sounds like if she's the only one, they're going to work her up since it's easier for them. Not fair.

They're not economizing. They can't find a teacher. Trust me, combining 3 levels of a language class is NOT what MCPS wants to do, and finding that extra teacher would be a priority on their list of priorities. (Combining two levels is more common, and then they can allocate funds to other important needs.)

And honestly, the school isn't going to have a lot of sympathy for a kid who missed an entire year of language and still thought they could go on to the next level. If OP and kid had asked the advice of the language department or the previous or current teacher before making this stupid decision, I guarantee that NONE of them would have suggested they move up to level 4 after a year's hiatus.

The counselor is probably going to suggest the kid drop down to level 3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, is there an online or virtual option?

In MCPS? Not likely.