<p>My son took Spanish 1 in grade 7 and Spanish 2 in grade 8. He then took Spanish 3 in grade 9 and dropped Spanish after that.</p>
<p>He was admitted to two universities that require at least two years of foreign language, so the foreign language taken in middle school must have counted.</p>
<p>In our district, high school courses taken in middle school (such as foreign language or Algebra 1) appear on the student’s transcript, but I don’t know whether that makes a difference.</p>
<p>Ours is another district where Middle School language is considered 1st year and appears on HS transcript. Not sure if it’s calculated in the GPA.</p>
<p>I would seriously doubt that Delaware only accepts conversational languages as filling their ADMISSIONS language requirement. Here’s what their website says for admissions requirements:</p>
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<p>Could probably look further to see what their distribution/academic requirements are once a student is attending Delaware. It’s possible they may require a conversational language or proof of having taken one.</p>
<p>I know one kid who went to UDel with only Latin (at least only Latin in high school). I wasn’t aware of this issue, and I don’t know whether she had to do anything to make it go away or not. She’s probably a junior there now.</p>
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<p>I get a little upset at the attitude in many of these threads that foreign language requirements are stupid formalities that should be minimized, and that my otherwise brilliant poor baby shouldn’t be expected to learn a foreign language. Out there in the rest of the world, almost EVERYONE with any education learns at least one foreign language, more often many languages. Not only the brilliant kids destined for the top levels of industry and academia, where the ability to publish and to present in English will make or break their careers, but the kids who drop out of high school, who learn a trade, who become nursery school aides. People with real intellectual disabilities learn second languages. It shouldn’t be that difficult for anyone who can handle high school, even if they are dyslexic.</p>
<p>And it has real moral and civic value, too. In some ways, the US is the most provincial society on Earth, since we alone act as though we don’t have to pay attention to anyone else. I don’t really want to give anyone a pass on learning a foreign language – and to a much higher level than most state or college entrance requirements demand. (Nevertheless, in my experience colleges barely if at all enforce their supposed language requirements for admission.)</p>
<p>“People with real intellectual disabilities learn second languages. It shouldn’t be that difficult for anyone who can handle high school, even if they are dyslexic.”</p>
<p>Clearly you don’t have a child with true learning disabilities. Everything is difficult for my ds and there is constant worry that he will not be able to handle high school. I cross my fingers and hope he can handle it with success, as he matures and adds coping mechanisms to his arsenal. Ds has a great work ethic because of his struggles, but I once asked if he could just try harder. He looked at me and said, “Mom, I do try hard. I try harder than everyone, and I’m always a few steps behind.”</p>
<p>With that said, if ds was immersed in the language, he would surely learn at the rate everyone would. But, alas, he is being taught reading, writing, spelling and grammar. He hasn’t even grasped that in his native language!</p>
<p>Learning a foreign language is indeed important. But, as a mother of a dyslexic child, I have also learned the importance of being realistic.</p>
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<p>We made note of this as well, before and after our prospective student session at UDel last fall. Good to hear that others have had experiences which contradict the information provided by the possibly misguided Admissions Rep who made that statement. </p>
<p>I’m merely suggesting that it’s not a bad idea to check with each school specifically to avoid any surprises.</p>
<p>My son took French 1 in 8th and went to French 3 in 10th then stopped. I emailed a few Universities and they all count it as 3 years of french, though the GPA is only counted from HS. However, the student must still do 2 years of Lang actually in HS, not stop after freshman year with French 2.</p>
<p>@lisabees – I could not agree more. My son (eight grader) has only mild dyslexia but has struggled with Spanish and Latin this year. (equivalent to Spanish I and Latin I). He has spent the majority of his time studying these two subjects for his worst grades. Fortunately, his Spanish teacher really gets it in that she knows how much work he is doing and has told me that with concepts he is grasping things in the class that no one else does. Although that can’t change his grades (horrible due to vocab) I never get any emails or communication that if my son would just “work harder” he would do better!! </p>
<p>He was given the option of Spanish I next year, or Spanish II, or Latin II. We were told that Spanish II would be pretty straightforward but that Spanish III might “eat his lunch” . We are still deciding but will likely play to his strengths and go for Spanish I and then II as a soph. I can see him learning Spanish in an immersion program, though he still would not be able to spell it!!</p>
<p>lisabees, I can definitely relate to your comments. My son too has the best work ethic and never complains about the amount of time that he has to spend at his schoolwork. If we were not living with this, I too would not appreciate that a kid could work so hard at a foreign language and not learn it in a way that can be reflected on his tests and quizzes.</p>
<p>I think there are all sorts of answers to these questions. First, you will need to meet your school’s requirements for graduation. Next you will need to investigate possible colleges and requirements and at this stage, the best source may be your guidance counselor. We were told that regardless, two years of foreign language instruction in the same language needed to be complete in high school ( I have read of a few places that require them to be taken in consecutive school years – just keep that in mind)</p>
<p>I took French 1 in 8th grade and while it was listed on my transcript, my grade wasn’t factored into my GPA. I completed French 5 by the end of my junior year (we were on block schedule) and colleges read that as having 5 years of language.</p>
<p>My son has a verbal processing disorder. He attended a private school for 7 years and never picked up a foreign language that he started in K. In 4th grade the teacher said “You must not care, you have the lowest grade in the class. You do well in your other subjects, why not mine”. Since he had the highest grades in some subjects, the school just assumed he wasn’t interested and I knew something was wrong. He still didn’t improve at all even after one on one private tutoring. I had to find the problem on my own. My son works harder then most kids, and I’m already anxious about the foreign language requirement for HS and college. We are starting public Middle School in the fall (7th grade) and will not put him in a foreign language class this year. The post about all kids can learn a foreign languages and Americans don’t care is really offensive. My older daughter takes 2 foreign languages at the same time (one off campus, since her HS only offers French and Spanish).</p>
<p>I think it depends on the university. I know we attended some admission sessions where the admissions rep stated that 3 years of FL/math/science/whatever meant 3 years of HS FL/math/science taken at a HS. I am sure there are exceptions to every rule, and this was not an issue for my S, but I suggest checking with schools your child is intersted in.</p>
<p>A university’s policy might differ on math and foreign language versus science and social studies, since the former two subjects have a more linear progression of prerequisites.</p>
<p>E.g. a student who completed calculus might be assumed to know all of the lower level math courses covering algebra, geometry, and trigonometry, and a student who completed Spanish 4 might be assumed to know Spanish 1 to 3. But a student who completed physics would not be assumed to know biology or chemistry, and a student who completed US history would not be assumed to know world history.</p>