Is there any downside to starting a new language in 9th?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP,

I won't know anything about the downside of taking a new language in 9th.

However, the upside of taking 3 yrs of Spanish in MS, and continuing to Spanish 4 in 9th, and Spanish AP in 10th grade was that
-he was done with the foreign language requirement at the highest level offered by the school.
- Freed up space for other courses in 11th and 12th
- Looked good for college application.
- Got the MD seal of biliteracy and was able to include on his cv
- Became bilingual.

Do you speak Spanish at home? Had your son had other profound exposure or immersion experiences? There is no way that succeeding in a Maryland public school AP Spanish course alone makes one fluent. Sorry.

But to OP’s question, I don’t think there is a wrong answer. Forcing Spanish just to get an extra AP is silly unless the student is interested. Moving down to Spanish 2 at the new school seems viable if this year was a mess. Starting over works too. Not everything needs to be a super calculated move for college admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope. No one expects kids to have 8-12 APs.

There are kids coming out of Whitman with 14 AP classes and this has been the norm for some time.

Any idea what % of the Whitman classes you're referring to?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP,

I won't know anything about the downside of taking a new language in 9th.

However, the upside of taking 3 yrs of Spanish in MS, and continuing to Spanish 4 in 9th, and Spanish AP in 10th grade was that
-he was done with the foreign language requirement at the highest level offered by the school.
- Freed up space for other courses in 11th and 12th
- Looked good for college application.
- Got the MD seal of biliteracy and was able to include on his cv
- Became bilingual.

Do you speak Spanish at home? Had your son had other profound exposure or immersion experiences? There is no way that succeeding in a Maryland public school AP Spanish course alone makes one fluent. Sorry.

But to OP’s question, I don’t think there is a wrong answer. Forcing Spanish just to get an extra AP is silly unless the student is interested. Moving down to Spanish 2 at the new school seems viable if this year was a mess. Starting over works too. Not everything needs to be a super calculated move for college admissions.

No, we don't speak Spanish at home. Are you a private school parent? Asking only because it seems you have a stick up your butt.

We basically did our own immersion experience for our child by exposing him to Spanish movies, TV channels, radio talk shows, magazines and comedy shows at home. His sister speaks Spanish with him at home and they both also tutor kids in Latin America in English and some kids here in Spanish. Both of them had Spanish tutors from very early on in their schooling and the emphasis was on conversational skills. Of course, you have to continue speaking and listening to the language to be fluent. Spanish came easy to them and they were supported and enriched at home too. YMMV. We were also super lucky to get very good Spanish teachers at MCPS schools my kids attended.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP,

I won't know anything about the downside of taking a new language in 9th.

However, the upside of taking 3 yrs of Spanish in MS, and continuing to Spanish 4 in 9th, and Spanish AP in 10th grade was that
-he was done with the foreign language requirement at the highest level offered by the school.
- Freed up space for other courses in 11th and 12th
- Looked good for college application.
- Got the MD seal of biliteracy and was able to include on his cv
- Became bilingual.

Do you speak Spanish at home? Had your son had other profound exposure or immersion experiences? There is no way that succeeding in a Maryland public school AP Spanish course alone makes one fluent. Sorry.

But to OP’s question, I don’t think there is a wrong answer. Forcing Spanish just to get an extra AP is silly unless the student is interested. Moving down to Spanish 2 at the new school seems viable if this year was a mess. Starting over works too. Not everything needs to be a super calculated move for college admissions.

Which kid wants to take APs without interest, time, motivation and brainpower to do it? Try forcing your teens to do something they are not good at or they don't want to work for?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP,

I won't know anything about the downside of taking a new language in 9th.

However, the upside of taking 3 yrs of Spanish in MS, and continuing to Spanish 4 in 9th, and Spanish AP in 10th grade was that
-he was done with the foreign language requirement at the highest level offered by the school.
- Freed up space for other courses in 11th and 12th
- Looked good for college application.
- Got the MD seal of biliteracy and was able to include on his cv
- Became bilingual.

Do you speak Spanish at home? Had your son had other profound exposure or immersion experiences? There is no way that succeeding in a Maryland public school AP Spanish course alone makes one fluent. Sorry.

But to OP’s question, I don’t think there is a wrong answer. Forcing Spanish just to get an extra AP is silly unless the student is interested. Moving down to Spanish 2 at the new school seems viable if this year was a mess. Starting over works too. Not everything needs to be a super calculated move for college admissions.

No, we don't speak Spanish at home. Are you a private school parent? Asking only because it seems you have a stick up your butt.

