<p>Bajamm - does his HS or your state require a foreign language? If so, how many years? Perhaps he can try sign language.</p>
<p>bajamm- D2 also had to drop Spanish this year (she decided she ‘didn’t like it’ and just didn’t do the work- ack!). She wanted to take French instead, but her school is not currently offering it. She did sign up for an on-line French class from BYU.</p>
<p>We did some research on which colleges do not require a language, and did find that many accept ASL as a language. Some also may consider a computer programming class as a language.</p>
<p>Morning All
Hope everyone is well. </p>
<p>
lol EAO. Though that sounds like it comes with some tone of disdain/superiority…
Are they unhappy stateside? </p>
<p>When we lived overseas we could spot Americans by their sneakers! And their size. In a group of people in any piazza, the fat, loud ones with sneakers were the Americans…sadly the “american tourist” stereotype has some basis in fact.</p>
<p>Living overseas for most of their lives–they are American by passport, yet more European (a broad term -yes) by culture. There is a great poem written by a missionary’s kid about not being blue, nor yellow, yet green…because of the mix.</p>
<p>Kinder-kudos to your daughter. She always impresses me with how she handles situations. You should be so proud of her!</p>
<p>Thanks gsmomma and FlMathMom for the ideas. The state does not require foreign language to graduate high school. </p>
<p>The school requires foreign language of all 8th graders, even the ones who will never go to college. So, he was enrolled in Spanish because H has a minor in Spanish and could help him out. It didn’t work. S is special ed in math, science and language processing. He has a hard enough time in classes taught in English. We eventually talked the school into letting him drop and have a study hall so he could have the extra time he needs to get his homework done. His grades are much improved this semester (B’s and C’s instead of D’s and F’s).</p>
<p>The public in state schools do say they require 2 years of foreign language in high school to be admitted. </p>
<p>I am not locked into sending him to a public school. I’d rather send him to a school close to home so I can support him as needed. That may be the community college for the first couple of years so he can get used to the college schedule and mature a little bit more. Then he can transfer to wherever. </p>
<p>Sign language is a good idea of colleges accept it as a foreign language. He’d probably also enjoy computer programming. I will look into those.</p>
<p>bajamm, somewhere there is a list of such schools. I did a quick search but couldn’t find it. ShawSon did not take any foreign languages in high school. He is severely dyslexic and just doesn’t hear the sounds. He had disastrous experiences with Latin and was just incompetent in Spanish. He was pretty bad in just sounding out Hebrew, which was phonetic. In his case, though he had special ed for writing early in HS and support all the way through, he was unusually strong in most of his HS courses. So, his situation will be different than your son’s, but let me report it.</p>
<p>I called several schools including several Ivies about what they would do with a kid with no foreign language. They typically said, “It is a recommendation and not a requirement,” though Brown, I think said, that because they don’t have any requirements in college, it is a requirement. But, if you don’t take a language, the schools said, “In the supplementary essay, you need to explain why you didn’t take one. The critical thing is that you use the time to do something else intellectually challenging.” </p>
<p>ShawSon got into a number of elite schools, and as well to the state flagship with a full tuition merit scholarship (although I don’t recall if they have language as an entrance requirement). The school he is attending has no distribution requirements – and hence no language requirement for graduation. He can just take the courses that he wants and skip those he doesn’t. He is very happy.</p>
<p>One of my son’s requirements in selecting a college was NO language requirement. After taking Hebrew from K - 8 he felt he was tortured sufficiently for life. He managed to finish four years of HS Spanish which was required by the state and his IB diploma. The one college he was accepted to that had a language requirement allowed computer science or logic as a substitute. Good luck in your search bajamm.</p>
<p>Keeping searching CC, bajamm. I am positive I’ve seen threads on this question. Or start a new one. Maybe in College Search/Selection?</p>
<p>Our HS doesn’t require a FL (although I’m thinking they might start) but both of my Ds’ colleges do. You can either pass the test or take it before you graduate. D2 also disliked Spanish, wants to take French, which our HS didn’t offer. She’s probably going to take French 1 at local U this summer, because 2 years will be hard to fit into her college program. </p>
<p>I believe all of these kids dislike HS Spanish because of the quality of teaching and curriculum lately - I’m guessing that colleges are churning out Spanish teachers who don’t have the exceptional skills it takes to inspire HS kids in FL. I was fortunate in HS in two languages to have native speakers who also were excellent teachers. But my first two Spanish teachers - who resembled the kind we see today - almost ruined the language for me, even though I was a very determined FL student. </p>
<p>D2 loved the idea of languages, and still does. But she said her HS Spanish class felt like a math class, all 3 years. When she heard Spanish 4 was just harder homework and tests (again, like math) she decided to drop. When I was in Spanish 4, we were reading, talking, writing, learning about culture … OK, off my soapbox now.</p>
<p>Emmybet - i agree with your assessment. It is unbelievable to me that both of my kids have taken four years of honors-level Spanish and both can barely place an order in Spanish at Taco Bell.</p>
<p>My girls are so different. Even though D1 is at an engineering school, and majoring in engineering, one of her requirements is that the school had to offer Spanish as a minor. She crossed off schools that did not offer language classes. She is officially minoring in Spanish, and is doing well in her language classes, and has asked her Spanish teacher to be one of her academic advisors. She said that she likes to have a class that is not Math or Science to break up the day.</p>
