Foreign language credit

[Roadrunner]

I know the prevailing wisdom is 50 minutes per day 5 times a week to award one foreign language credit, but I am wondering if anybody wants to look at this with me from output perspective.

We can claim high school credit next year, so as I am designing this course for my kid, I am wondering if I am including enough work. We won't be using a standard textbook, hence the confusion.

So if I went with 50 minute rule, we could probably accomplish the following: read two newspaper stories, one short story (or a chapter in a larger book), listen to one TV5 episode, 4 grammar excercises 20 sentences each, write a short summary of a story. That's it. The kid will be studying new vocab that's in those texts, so that's folded in that time. That doesn't sound like enough weekly work for a high school credit? If not, how much more would you add? Say 1/3 more, or double...

[regentrude]

Sounds more than students seem to do in language classes in school, judging by the results.

[StillStanding]

You got grammar, reading, and writing...I have a feeling you must speak the FL at home? That is all I see missing. The "talking" part :)

 

[Roadrunner]

You got grammar, reading, and writing...I have a feeling you must speak the FL at home? That is all I see missing. The "talking" part :)

Yes, we have a talking part in place as well.

 

It just seems to me that PS kids do more. They have 50 minutes of language in class + homework, right? So should I be doubling the required output?

 

I plan on keeping everything - workbooks, articles, written output, notes. We are in CA and apparently it is a possibility here that somebody might ask one day. I want to make sure nobody questions the rigor of that credit.

Edited March 14, 2017 by Roadrunner

[StillStanding]

You are mentioning 50 minutes x 5 week.

 

That is more than the kids that are taking Spanish with me do each week.

 

What you will have your kid doing is a lot harder than what my first and second year "non-native speaker" students are capable of doing, and they will get high school credit for each course.

 

If you are concerned about having to present something to prove you have done it, and you don't plan to use a HS Foreign Language textbook/workbook,  I would keep a very detail log of what programs you have watched, podcast you  have listened, articles/readers you have read, list of vocabulary covered, and workbooks you have gone through.

 

You may want to check around in this site: https://www.nationalspanishexam.org/index.php/exam-preparation/online-practice-exercises for ideas of what topics are covered by many schools here in the States and make sure you do the same.

 

Give some vocabulary/grammar/translation quizzes every so often and you can show whom ever what  your child is capable of doing.

 

Edited March 14, 2017 by StillStanding

[crazyforlatin]

I know the prevailing wisdom is 50 minutes per day 5 times a week to award one foreign language credit, but I am wondering if anybody wants to look at this with me from output perspective.

We can claim high school credit next year, so as I am designing this course for my kid, I am wondering if I am including enough work. We won't be using a standard textbook, hence the confusion.

So if I went with 50 minute rule, we could probably accomplish the following: read two newspaper stories, one short story (or a chapter in a larger book), listen to one TV5 episode, 4 grammar excercises 20 sentences each, write a short summary of a story. That's it. The kid will be studying new vocab that's in those texts, so that's folded in that time. That doesn't sound like enough weekly work for a high school credit? If not, how much more would you add? Say 1/3 more, or double...

Since we're in CA, may I ask why we need to start jotting this down in 7th grade? Aren't you continuing with French through 12th grade? I know AP and Sat 2 in FL would count for UC, but I'm still confused why we need to start the transcript process for 7th and 8th grades? Just want to be prepared too....

[Roadrunner]

Since we're in CA, may I ask why we need to start jotting this down in 7th grade? Aren't you continuing with French through 12th grade? I know AP and Sat 2 in FL would count for UC, but I'm still confused why we need to start the transcript process for 7th and 8th grades? Just want to be prepared too....

I am not sure either. I have several trains of thought. One, he is doing an awful lot of work and it would be nice to give him credit for it since his PS friends will be getting credit. Now this will allow us to be "done" with foreign language by junior year and if he really wants to specialize and pursue other things, he will have extra time. So he could put French on maintenance in a way. This is a kid interested in engineering, not languages/liberal arts.

Also, he might be in 7th on paper next year, but he will be doing 9th grade work, so what if we come to the point that he wants to just graduate early and move on?

So in short, I am confused enough that I think it will be better to do the "credit" keeping and maintain all documentation than for some reason I can't foresee just yet be sorry later.

Convoluted, I know, but I am entering this high school business with significant brain tremors.

[snowbeltmom]

I am not sure either. I have several trains of thought. One, he is doing an awful lot of work and it would be nice to give him credit for it since his PS friends will be getting credit. Now this will allow us to be "done" with foreign language by junior year and if he really wants to specialize and pursue other things, he will have extra time. So he could put French on maintenance in a way. This is a kid interested in engineering, not languages/liberal arts.

Also, he might be in 7th on paper next year, but he will be doing 9th grade work, so what if we come to the point that he wants to just graduate early and move on?

