Meeting foreign language requirements

[Miss Marple]

In looking at various colleges/universities I see that many allow 2 years of high school foreign language to count toward the college's foreign language requirement. My 2 oldest sons met the foreign language requirement by utilizing concurrent courses at the local university. This option is probably not going to work for ds#3 due to the fact that he probably would not be able to handle the local instructor.

 

I'm wondering how colleges/universities look at 2 years of foreign language in the homeschool (not outsourcing). Do the students have to take a proficiency test of any sort in order to meet the college's foreign language requirement? I know they can take the SAT2s or CLEP, but what if one just opts for a home study course, ie. Rosetta Stone, with no outside corroboration of proficiency - has anyone had difficulty with admissions?

 

FWIW, we are also considering other alternatives based on previous input from this board (Chinese, sign language, etc.).

[Karenciavo]

You probably have to check with the college. One college my son applied to requires passing a proficiency test even if you take a language at a college level.

[Ester Maria]

For heaven's sake stay away from Rosetta Stone or anything that resembles it. Get a proper, grammar-based program - it will not only add to your knowledge, but also to the credibility.

[Kathy in Richmond]

Placing out of the foreign language requirement at my dd's college requires either scoring well on the AP or SAT Subject exam OR on the college's own placement exam (given over the summer before freshman year).

 

~Kathy

[In The Great White North]

Placing out of the foreign language requirement at my dd's college requires either scoring well on the AP or SAT Subject exam OR on the college's own placement exam (given over the summer before freshman year

 

Same here.

 

He had two years of German (9th and 10th) and had no problem being accepted with just Mommy grades (no tests at all.) He would have just had to take a higher level course had he passed their test, so he didn't bother and has spent the semester so far listening to the instructor tell him he should have been in second year German. :D He's happy with an easy A.

[Tokyomarie]

Same here.

 

He had two years of German (9th and 10th) and had no problem being accepted with just Mommy grades (no tests at all.) He would have just had to take a higher level course had he passed their test, so he didn't bother and has spent the semester so far listening to the instructor tell him he should have been in second year German. :D He's happy with an easy A.

 

Daughter #2 refused to make arrangements to take a placement test for Japanese. This kid had grown up in Japan, though she lost a lot of her language after moving here. She did get one semester's transfer credit because she took a semester online during high school. Just before her senior year, she spent the summer in language school in Japan. She could have easily placed higher than 1st year, 2nd semester. When she got to college, she chose the easy A instead.

 

Both of my girls did take the SAT Subject test in Japanese. Of course, the ceiling wasn't high enough to demonstrate their true ability, but it was one objective measure sent to the colleges.

 

My son, who was still a little tyke when we returned from Japan, is now studying Japanese from the beginning, as a true foreign language. He will be my first child to go to college without already having had significant immersion in the language as a teen. I am planning for him to study straight through his senior year. I will probably have him take the SAT Subject Test in the fall of his senior year- it is only offered in November. I'm sure he'll need to take a placement test if he wishes to place into a higher level than 1st semester, though.

[yinne]

You will need to check with the college he is interested in attending. Some colleges will accept 2 years at the high school level, while others want a proficiency test taken as well. This just doesn't apply to homeschool students, but all students. I know my nephew took 2 years of Spanish at a public high school and was still required to pass the proficiency exam -- he didn't so he is taking Spanish again as a freshman.

 

The Univ of NE will accept some programs that homeschool students use for the two years of a foreign language (although I think they also require a proficiency exam), but they will not accept Rosetta Stone. You really need to know what the university/college will accept.

 

Yvonne in NE

Edited November 8, 2010 by yinne

[Nan in Mass]

My general impression is that it works like math - the colleges want to look at your test scores or they test you themselves in order to determine placement.

 

-Nan

[Brenda in MA]

I'm wondering how colleges/universities look at 2 years of foreign language in the homeschool (not outsourcing). Do the students have to take a proficiency test of any sort in order to meet the college's foreign language requirement? I know they can take the SAT2s or CLEP, but what if one just opts for a home study course, ie. Rosetta Stone, with no outside corroboration of proficiency - has anyone had difficulty with admissions?

 

Cynthia,

 

You seem to be asking two different questions. The first question is what foreign language is required for him to get into college, and the second question is if the school has a language requirement for graduation, how can your student meet that while in high school.

 

IMHO, if you're more concerned about the first question, then you might take a different path than if you are hoping for him to gain enough proficiency/credits in high school to be able to bypass language classes in college. If he's interested in a more technical field, than IMHO, most colleges will be less interested in what foreign language he took and more interested that he has the math & science he will need to succeed.

 

I know this probably isn't a popular approach for those that frequent these boards, but my ds used Rosetta Stone Spanish for high school for his foreign language. He took no outside language classes. The 8 colleges he applied to (& was accepted by) for engineering required that he take foreign language in high school but didn't require him to take any kind of placement or proficiency test. In fact the college he now attends doesn't have a foreign language requirement at all for graduation (gasp!!! I know some of you are probably gasping...).

