Reading the other thread at the Kitchen Table, I was curious what languages your school offers. When I was in high school we only had French or Spanish to choose from. The high school my kids will/do attend offers Spanish, French, Latin and German. My oldest is now in his third year of Latin. My 14 yr old still has time to decide.
I did find out that the school recommends at least two years of language for all students, but it is not required. All my kids will take at least two years whether they like it or not! LOL (j/k, kinda...)

By Enchens on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 02:21 pm:

At my high school we had Italian, French, and Spanish. By the time I attended, however, they had done away with Italian. (Thankfully, I was able to take it in college.)

At the high school my siblings attend, they have French and Spanish for non native speakers and Spanish for native speakers. I have also heard that foreign language is no longer a requirement. How unfortunate.

I'm with you, Sunny. My kids will take a foreign language, and I mean one that isn't spoken at home.

By Mommmie on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 02:27 pm:

My son attends a private school for dyslexic kids and I think they offer Spanish, French and American Sign Language. If you require reading remediation at the high school level (like you have been in public school up until 8th grade and never learned to read) you waive foreign language and take reading remediation.

In our public schools they have different level diplomas and if you want to go to college you do the highest level diploma and a foreign language is required. They offer Spanish, French, Latin, Japanese and American Sign Language. Most people take Spanish since you *need* it around here.

By Dawnk777 on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 02:27 pm:

The 2 high schools in Sheboygan offer French, German and Spanish. My high school, back in the stone age, also offered Latin.

By Tayjar on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 02:32 pm:

I think ours offers French and Spanish. The high school I went to offerd French, Spanish, German, Latin, and Russian. They may have cut back on those by now since that was over 20 years ago.

By Janet on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 02:41 pm:

My hs (25 years ago!) offered Latin (I took 2 yrs), French, Spanish and German. Last year, our local hs dropped French and now only offers Spanish. I think it's a shame.

By Cat on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 02:41 pm:

I have no idea what the high school offers, but the middle school offers Spanish and most of the elementary schools in the district do, too. It depends on the number of students in the elementary schools whether or not they have Spanish. I think it's about 450 or so, which is pretty normal. I think there's only one school in the district that doesn't have it and they will next year because the growth here is outrageous.

My high school had Spanish and that was it. They tried to have a French class one year and I signed up, but there wasn't enough interest (only about 10 kids signed up--there was a big Hispanic community where I grew up). Now my high school has German in addition to Spanish and I think I saw they have French now, too. I think ASL should be offered everywhere. I teach some to the daycare kids. It makes communicating with them so much easier before they're verbal.

By Yjja123 on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 02:46 pm:

Here Spanish is required in elementary school.

By Janet on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 04:21 pm:

We have a language requirement at our hs, but art and music can be counted toward that, so kids don't always take an actual foreign language. DD is in her 2nd year of Spanish, and is planning to continue all four years.

By Colette on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 04:26 pm:

In 7th grade you are required to take a trimester of spanish, one of french and one of german. In 8th grade you pick one for the year. I believe in high school you pick at least one too.

By Marcia on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 11:45 pm:

In Ontario French is mandatory. They start taking it in grade 4, and I think they have to take it up until grade 10. In highschool Spanish is also offered. There are weekend courses offered for other languages, but just certain schools would have the classes. I'm not sure if any Ontario schools offer more than F and S during the normal class times.

By My2girlygirls on Wednesday, January 25, 2006 - 08:10 am:

Our elementary school offers Japanese. They don't do it often enough to really make it stick though, the lady comes in once a month. But atleast they are getting some kind of exposure.

By Conni on Wednesday, January 25, 2006 - 10:12 am:

Sometimes I think they barely teach English at our schools let alone a foreign language. grrrr This is a topic I could get my BP up over. lol

I think kids should learn a 2nd language no matter what. But it is easier IMO for them to learn it at a *young* age. Well, they dont offer Spanish until 8th gr here and you have to be an honors type English to get it in 8th gr or you cant take it? In 9th gr my ds FINALLY has a choice between German, Spanish and French. He can take it thru high school. All of my kids are REQUIRED by ME to take atleast 2 yrs of foreign language. This yr I did go buy some CD's (dont know why I didnt think of that years ago!!) and we listen to them together in the truck and follow along in a book. So atleast they are getting some exposure.

Along the same lines:

They are also required to take atleast 2 yrs of a musical instrument (PER MOM). Brandon will finish his 3 rd yr on the trumpet this yr. He is choosing to quit and just do football next yr. (he has too choose- you cant do band and athletics in 9th gr) He wants a guitar and guitar lessons, but we *still* have not gotten him that guitar he has been asking for. oops! Brad has already had 2 yrs of piano and will finish up his first yr of percussion this yr. He is loving it and says he will continue thru junior high and high school (actually, he said he is hoping for a band scholarship? ok, cool!). We'll see! Blake is already asking to take piano. We'll see about that as well.