So in short, I am confused enough that I think it will be better to do the "credit" keeping and maintain all documentation than for some reason I can't foresee just yet be sorry later.

Convoluted, I know, but I am entering this high school business with significant brain tremors.

I was in the same situation when my oldest was your son's age, and debated about when to begin his foreign language.  He ended up beginning his foreign language studies in middle school.  At the completion of his third year of Latin, he emailed the admissions office at one of the schools on his list and asked if he should take a 4th year of Latin or replace that 4th year of Latin with a class in his area of interests.  The admission officer told him that three years of a foreign language was enough, and the school had no problem accepting his credit from middle school.    Stopping his foreign language early in his high school career was not an issue at any of the colleges he applied to.  However, he didn't apply to any schools in CA - living in CA seems to add another layer of complexity to this homeschooling gig. :svengo:

[crazyforlatin]

Yes, we have a talking part in place as well.

 

It just seems to me that PS kids do more. They have 50 minutes of language in class + homework, right? So should I be doubling the required output?

 

I plan on keeping everything - workbooks, articles, written output, notes. We are in CA and apparently it is a possibility here that somebody might ask one day. I want to make sure nobody questions the rigor of that credit.

I didn't answer your main question. Just to give perspective of a Saturday Chinese class that partners with the local school district to give HS credit. Each Saturday, class time is for around 3 hours with 2 10-minute breaks, letting everyone out by 11:45 although naughty kids cause everyone else to stay until 12. Right now, homework is just about 1 hour for DD because she is not at a high school level yet. I'm sure high school kids (not by age but by level) have a little more homework perhaps. Yet, I know there will be kids going to high school next year who are DD's level, and I don't think things will change suddenly for those kids because they are all in one class (mixed age group). They definitely know more than a typical PS 9th grader because they've been going to Chinese school for a few years. I don't get the sense that they do more. It's really difficult with a class of 21 kids to give that rigor when some kids/parents are going to protest (they really do btw), and each student takes a turn with oral work (21 kids! Wrong tones!).

 

With your transcript even if one day you choose to count 7th grade as 9th grade, you already provide a more rigorous FL than a typical PS teaching 9th grade FL, and of course you have to add in all the French conversations you have during the week.

 

Btw, does Nicolas, the tv show count as 9th grade work? DD loves it, though I highly doubt we will graduate early, so I would just list it on 7th grade.

[regentrude]

It just seems to me that PS kids do more. They have 50 minutes of language in class + homework, right? So should I be doubling the required output?

 

They may have a teacher who is not fluent in the foreign language and conducts most of the class in English. Sadly, this is often the case.

 

Busywork does not equal learning.

[Roadrunner]

I didn't answer your main question. Just to give perspective of a Saturday Chinese class that partners with the local school district to give HS credit. Each Saturday, class time is for around 3 hours with 2 10-minute breaks, letting everyone out by 11:45 although naughty kids cause everyone else to stay until 12. Right now, homework is just about 1 hour for DD because she is not at a high school level yet. I'm sure high school kids (not by age but by level) have a little more homework perhaps. Yet, I know there will be kids going to high school next year who are DD's level, and I don't think things will change suddenly for those kids because they are all in one class (mixed age group). They definitely know more than a typical PS 9th grader because they've been going to Chinese school for a few years. I don't get the sense that they do more. It's really difficult with a class of 21 kids to give that rigor when some kids/parents are going to protest (they really do btw), and each student takes a turn with oral work (21 kids! Wrong tones!).

 

With your transcript even if one day you choose to count 7th grade as 9th grade, you already provide a more rigorous FL than a typical PS teaching 9th grade FL, and of course you have to add in all the French conversations you have during the week.

 

Btw, does Nicolas, the tv show count as 9th grade work? DD loves it, though I highly doubt we will graduate early, so I would just list it on 7th grade.

My children adore Le Petit Nicolas cartoons. They watch it for fun. I don't even count those, but you have a point. Between videos watched in French plus conversation practice with native speakers, it adds up. I am going to jot down every minute next year.

[klmama]

Your quantity of work and time on task sound fine for a credit.  Just be sure your dc's work includes the grammar and vocabulary usually taught at the level you are granting credit for.  For example, if it were Spanish I, your child should be able to conjugate regular, stem-changing, and other irregular -ar, -er, and -ir verbs for all subjects in both present indicative and preterite. You may want to pick up a cheap copy of a standard foreign language textbook or look online for tables of contents to be sure your dc knows the grammar and vocabulary topics listed. 

Edited March 14, 2017 by klmama

[Roadrunner]

I am not even sure what I am going to call this class. French 3? 4? Grammar/vocab would correspond to 4, but then where do I go? So I decided to call it 3 mostly because I need a name for what we will do the following year.

Edited March 14, 2017 by Roadrunner