No German at S's high school; what alternatives are there?

Parent Cafe
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<p>S is very interested in learning German. He was disappointed when he learned his HS (he’s a freshman) doesn’t offer it. (Italian, Latin, French, Russian, Japanese, and Spanish, yes, but no German. He’s currently taking Latin, and will continue that through at least Latin III.)</p>

<p>He was given a couple of one-course scholarships to the local State U, but couldn’t use them because all the classes in which he was interested (mostly German!) were scheduled for the middle of the day.</p>

<p>None of the local community colleges offer German. The USDA Grad School offers it in the evening (starting next week! Over before CTY starts!), but will not take a student under 18. (I called to ask.) That looked like a great option; the timing was perfect, but alas! He’s just too young.</p>

<p>Of the local universities/colleges, I see that local State U offers a summer introductory German class, but it starts while S is still in school, darn it! It’s his last week of school, granted, but I don’t think the high school is going to be keen on letting him skip all his morning classes to take German at local State U. He’d have to miss the last few weeks of the class for CTY, but I’d be okay with that – he’d at least get in four good weeks of a summer college class and of course, this isn’t for credit or anything.</p>

<p>I’ve checked Concordia Language Villages; they have a two-week program that S could possibly do, which is tightly tucked between school and CTY (or CTY and school, depending on which two-week session he goes to), but I suspect another two weeks away will be too much for him if he double-sessions at CTY. It’s also expensive.</p>

<p>He has textbooks, but that’s not the best option for a living language; he’d really like a class/interaction with others. Credit is not important. </p>

<p>Does anyone have any other ideas for places I might look? I’m stymied!</p>

<p>TIA!</p>

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<p>Berlitz? Rosetta Stone?</p>

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<p>Goethe Institutes. [Goethe-Institut</a> Learn German in Germany – German courses and exams - Goethe Institut in Germany](<a href=“ᑕ➊ᑐ Deutsch lernen am Goethe-Institut | Online und Präsenz”>ᑕ➊ᑐ Learn German at the Goethe-Institut | Online and Face-to-face)</p>

<p>Looks like they have courses for teens and distant learning options. I spent time at both the Institute in Passau (summer when I was in college) and in Munich (before looking for work in Germany.)</p>

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<p>Heh, mathmom; I’m sure he’d love to go to Germany, but that’s not in the cards for this year! Distance learning is an option, but he’d prefer a class to get started. Good to have that possibility for the future, though; thanks!</p>

<p>I had also looked at our local international school, and the German school, too, and neither of them had something for him. </p>

<p>katliamom, I hadn’t thought of Berlitz. I couldn’t get the websites for either of the closest Berlitz sites to come up, but while poking around, came across an article in a local magazine that lists foreign language classes. There’s another place that has classes starting next week – deadline for registration is tomorrow – and I just talked to someone there and they will take a 14-year-old, so long as the kid doesn’t mind taking a class with adults. So thanks! I think this gets him started!</p>

<p>And heh, I see another place teaches Finnish and Hungarian, which are two other languages he’s expressed interest in. Yay!</p>

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<p>Aren’t there options for language on iTunes?</p>

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<p>Kudos to you for not giving up…another possibility I saw is finding a native German speaker to meet with, to add to self-study. You can learn the grammar, etc. on your own, but you need someone to make sure you’re speaking and understanding correctly.</p>

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<p>D did a wonderful summer program in Berlin through Vanderbilt. Although she studied German in high school for 4 years, I think it was her college experience of several semesters and then the study abroad experience that really solidified it for her. Her hs German teacher retired after her junior year and she had to do independent study her senior year - it was disappointing to say the least. Any possibility of finding a retired teacher in your area for private instruction?</p>

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<p>When my kids were younger, very young, I hired a college student to work with them on a foreign language. I did the same thing with art and math.
Both of our kids tested gifted and the gifted education here is terrible (meet with a teacher one hour a week!). You could do the same thing at a higher level for your high schooler. By hiring a college student, you can fit “class” in based on your student’s schedule. Contact you local college, talk to the head of the foreign language department, and ask who is their best German student (or Grad student) is. College students are always wanting to earn extra money. They came to our home and I paid them $10 an hour (now this was 8 - 10 years ago now). It was worth every penny!</p>

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<p>“Italian, Latin, French, Russian, Japanese, and Spanish, yes, but no German”</p>

<p>Wow! That’s impressive. They only teach Spanish at my kids’ high school.</p>

<p>Oh, I’ve also heard rumors they teach a little English.</p>

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<p>I’d encourage your son to self-study and consider a foreign exchange during high school. The foreign exchange programs (AFS, YFU, Rotary, etc), do not require previous familiarity with a language, and a year-long exchange will result in fluency, as well as an unforgettable lifetime experience.</p>

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<p>you have an ambitious son! finnish and hungarian are among the hardest european languages. both make german seem easy. (and it ain’t easy.) good for him. i love americans who defy the don’t-speak-any-foreign-languages stereotype.</p>

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<p>Aventa Learning is online provider, that offers German I through IV at the high school level.</p>

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<p>There are Goethe Institutes that aren’t in Germany, but I don’t know if they have classes for high school students. There’s one in NYC. I agree with you - to start with a class is much easier.</p>

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<p>Check with your guidance counselor, our DS did Latin online virtual high school He actually went to the computer lab where kids were taking a variety of online classes…it’s a little secret they keep, afterall for every kid who takes an online class, they have one less in the class room…heck, who knows by the time their kids are in school, there might not be any teachers anymore just IT people</p>

