Middle School language classes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My current 8th grader didn't have the option of a language in sixth grade and took reading (in addition to English)--which took a lot of time with busy-work. I would strongly favor starting a language. My rising sixth grader has the option of language but according to the materials they sent home, she seems only to have the option for the year-long 1a class (not 1a in fall and 1b in spring, as the older took in seventh/eight grade). Unless they start offering 1b as a fall class for seventh graders (seems doubtful), she seems to end up the same place the older one ended up-- taking 2a and 2b in eight grade. Maybe they will clarify at the parent meeting, but this doesn't seem like progress...

What school is this? At DD's MS, she and most of her friends are taking a world language in 6th grade. And the school does not offer the option of a full year 1a course. So they are all taking 1a/1/b in 6th grade. And no one has to go to the high school for level 3 as a PP suggested. It is taught at the middle school.

[Anonymous]

This is very interesting thread. Based on a lot of factors what is being offered as foreign language electives in MCPS schools can differ. Different HS also offer different pathways for AP or IB and that makes it even more confusing for the student and parents.

Decide what you should do by understanding the whole pathway from MS to HS that is available to you and what you want out of it. It is short-sighted when you may not know the implications of all your choices and base it on the MCPS agenda.

My 2 cents.

[Anonymous]

PP here. The school that appears to be letting sixth graders into only 1a is Hoover MS (based on the material they've sent home). The current year is the first year they allowed sixth graders into a language at all... my current 8th grader couldn't begin language until 7th grade, but took 1a/1b in 7th. Interesting how this is approached differently across the district...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My current 8th grader didn't have the option of a language in sixth grade and took reading (in addition to English)--which took a lot of time with busy-work. I would strongly favor starting a language. My rising sixth grader has the option of language but according to the materials they sent home, she seems only to have the option for the year-long 1a class (not 1a in fall and 1b in spring, as the older took in seventh/eight grade). Unless they start offering 1b as a fall class for seventh graders (seems doubtful), she seems to end up the same place the older one ended up-- taking 2a and 2b in eight grade. Maybe they will clarify at the parent meeting, but this doesn't seem like progress...

What school is this? At DD's MS, she and most of her friends are taking a world language in 6th grade. And the school does not offer the option of a full year 1a course. So they are all taking 1a/1/b in 6th grade. And no one has to go to the high school for level 3 as a PP suggested. It is taught at the middle school.

That is because your school does not offer 1a in 6th as a full year class. If your school does, only kids that "buck the system" and take 7th grade 1a/1b in 6th will need 3a/b in 8th..not enough for a whole class so they go to the HS along with the kids that take Algebra II in 8th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FYI - Colleges want to see a minimum of 2 years of a foreign language in high school. No matter how far your child gets in foreign language in middle school, they will need to take at least two years in high school to meet the college acceptance requirements for many schools.

Can you name a specific college where this is the case? I have heard that this is not really true. If your DC takes 3 years in MS and Language 4 in HS I have heard that this is fine for any college. They do not need to take Language 5.

We made out kid to repeat Lang 2 in 8th grade, to avoid Lang 3 in 8th and Lang 4 in 9th.
My child now in 9th taking Lang 3, and that will be it.
Spoke with UMD, they will allow it (kind of exception, but my child is bilingual anywhay). Child is planing to take different language in college and will go for Engineering, so we do not care that much about languages...
If you go for SLAC, you may need to take 2 years in HS. Other than that, one year in HS would be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FYI - Colleges want to see a minimum of 2 years of a foreign language in high school. No matter how far your child gets in foreign language in middle school, they will need to take at least two years in high school to meet the college acceptance requirements for many schools.

Can you name a specific college where this is the case? I have heard that this is not really true. If your DC takes 3 years in MS and Language 4 in HS I have heard that this is fine for any college. They do not need to take Language 5.

We made out kid to repeat Lang 2 in 8th grade, to avoid Lang 3 in 8th and Lang 4 in 9th.
My child now in 9th taking Lang 3, and that will be it.
Spoke with UMD, they will allow it (kind of exception, but my child is bilingual anywhay). Child is planing to take different language in college and will go for Engineering, so we do not care that much about languages...
If you go for SLAC, you may need to take 2 years in HS. Other than that, one year in HS would be fine.

Interesting because my kid (now in 7th) is going to take Spanish 3 in 8th and then probably repeat 3 in 9th. I thought repeating Spanish 3 would be better than repeating Spanish 2. We only speak one language in our house but he is doing very well so far and seems to have a knack for it. I know from my older that the jump to 3 is great so our thinking was that repeating as a freshman would lighten the transition to HS and then make DS really well prepared for Spanish 4. Do you feel strongly that repeating 2 is a better path?

[Anonymous]

How does it look on the transcript when someone repeats a class? For example, the PP whose kid is retaking Spanish 3 in 9th grade. Is the 8th grade Spanish 3 grade erased from the transcript and not averaged into the GPA, or will both Spanish 3 grades appear on the HS transcript and be averaged into the HS overall GPA?

[Anonymous]

Only the higher grade shows up on transcript.

[Anonymous]

How does it look on the transcript if you do one language in middle school then another language in high school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does it look on the transcript if you do one language in middle school then another language in high school?

Some college "require" and some "recommend" 2, 3 or 4 years of same language. Others do not care. Probably should do at least 2 of same language. So if DC had 2 years in Middle school it might be fine to switch. Especially if kid is science or math focused