<p>Regarding high school Spanish – I guess we must be lucky. My kids attend a small public high school and they’ve really had a good experience with Spanish. So far 2 have gone through AP Spanish, the first with a 4 on the AP exam and the second with a 5. The teacher who teaches the highest level Spanish classes is an American who grew up in Spain. She worked previously in international business and went back to school to be accredited to teach Spanish, so this is a second career for her. I think she does a great job with prep for the AP exam, as well as teaching culture and immersing the kids in the language. No English in her classroom. She sponsors a semi-annual trip to Spain for the high school students. Unfortunately, my kids weren’t able to travel to Spain with her, but I’ve heard great things about the trips. Both of mine have gone on to take Spanish classes in college. Perhaps she is the exception to the rule, but I think there are still some good ones out there.</p>
<p>Oh, absolutely! There are wonderful teachers out there. And at our HS, German is taught much better and the kids like it a lot more. Good teachers are really precious, in any subject.</p>
<p>bajamm, When you say your son has a problem with language processing, does that mean that hearing something read helps him comprehend something better then trying to read it? If that’s the case, does his IEP provide him with audio books for classes and would they do that for a FL? I know that’s what our schools do. We usually have a few kids come in every summer that need the required summer reading books in an audio version and they’ll also check out the hard book copy to go along with it.</p>
<p>I think that small colleges would be more forgiving of the lack of a FL with a good reason. Large public’s usually just scan the apps and discard the ones that don’t meet the minimum criteria don’t they?</p>
<p>I, too, was frustrated with Spanish in our school system. The kids start in 4th grade. By 9th or 10th, neither was able to speak a sentence in Spanish! I thought it was a colossal waste of time. However, the last two years of HS Spanish for D were magical. She took an extra Spanish class over one summer, is taking a Latin American history class taught in Spanish at college, and is minoring in it. This passion for Spanish has been a most pleasant surprise and will likely be a factor in her career choices. I give credit to her junior year teacher, an amazing woman who inspires her students! My D is still in touch with her. </p>
<p>On a related note, younger son has been completely turned off of science by his current teacher. This teacher is a poster child for poor teaching and seems to find pleasure in discouraging students and finding fault. It is a true shame, because this son has a natural ability and interest in science. Two more days and he is done with her (block system)!</p>
<p>Is anyone else feeling more sad now than they did in September? I don’t know why, but sending D back after Winter break has been more difficult than sending her off in August. </p>
<p>Hooray for Kinder D and good luck, bajamm, with the language matter.</p>
<p>Mnmomof2: Maybe some of the sadness is because most of won’t see our students as soon or as frequently as we did during the first semester. I know for my son, we saw him for fall break, parents weekend, Thanksgiving and then Christmas. This semester he’ll have spring and then we won’t see him until May.</p>
<p>
I would agree with this. This was the first time we dropped S2 off not knowing when we would see him again. Unlike most I could drive down and have lunch provided his schedule was free most any day, however that’s not the point of college now is it? I believe he’ll be home at spring break, but he really hasn’t talked about it. During the fall semester we were there for several football games (there and back on a Saturday), and he was home for fall break and T’giving. This semester will be much different.</p>
<p>It must be becsause I sent boychild off to sleep-away for the whole summer since he was 7 but I am definitely not sad or missing him - even though I love him to pieces. </p>
<p>Went to my first business networking meeting for small businesses this morning. I was invited by a friend. Very interesting and I can see several opportunities for help with growing my business. First up is a call to a young guy who does web sites for small business and who everyone says is a genius.</p>
<p>emilybee-I am really not missing D either, probably because we didn’t get along that well over the winter break! I am excited that she seems to be really at home at her school! I would be more worried if she was calling me all the time and seemed homesick. I talk to her once every 7-10 days. Rarely get a text or message from her either. I do agree that the years of sleepawaycamp and no contact for weeks helped prepare me (and her) for this.</p>
<p>Re: language. DS took Latin for 7 years b/c he finds speaking in a foreign language very difficult (he was exposed to both Fr and Sp in elementary). Partly he is shy and speaking is hard for him and partly there is something in his aural/oral processing that makes speaking a foreign language tough. Latin solved the problem. Now he’s in a school with no language requirement but with a strong recommendation for two years of a language in his major (likely math). Choice is Russian, German, or French. We’re voting for German since his dad is fluent and Russian means learning a whole new alphabet.
And, like others, missing him more now. We had kind of a tough summer but really connected through the break despite its ups and downs.</p>
<p>kathiep, my son’s iep does not include audio books. It is up for its annual review soon, before the end of the school year, so I will ask then. </p>
<p>He has always had a hard time with both visual and audio. It doesn’t matter how language enters his brain, he has a hard time processing it. I do think, though, that it is easier for him to process audio, especially when he is tired.</p>