Foreign language... (help, I am clueless)

[Cecropia]

I have a rising 8th grader who wants to take "Chinese with Mike" next year. http://www.chinesewithmike.com/

 

I've been looking into resources for learning Mandarin Chinese locally and finding nothing.  I wonder if starting down this path is no big deal, or if he might come to a dead end and have to start over with another language in high school.  I also wonder whether this course would be considered a high school level course or not (how would I know?).  Ds13 is not a kid who does well with being uprooted/starting a subject afresh.  I'm sure there are online courses that he can continue with after CWM... I think I just need some reassurance that I'm not painting us into a corner.  I struggled with foreign language classes, and I know that experience makes me extra apprehensive over planning this for him.

[Saddlemomma]

I'm in the same boat as you.  DD's a rising 9th grader. I desperately wanted her to do Spanish this past year and into HS because I still retain quite a bit of my Spanish and could help her tremendously.  However, because she wasn't enthused with the language or languages in general, it fizzled. What she really wants to learn is Japanese!  I know absolutely nothing about Japanese!

 

I figure she has 4 years of HS and most colleges only want to see 2 years of a language on the transcript. So, I made a deal with DD.  She would get to try Japanese next year providing she works hard and really shows me she has learned some basics of the language. If she can do that, she can continue with Japanese.  If not, she has to take Spanish the remaining 3 years of HS.  She agreed.  Thankfully, Duolingo just added Japanese to their program of languages.  DD will use that as well as a book program I've found on Amazon and some YT videos as her resources.

 

I figure that if she's really interested and invested in learning Japanese, she will be more motivated than learning a language she doesn't care about.  We'll see how it goes.

 

Since your DS will be in 8th, if it was me, I would let him explore Chinese. Neither of you has anything to lose. He will still have four years to study a different language if Chinese doesn't work.

 

I don't know anything about "Chinese with Mike".  As an additional resource, you may want to check out the Hello Chinese app.  It's supposed to be excellent.

[Julie of KY]

No experience, but I have friends that have done high school Mandarin Chinese through Florida Virtual School. This might give you a fallback if you need more years of Chinese.

[tampamommy]

DS took Chinese 1 & 2 through FLVS during 9th and 10th grades. FLVS Chinese 1 also opened the door for him (via his teachers' suggestion) to apply for a special summer program. He was one of a dozen selected from the state to visit China between 9th and 10th grades--an amazing experience for him!

 

He participated in StarTalk Chinese as a student during the summer after 10th grade. He began dual enrollment via skype for Chinese in the fall of 1tth grade and continued that through the end of 12th grade. He also went back to StarTalk as a peer mentor/instructor during the summer after 11th grade. If you google StarTalk, you will find out all about this full tuition sponsored program in the critical languages. 

 

Upon entering a very competitive university, he was placed in junior level Chinese as a freshman. Because of this, he was happily able to complete his minor by the end of his freshman year. He is looking forward to a study abroad semester in the fall.

 

For his path, FLVS Chinese opened oh-so-many doors. It is not a language for the faint of heart to undertake! But I would highly recommend it.