6th Grade: Take a language or no?

[Anonymous]

1a is the first semester of Spanish which some middle schools offer as a full year option to allow kids to start slowly. They then take 1b in 7th grade and 2a/2b in 8th. Not all middle schools offer that option so you will have to check.

[Anonymous]

Ask his counselor if he's in 1A or the "full" 1A/B. I'm sure 1A is an option. It sounds like the counselor is putting him in the full A/B with the option to move down to just 1A.

We know 1 kid who dropped language after then 2nd quarter and another kid who dropped it at beginning of the 4th quarter. Both kids had issues (stress/anxiety from family divorce, etc.). But it isn't unheard of for 6th graders to drop / change classes for a variety of reasons.

[Anonymous]

All middle schools don't offer 1A as an option. Ours does not offer it, only the full 1A/B

[Anonymous]

don't get caught up in the rat race of my kid is taking this and that, Ignore it and take the classes that fit your kid.

Your kid will be just fine if they don't take it.

[Anonymous]

Spanish teacher here: Usually the kids that do 1 in 6th grade automatically are placed into 1A/B. If your kid does 1A only, he'll likely be put in a class with entirely 7th and 8th graders. Try out the 1A/B for a week or two and see how it goes. The class doesn't move THAT quickly. Especially in MS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Spanish teacher here: Usually the kids that do 1 in 6th grade automatically are placed into 1A/B. If your kid does 1A only, he'll likely be put in a class with entirely 7th and 8th graders. Try out the 1A/B for a week or two and see how it goes. The class doesn't move THAT quickly. Especially in MS.

Well that is exactly the opposite of my ms where 6th graders are usually in 1a and 7th graders starting a language are typically in 1ab.

[Anonymous]

Everyone seems so scared of foreign languages in their posts. In the district I went to in the NE basically foreign languages started in 6th grade. Pretty much you had to take a one, and I don't think anyone thought of it as it was expected. Is there something I'm missing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone seems so scared of foreign languages in their posts. In the district I went to in the NE basically foreign languages started in 6th grade. Pretty much you had to take a one, and I don't think anyone thought of it as it was expected. Is there something I'm missing?

Yes dcum tiger moms are afraid that a B in sixth grade will ruin their kids' perfect GPAs, thus dooming them to mediocrity for all time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone seems so scared of foreign languages in their posts. In the district I went to in the NE basically foreign languages started in 6th grade. Pretty much you had to take a one, and I don't think anyone thought of it as it was expected. Is there something I'm missing?

I posted above, I agree the amount of alarm is surprising, but I think it is amplified on these boards. I've had two DCs pass through sixth grade, both took IA/IB language (only option at our school) and as far as I know all their friends did, too. So IRL there doesn't seem to be as much worry. I also remember beginning a first year language in 7th grade. The one thing that may have been different was how it appeared on the HS transcript (which is what all the discussion is really about, not many people are saying these classes are just too hard for young students). I really don't recall how that worked. But it may have been, the same as MCPS. Our school was a jr. high with a 9th grade. Those students were certainly receiving HS credit and they were sitting in the same language classrooms, so I don't see how the 7th and 8th graders could have been denied credit.

But this is really the same issue MCPS has to contend with. If languages were taken out of MS, parents would be furious because, certainly some MS students can handle the material. If there are languages in MS, they need to connect with the HS sequence somehow--in terms of meeting prerequisite for later classes and graduation requirements. How do you deny credit if they are learning the same material and shouldn't need to repeat it? If there's a system where MS students receive some benefit without a grade on the transcript how is that fair to students who start later?

But, really, if the MS student gets a B on their transcript, the issue probably isn't that they lacked maturity. More likely it's the parent that needed those extra years to come to terms with the fact that most HS transcripts will include Bs.

[Anonymous]

My son just finished Spanish 1a/1b past year in 6th grade. He got straight A's in both semester. However, what I have heard is that the 7th grade becomes harder with Spanish 2a/2b. We have been using some Spanish textbooks at home to reinforce the content. Buy second hand text books from Amazon. There are a whole bunch of online resources on the Prentice Hall website for the textbook. Just google the info. Remember that these grades will be counted towards the final GPA on your high school transcript. However, the first year is not hard.

https://www.amazon.com/Realidades-Level-Peggy-Palo-Boyles/dp/0131016873

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone seems so scared of foreign languages in their posts. In the district I went to in the NE basically foreign languages started in 6th grade. Pretty much you had to take a one, and I don't think anyone thought of it as it was expected. Is there something I'm missing?

I posted above, I agree the amount of alarm is surprising, but I think it is amplified on these boards. I've had two DCs pass through sixth grade, both took IA/IB language (only option at our school) and as far as I know all their friends did, too. So IRL there doesn't seem to be as much worry. I also remember beginning a first year language in 7th grade. The one thing that may have been different was how it appeared on the HS transcript (which is what all the discussion is really about, not many people are saying these classes are just too hard for young students). I really don't recall how that worked. But it may have been, the same as MCPS. Our school was a jr. high with a 9th grade. Those students were certainly receiving HS credit and they were sitting in the same language classrooms, so I don't see how the 7th and 8th graders could have been denied credit.

But this is really the same issue MCPS has to contend with. If languages were taken out of MS, parents would be furious because, certainly some MS students can handle the material. If there are languages in MS, they need to connect with the HS sequence somehow--in terms of meeting prerequisite for later classes and graduation requirements. How do you deny credit if they are learning the same material and shouldn't need to repeat it? If there's a system where MS students receive some benefit without a grade on the transcript how is that fair to students who start later?

But, really, if the MS student gets a B on their transcript, the issue probably isn't that they lacked maturity. More likely it's the parent that needed those extra years to come to terms with the fact that most HS transcripts will include Bs.

There is no reason for anyone to get Bs on the HS transcripts in a regular MCPS HS program, with a manageable amount of effort. It is another matter if you are in a magnet program, which is exponentially harder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:After 5 years, I would think he would be quite solidly prepared to take 1a which starts at the very beginning. 1a is a 1/2 year HS class taught over the whole year. It goes very slowly. I would do that rather than losing whatever skills he has.

I'd do this. But acquiring a second language is really important to me.

However, I didn't start French until I was in 7th grade and I was able to become fluent (after 10 years of classes).

[Anonymous]

In Virginia you can opt to not have the class reported on a HS transcript. Not sure if that's the case in Maryland.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

But, really, if the MS student gets a B on their transcript, the issue probably isn't that they lacked maturity. More likely it's the parent that needed those extra years to come to terms with the fact that most HS transcripts will include Bs.

There is no reason for anyone to get Bs on the HS transcripts in a regular MCPS HS program, with a manageable amount of effort. It is another matter if you are in a magnet program, which is exponentially harder.


Fine but by the same logic there's no reason a sixth grader taking one class for credit can't perform as well as a ninth grader taking eight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone seems so scared of foreign languages in their posts. In the district I went to in the NE basically foreign languages started in 6th grade. Pretty much you had to take a one, and I don't think anyone thought of it as it was expected. Is there something I'm missing?

Yes dcum tiger moms are afraid that a B in sixth grade will ruin their kids' perfect GPAs, thus dooming them to mediocrity for all time.

Tiger moms are not afraid because their kids already did Spanish 1 a/b at home in 4th grade. The only people who are afraid are those who cannot compete with the tiger cubs.