Is it better to do 4yrs of the same foreign language?

[Tina Duke]

we are doing Elem Greek right now and will continue Greek study in high school... we've done french since he was in 2nd grade (he's in 7th now)...Learnables and Rosetta Stone...my goal was to do 3 more years of French 8th,9th and 10th and then do Spanish in 11 and 12 grade...But I've heard that it's better to stay with one language for 4years....it looks better on transcripts? Anyway.. here's my question...would/could you do SOS Spanish over 4years.. I hear it's pretty tough..could you do Spanish 1A in 9th, Spanish 1B in 10th, Spanish 2A in 11 and Spanish 2B in 12...(spreading out Spanish 1 for two years and Spanish 2 for two years ) I"ve heard it may be tough enough to spread this out and still give a credit for each year. What do you think? I need to make my decisions and order my stuff this week. Still trying to decide what to do for French now that Rosetta Stone won't be doing the free library version anymore. I was hoping to do SOS but it seems they don't have French 1 and 2 .. only Elem and Secondary which supposedly isn't as good.. thoughts?

[Laura Corin]

I would definitely try to stick with a modern language - after all a language is to be used, and the more proficient you are at it, the more likely you are to use it.

My boys don't have the option of dropping Mandarin until they leave home. I intend for them to take up French in middle school and study it straight through too. Latin may get dropped - it will have served its purpose once the boys have spent a year or two reading original texts.

Sorry - no idea about curricula.

Laura

[Tina Duke]

I would definitely try to stick with a modern language - after all a language is to be used, and the more proficient you are at it, the more likely you are to use it.

My boys don't have the option of dropping Mandarin until they leave home. I intend for them to take up French in middle school and study it straight through too. Latin may get dropped - it will have served its purpose once the boys have spent a year or two reading original texts.

Sorry - no idea about curricula.

Laura
spanish and french side by side each year (I know it would be a lot especially continuing with Greek...) but I wonder if it can be done well... We dropped Latin. I kind of wished we hadn't but I just couldn't do it all and had to decide between Latin and Greek and Greek won out

[Laura Corin]

We are stepping a little outside my knowledge as I went through a different education system, but at school I did Latin from age 12 to 16, French from age 11 to 18 and Spanish from age 16 to 18. I went on to major in French at university; I have enough Spanish to read fairly simple texts but I can't talk; the Latin has stayed with me as a background to English.

Best wishes

Laura

[Susie in CA]

Once I start a modern foreign language I will not drop it. My kids have always done German and always will. I will add in Spanish in 5th or 6th grade. We will add something else in High School (there choice).

I went through a different school system (like Laura). My friends' children have gone (or go) through that school system now. Here is what they do:

1st - 12th English (english is the foreign language here)

5th - 12th French

8th - 12th Spanish, Latin or Italian

They always end up with three foreign languages, none get dropped, ever.

Susie

[mcconnellboys]

I can't comment on the curriculum you're looking at, but more and more colleges are requiring 3 years of the same foreign language for admittance without a deficiency. So if you want to avoid that, I would stick with 3-4 years of high school level language in a single area. If your child loves languages and wants to add others as electives, then so be it!

Regena

[clerkofkirk]

This is my plan. My son is in fourth grade right now.

Spanish (Rosetta Stone) 2 - 6 (continued practice with Spanish speakers at church)
Latin 2 - 12 (or until mastered)
Greek 5 - 12 with Dad until mastered
Russian 7 - 12 (probably with Rosetta Stone)

Susie in SWVA

[susie in tx]

but at school I did Latin from age 12 to 16, French from age 11 to 18 and Spanish from age 16 to 18. I went on to major in French at university;

You've mentioned this progression before, Laura, and it gives me hope. My dd is 12 and in her second year of Hebrew study. She just began Latin. She also desires to learn at least one Modern language and Greek. She seems to have an affinity for languages, though she says she wants to become an author as an adult.