Son struggling with Spanish in high school

[Anonymous]

My son is really struggling with Spanish in school. It is his second year of Spanish and grades don't look good. He says, he is ok with speaking but struggles with grammar and writing. What are some resources that can help? We are looking at a tutor also.
Will having a Spanish language channel help? Are there other resources that can help him make substantial progress in a short span.
Pls help

[Anonymous]

Get a tutor and if the tutor's good, keep him/her -forever, including visits in the summer. Think of this as an investment in the type of college/type of major your child will be able to consider. If it got to the point, wouldn't expect it, of D's as a final grade, I have suggestions beyond the tutor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Get a tutor and if the tutor's good, keep him/her -forever, including visits in the summer. Think of this as an investment in the type of college/type of major your child will be able to consider. If it got to the point, wouldn't expect it, of D's as a final grade, I have suggestions beyond the tutor.

I second this idea.

[Anonymous]

Are there online resources he can use, while we search for a tutor?

[Anonymous]

Duo Lingo

[Anonymous]

Spanish speaking girlfriend. I'm not kidding - he will learn it fast it no time.

[Anonymous]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/

[Anonymous]

You only need two years of a foreign language. It doesn't have to be the same language for both years. My son passed by doing one year of Spanish and one year of French.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Spanish speaking girlfriend. I'm not kidding - he will learn it fast it no time.

I was going to say the same!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You only need two years of a foreign language. It doesn't have to be the same language for both years. My son passed by doing one year of Spanish and one year of French.

does that look bad on college apps? Not Ivy League but second tier competitive. Like UVA, would they not look at an applicant if he does this? Or is it school specific? Because sounds like a great idea!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/

Thank you for this and the duo lingo site. I'm having him check them out

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You only need two years of a foreign language. It doesn't have to be the same language for both years. My son passed by doing one year of Spanish and one year of French.

does that look bad on college apps? Not Ivy League but second tier competitive. Like UVA, would they not look at an applicant if he does this? Or is it school specific? Because sounds like a great idea!!

Not sure which is better - high grades in each year of separate languages or two years of the same language with a low grade in the second year. On the advice of the school guidance counselor we went with two separate languages. This is MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Arlington?

Get a tutor.

[Anonymous]

A tutor definitely sounds like a good plan if his issues are primarily in grammar and writing.
Meanwhile, a minor thing to do that could be helpful in reinforcing the language is to find movies he knows really well in English that are available with Spanish subtitles and language, and also read in Spanish something he knows well in English.

[Anonymous]

Ok, here are some tips and you can even help with them. Spanish is super easy to write and speak once you thoroughly memorize the Spanish alphabet. Make flashcards and go over them until he knows them well out of sequence by sound. I'm sure there are plenty of free websites he can use - start with Quizlet.

Then, he can spell and pronounce each word. All Spanish words are pronounced and spelled exactly as the letters in the alphabet - much easier than English.

There's really no getting around memorizing the verb tenses by writing out notecards and copying them down a few times. Then writing out notecards for irregular verbs after he's memorized the regular verb endings.

There's a bunch of memorization involved in Spanish 2 and he should be spending at least 20 minutes a day reviewing if he's having this much trouble.

Good luck.