We basically did our own immersion experience for our child by exposing him to Spanish movies, TV channels, radio talk shows, magazines and comedy shows at home. His sister speaks Spanish with him at home and they both also tutor kids in Latin America in English and some kids here in Spanish. Both of them had Spanish tutors from very early on in their schooling and the emphasis was on conversational skills. Of course, you have to continue speaking and listening to the language to be fluent. Spanish came easy to them and they were supported and enriched at home too. YMMV. We were also super lucky to get very good Spanish teachers at MCPS schools my kids attended.

Yeah, there's no way your kid is fluent. Even siblings that grow up in Spanish speaking homes speak to each other in English, so I don't buy for one minute that your kids are speaking fluent Spanish to each other. And what you describe contributes to passive skills, not active skills.

[Anonymous]

Whether the kid is fluent or not, there was a lot more effort involved than the poster initially suggested. I agree with the PP who suggested not everything should relate to college admissions, but you also can't put your head in the sand. He likely won't know his intended major, but should consider his interets as well as his desire to apply to schools that require 3-4 years of a language and/or AP level.

[Anonymous]

My kids started over with a new language after realizing that the crappy training so far didn't set him up for success in high school, despite the As.

Ideally things go really right so that competency is achieved in school. Sometimes that doesn't happen so you pick the next best choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP,

I won't know anything about the downside of taking a new language in 9th.

However, the upside of taking 3 yrs of Spanish in MS, and continuing to Spanish 4 in 9th, and Spanish AP in 10th grade was that
-he was done with the foreign language requirement at the highest level offered by the school.
- Freed up space for other courses in 11th and 12th
- Looked good for college application.
- Got the MD seal of biliteracy and was able to include on his cv
- Became bilingual.

Do you speak Spanish at home? Had your son had other profound exposure or immersion experiences? There is no way that succeeding in a Maryland public school AP Spanish course alone makes one fluent. Sorry.

But to OP’s question, I don’t think there is a wrong answer. Forcing Spanish just to get an extra AP is silly unless the student is interested. Moving down to Spanish 2 at the new school seems viable if this year was a mess. Starting over works too. Not everything needs to be a super calculated move for college admissions.

No, we don't speak Spanish at home. Are you a private school parent? Asking only because it seems you have a stick up your butt.

We basically did our own immersion experience for our child by exposing him to Spanish movies, TV channels, radio talk shows, magazines and comedy shows at home. His sister speaks Spanish with him at home and they both also tutor kids in Latin America in English and some kids here in Spanish. Both of them had Spanish tutors from very early on in their schooling and the emphasis was on conversational skills. Of course, you have to continue speaking and listening to the language to be fluent. Spanish came easy to them and they were supported and enriched at home too. YMMV. We were also super lucky to get very good Spanish teachers at MCPS schools my kids attended.

Yeah, there's no way your kid is fluent. Even siblings that grow up in Spanish speaking homes speak to each other in English, so I don't buy for one minute that your kids are speaking fluent Spanish to each other. And what you describe contributes to passive skills, not active skills.

+1 I don't think that poster understands what "fluent" and "bilingual" actually mean.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They won't necessarily know your kid took a language before 9th because it won't be on the transcript (you may need to ask for it not to be on there...)

But most of the top colleges want to see rigor across the board, that means AP in all classes, including languages. If you're starting a new language in 9th you'll only get to 4th year in that language by 12 and your kid will be applying against others who started in 6th grade, completed AP in 10th or 11th

Nobody care which year you take the AP language test.

But if you start a new language in 9th you won't be taking it at all!

I think that it must depend upon the school and the sequence. My private school had small classes and excellent teachers. I was able to start French in 9th and take AP French Language in 12'th grade with a 5. No immersion or foreign travel. My class size ranged from 3-10 students, depending upon the year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They won't necessarily know your kid took a language before 9th because it won't be on the transcript (you may need to ask for it not to be on there...)

But most of the top colleges want to see rigor across the board, that means AP in all classes, including languages. If you're starting a new language in 9th you'll only get to 4th year in that language by 12 and your kid will be applying against others who started in 6th grade, completed AP in 10th or 11th

Nobody care which year you take the AP language test.

But if you start a new language in 9th you won't be taking it at all!

I think that it must depend upon the school and the sequence. My private school had small classes and excellent teachers. I was able to start French in 9th and take AP French Language in 12'th grade with a 5. No immersion or foreign travel. My class size ranged from 3-10 students, depending upon the year.

yeah, in the 70s. No longer the case. AP is the 5th year of study as per the curriculum.