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<p>Thanks, all! </p>

<p>mathmom, there’s a Goethe Institut here, too, and doh! on me for not knowing that! (Worse, I think I did know that at one time…) They do have language classes for high schoolers, but their schedule right now is incompatible with S’s.</p>

<p>I got to talking with a coworker after work; she suggested a reader, available through Amazon, that S might like after he learns some German. Good for first-year students, and with a glossary in the back. If he takes this class, I’ll get it for him. </p>

<p>2VU0609, I hadn’t thought of iTunes; I’ll check there. Thanks! That’s a good idea. A retired teacher, and MidwestParent and astrophysicsmom a German student or native speaker are possibilities, but since there’s a class that looks like it will work, I’m going to see about this first. I’m kind of reluctant to give S more stuff to do during the school year (since he’s not doing his homework, AGAIN, a note from his math teacher informed me today!); a once-a-week class is probably about right for him right now to see whether his interest holds up.</p>

<p>calmom, any foreign anything during high school would have to be summer only; S is in a science and tech program which has certain requirements that requires his attendance at the school he’s in for all four years. It’s a good program. If he takes to German, a summer program might be a possibility if he can tear himself away from CTY. (That’s a big if for this kid, though; he has cleaved to CTY the way many CTYers do.)</p>

<p>hudsonvalley, he goes to a large high school; one of the advantages of such a large school, all the languages, and many varied offerings in other subjects, too. </p>

<p>broetchen, thanks for the tip on Aventa; that might be a good way for him to continue.</p>

<p>katliamom, he’s a weird kid; what can I say? :slight_smile: He sits in the bathroom pursuing a Hungarian textbook already. He was going to program his TI-89 to conjugate verbs or translate or some such, but realized he didn’t have the diacriticals needed. I think he’s interested in Finnish because a lot of music that he likes is Finnish.</p>

<p>When he was very young, I thought about putting him in an immersion language program. I’m kind of sorry I didn’t.</p>

<p>Oooo, bulletandpima, distance learning for Latin might be a good idea for him. He’s not liking his Latin teacher a whole lot these days. (I suspect that’s because she expects much of him, and he prefers to keep teachers’ expectations low, alas!)</p>

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<p>Where do you live? Here in Atlanta there is a German school with Saturday classes.
<a href=“http://www.germanschoolatlanta.com/[/url]”>http://www.germanschoolatlanta.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>And here’s one in Portland!
<a href=“http://www.gssop.com/staff.htm[/url]”>http://www.gssop.com/staff.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Google Saturday German classes and your city name, and see what you get!</p>

<p>Edit: Here’s a creative solution – Your son wants to learn German, my D needs a summer job …</p>

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<p>The Concordia Language villages German camp, Waldsee, is quite wonderful. Great environment, and has a certain level of support from the German govt. Involvement in the Language villages is a great thing for anyone with a passion for language learning in general. If not for camps, then later for summer jobs and working with their immersion methadology. </p>

<p>Unfortunately, German teaching is going the way of the dodo bird in this country. CLV has had to shrink German programming in recent years due to decreased demand. Our local HS just stopped teaching German, to the frustration of those who loved the program. </p>

<p>I faced the same scheduling connundrum last summer with my D who wanted some instruction in Spanish prior to a Rotary year. HS contined past the starting date of summer school at the university and CC. She ended up taking the class regardless, as an audit. We communicated with the instructor before hand, she got the text, attended the few classes that she could fit in during finals week at the HS. And then with her previous language exposure, had no trouble catching up to the class for the rest of the summer session.</p>

<p>Rotary exchanges, esp for the linguistically motivated are a great way to really become fuctional in a language. Though best supported by some more formalized instruction as well.</p>

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<p>heh, binx, it’d be a long commute! I’m in the DC area.</p>

<p>Okay, now, after all that – the searching, great answers and suggestions from so many of you, the phone calls, my tall child decided he didn’t want to go downtown on a school night, and he’s not giving up Saturday robotics for German. So the class is out for now.</p>

<p>Means he has more time to do his homework, then, so he’d better do it… AND turn it in!!</p>

<p>Thanks, all, again for all these wonderful suggestions. I hope he gets to use them!!</p>

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<p>Your son sounds very much like mine, owlice. The similarities are almost eery, down to your comment about his turning in homework he’s done. My son’s list of languages studied is also quite eclectic and comprised of some relatively esoteric, less-commonly-taught languages. He’s had formal instruction in 8 languages (Japanese, Italian, Hebrew, Ancient Greek, German, Norwegian, Mandarin, Hindi) over the years through a variety of means - school, CTY, adult education courses, Concordia, pre-college summer program, college/grad. student tutors, native speakers we’ve searched out, study abroad… - and periods of self-study of several others (Finnish, Dutch, Danish, and Manx Gaelic among others). Like your son, he also had a scholarship to a local university through CTY, which he was unable to use as desired for another language course because of scheduling issues (but eventually used for a non-language course). </p>

<p>With regard to German, here’s another summer program to look into. I don’t have any personal experience with this program, but it looks interesting. While it’s geared to adults, “upper level” high school students are also accepted:
<a href=“http://www.uri.edu/artsci/ml/german/summerschool/index.html[/url]”>http://www.uri.edu/artsci/ml/german/summerschool/index.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Good luck to you and your son!</p>