 

In retrospect, this is not a path I would take with a student again, but given the student in question, this seemed the best possible approach. He began homeschooling later (5th grade), and we had a lot of other things to work through so foreign language received a lower priority. He could have taken Spanish at the local CC, but I didn't want to overwhelm him with CC courses later in high school, and so he took courses in science and computers that were more related to his eventual major. I'm taking a different approach with my younger son, who started with Latin the 2nd grade.

 

So -- my suggestion would be to first decide whether you are: a) trying to get him into a college AND/OR b) trying to get him to pass out of any language requirement they may have for graduation. Then you might ask a couple of prospective colleges what they require in either case.

 

Best wishes,

Brenda

[2cents]

For heaven's sake stay away from Rosetta Stone or anything that resembles it. Get a proper, grammar-based program - it will not only add to your knowledge, but also to the credibility.

 

:iagree: I couldn't agree more! I think Rosetta is the WORST program for anyone serious about learning a language.

[Miss Marple]

 

 

So -- my suggestion would be to first decide whether you are: a) trying to get him into a college AND/OR b) trying to get him to pass out of any language requirement they may have for graduation. Then you might ask a couple of prospective colleges what they require in either case.

 

Best wishes,

Brenda

 

Yes, it really is two questions, but they kinda roll into one. For a high school diploma and entrance to the schools we've looked at, 2-3 years of foreign language in high school are required. At the same time, though, these same schools allow the high school foreign language to count as the college's foreign language requirement.

 

It was easy with the first 2 dss because they have great memorization skills and did well with taking the 2 courses concurrently thus fulfilling the high school diploma requirement and the college entrance requirement as well as the college graduation requirement. DS#3 cannot memorize easily...

 

Since standardized tests don't test foreign language skills (basic ACT or SAT) I was wondering if the colleges will just take the home transcript listing a high school level foreign language course to fulfill the college graduation requirement.

 

It looks like any engineering program he will be interested in (those closer to home) do require the foreign language for entrance into the program so I know that I need to accomplish that. I would prefer that he only do this once (and I'm sure he's prefer that as well) and so would like to do it in a way that would ensure that he doesn't have to take foreign language once in college.

 

The really hard part is that he is still 2.5 years from graduation and, although he has a good idea of what he wants to do, we are just at the beginning of looking for schools. But I need to make that foreign language decision for next year in order to get the 2 years of foreign language in.

 

Would it be best to just put together a list of schools that are options and then contact them all to see how they handle it?

[Susan C.]

Ds is a junior in college, homeschooled K-12. I don't know any foreign languages. So, he did Rosetta Stone in 9th and 10th grades and I gave two years of credit. No college had a hard time with this, in fact I don't think anyone even asked what I used. Ds college had a rule that if it had been two years since any foreign languages were taken, that you had to start over at Beginning 1. That is what ds wanted. The school known for engineering in my state does not require foreign language to be taken at college for engineering majors, my guess is that there are too many other harder classes. Ds is at a liberal arts college that requires either proficiency in the language measured by a proficiency test given in the summer before freshman year, or three semesters of the language. The three semesters are before the 200 level (Intermediate), Beginning 1, Beginning 2, and Proficiency.

 

Dd is in 11th grade. I decided against RS because ds said it was only good for familiarity with the language and nothing else. Last year she did a combination of workbooks and dvds that I got from Amazon. She progressed nicely and did way better than ds did with RS. This year she asked for a real program that is more open and go. We got Breaking the Barrier, and started over with Spanish 1. The author said that their Spanish 3 is 200 level that is anywhere from Spanish 3 to Spanish 5. So their Spanish 1 and 2 can be used up to four years. I like the flexibility of this because she can take in the language at her speed rather than rush to keep up and not retain it. She works on Spanish for 45 min. or so every day, and I issue credits, first year will be Spanish 1 and second will be Spanish 2, even though this second year we may only finish the Spanish 1 text. She is hoping to pass the college proficiency test, but if she doesn't, we will take their placing and do that or a class before it in level.

Edited November 8, 2010 by Susan C.
added

[K-FL]

Like others have said, there's the entrance reqs and the graduation reqs. My niece (Biology major @ U of AL) had 4 yrs hs Spanish. Great for getting in, but she still is required to take 1 yr of foreign language to graduate.

 

Dd#1 had 1yr hs, 2 semester @ cc and still had to take 1 semester (2nd yr) at U for an English major. The major req. the 1st semester of 2nd yr. Unfortunately she didn't/couldn't take it here from the same prof. Makes the flow much better.

