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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Former WL teacher here.

Middle schools can run 3 options: 
1. Level 1 Part A as a semester course (Grade 7), Level 1 Part B as a year-long course (Grade 8). 
2. Level 1 Part A as a yr-long (7th), Level 1 B as a yr-long (8th). 
3. Level 1 as a single year course in 8th (note: I've heard that some schools offer Level 1 in Grade 7 so that they can offer Level 2 in 8th, but can't confirm).

I've taught all 3 sequences. My favorite is the yr-long each Part A and Part B--we got to do so much enrichment, lots of fun projects, etc. The semester-long Part A/year-long Part B is just the right amount of time to cover all of the requirements of the course. The single-year Level 1 is tough--it's bare-bones, teach-to-the-test, at breakneck speed.

If you have a choice, and language learning is a priority, I would recommend the two-part program, regardless of how it's divided up. Making sure your student has the foundation and fundamentals of whatever language s/he has chosen is paramount to success in the subsequent levels--everything spirals upon itself (similar to math). It is a skills-based course.

If your student prefers to sample other offerings in Grade 7, and s/he wants to just "try out" language learning, then maybe the single year Level 1 class is enough.

OP, if you have other questions, you can quote me and I'll check back. [/quote]

NP. What do you recommend for kids who have taken years of Spanish in elementary school, but languages not their strong subject. Ok to take Spanish 1 in  8th?[/quote]

That person posted 4 years ago.  I’m not a language teacher but my kid is taking the entire year in 8th next year.  My older kid did this and wasn’t strong in languages and it worked well.  It was more that we wanted them to have two electives in 7th and not have their high school transcript be only the second, harder half of the year if they took part 2. I know it goes slower since it’s spread out over a year but our thought was the full course could always be expunged if the year didn’t go well.  [/quote]

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