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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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. 
[/quote]

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. [/quote]

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.  [/quote]

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. [/quote]

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