[Storm Bay]

My dd wants to major in math and/or biochemistry. Not one of the universities & colleges I contacted require a foreign language requirement for either of those. All of them are excellent schools in one or both of those areas. I'm not interested in an Ivy League school. Are you asking in general, or going by what your dc would like to major in? Several of these schools are fairly selective (eg need a 90 percent average in high school in order to be considered, or need a certain average in courses related to her field of interest, too. You need to contact the people who handle the admissions for the departments(s) you are interested in, not just the general info.

 

That said, my eldest, who has switched to ps as of today, needs 2 classes of a foreign language in order to graduate. I'm not sure if they'll count her German or not yet, because it may be 2 years in the same langauge.

 

The only language requirement dd has is grade 12/senior level English (depending on the country, it's called grade 12 or senior year in Canada/US.)

[Miss Marple]

. Are you asking in general, or going by what your dc would like to major in? Several of these schools are fairly selective (eg need a 90 percent average in high school in order to be considered, or need a certain average in courses related to her field of interest, too. You need to contact the people who handle the admissions for the departments(s) you are interested in, not just the general info.

 

My oldest son is in engineering at the Univ. of OK. They have a general education requirement of 2 semesters of the same foreign language in order to graduate. This can be met by 2 years of high school foreign language. I haven't looked at the graduation requirements of other engineering schools yet, but our state lists 2 years of high school foreign language as being part of the "college preparatory" high school diploma. We don't necessarily have to follow the public guidelines, but in order to compete on the same level, I try to do at least that.

 

I just spoke to an admissions counselor at OU who said that the high school diploma is all they require to validate that 2 years of foreign language was accomplished. Unfortunately, ds#3 probably won't be going there :glare:

 

I think I need to research a few more engineering schools and see what their graduation requirements are and then decide how to best accomplish the most stringent of those.

[Storm Bay]

My oldest son is in engineering at the Univ. of OK. They have a general education requirement of 2 semesters of the same foreign language in order to graduate. This can be met by 2 years of high school foreign language. I haven't looked at the graduation requirements of other engineering schools yet, but our state lists 2 years of high school foreign language as being part of the "college preparatory" high school diploma. We don't necessarily have to follow the public guidelines, but in order to compete on the same level, I try to do at least that.

 

I just spoke to an admissions counselor at OU who said that the high school diploma is all they require to validate that 2 years of foreign language was accomplished. Unfortunately, ds#3 probably won't be going there :glare:

 

I think I need to research a few more engineering schools and see what their graduation requirements are and then decide how to best accomplish the most stringent of those.

 

 

Okay. I didn't check that part of it. I was chiefly concerned with whether or not dd needed 3-4 years of a foreign language in high school to be accepted since she started ps today. This had a direct impact on what she will do next semester. The ps doesn't offer German which is what sh's been studying.

[Miss Marple]

Okay. I didn't check that part of it. I was chiefly concerned with whether or not dd needed 3-4 years of a foreign language in high school to be accepted since she started ps today. This had a direct impact on what she will do next semester. The ps doesn't offer German which is what sh's been studying.

 

Yeah, I can see where that would have been a problem.

 

I'm just hoping, for this son, to be able to check off the foreign language requirement - kind of just a "get it done" class. We've finally gotten him to accept the fact that his brain just isn't wired to memorize as easily as his brothers do, and he's finally given up the notion that he is just "stupid".

 

This is the one area that I have been fretting about while trying to sleep :glare:

[Storm Bay]

Yeah, I can see where that would have been a problem.

 

I'm just hoping, for this son, to be able to check off the foreign language requirement - kind of just a "get it done" class. We've finally gotten him to accept the fact that his brain just isn't wired to memorize as easily as his brothers do, and he's finally given up the notion that he is just "stupid".

 

This is the one area that I have been fretting about while trying to sleep :glare:

 

I'm glad he's realized he's not stupid. Memorization is a skill. There are many dc who can ace many exams because they're good at memorization, but they have poor independent and/or conceptual and/or logical thinking ability.

 

Have you read the book Doing School?

[Guest Barb B]

My oldest son is in engineering at the Univ. of OK. They have a general education requirement of 2 semesters of the same foreign language in order to graduate. This can be met by 2 years of high school foreign language. I haven't looked at the graduation requirements of other engineering schools yet, but our state lists 2 years of high school foreign language as being part of the "college preparatory" high school diploma. We don't necessarily have to follow the public guidelines, but in order to compete on the same level, I try to do at least that.

 

I just spoke to an admissions counselor at OU who said that the high school diploma is all they require to validate that 2 years of foreign language was accomplished. Unfortunately, ds#3 probably won't be going there :glare:

 

I think I need to research a few more engineering schools and see what their graduation requirements are and then decide how to best accomplish the most stringent of those.

 

Great to hear about OU. DS will be going there next year. I had the impression that as long as you had 2 years in high school - they don't look at what the program is. Glad to know I was right!

 

Barb