<p>My D has a schedule conflict again for next year, her junior year, for Italian 3. </p>
<p>For sophomore year, there was also a conflict for Italian 2, and she ended up dropping from Honors Chem to regular Chem to avoid the conflict, which ended up not being a very good option. She missed being with all of her friends in the Honors class, and the regular Chem teacher was horrible. The class spent so much time on busywork, and there were a lot of really stupid questions on tests/quizzes, dealing with trivialities, rather than than the important concepts. </p>
<p>For junior year, she would have to drop down from two classes (AP and Honors) in order to fit in Italian 3, and we have decided not to do that. It is possible but doubtful that her schedule would allow her to take Italian 3 in school as a senior, and we won't know that until a year from now. The guidance counselor recommended that we find an outside of school class to get in a 3rd year, to improve her college admissions chances.</p>
<p>The local community colleges don't even offer Italian 3. I've searched far and wide for distance learning options, and found only one, offered through the University of North Carolina. It is very expensive for out of state, $2376. It would probably cost even more, since I would supplement with a local tutor, so she has a little bit of conversational practice. Distance</a> Education at UNC: Self-paced Courses: Italian</p>
<p>I'm trying to decide if it is worth the $$ and the hassle. We can afford it. She has time to do the work this summer, but isn't very enthusiastic about the idea. She will likely be aiming for colleges in the USNWR 50-100 range. Most of the schools she may be interested in require 2 years foreign language, but recommend 3 or 4, and at least one school requires 3 and recommends 4. </p>
<p>The most competitive schools want to see the three years of foreign language. They ask that you take the most challenging curriculum in which you can succeed, within the confines of your school’s offerings. You may want to articulate the scheduling conflict in the application.</p>
<p>If your daughter is self-disciplined, she can do this on her own. Back in the 1950, the US State Department designed courses to teach languages to diplomats, and they were put on tape. The lower levels are published by Barron’s as the Foreign Language Institute Series and available at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, etc; the upper levels are available through a specialty distributor called Audio-Forum. They are much cheaper than Rosetta Stone (though that might be another option).</p>
<p>Basically, you listen to the tapes, and participate when prompted. The courses are a little dated content-wise (the Spanish one, for instance, has some sexist jokes about a “fat girl with glasses”) but from a pedagogical standpoint, they are VERY effectively designed. If you go through them systematically, the grammar and pronunciation gets dunned into your head so that you can speak and understand fluently in real time. If your D has already had some years of Italian, buy the second set of tapes, not the first one.</p>
<p>I did the FSI Spanish course. It was not easy or dumbed down–the idea is really to learn the language, not just to pick up a few phrases. I listened to these in the car, and when I was at the gym (generally went the first time through at the gym, because they require some concentration, and later times in the car, as my responses got more and more automatic). After I got through the first level, I visited Spain and had no trouble getting around. After I finished the second (of four) levels I decided that taking a course at our local university, UVA, would be less isolating. So I took the Spanish Dept’s placement exam to see where I would best fit. I got an almost perfect score. If I had been a regularly enrolled student, I would have completely placed out of the undergraduate language requirement, which is two years of college/four years of high school. I ended up taking a course for Spanish majors and had no trouble keeping up/ getting an A.</p>
<p>If your daughter goes this route, she should take an SAT Subject test in Italian, or other such exam to demonstrate her ability. That, plus a note explaining the schedule conflict, ought to satisfy any admissions officer.</p>
<p>Would she consider switching languages and taking 2 yrs of a different one? Some colleges are ok with 2 years of one and 2 years of another. She should explain the scheduling difficulties either way.</p>
<p>Most colleges will understand the conflict and unless she were going to be a language major, it would more important to take as many AP’s and Honors as she can. Acing the Italian SAT ll would definitely be the way to go and she can self study for that exam. My son did an exchange program in Italy for his junior year and rejoined his French class with some prep that summer before his senior year. He was able to take both language SAT ll’s which will benefit him in placement next year in college.</p>
<p>A summer immersion program next year might make sense, although it is too late to apply for this year. (Plus there would be schedule conflicts this summer.)</p>
<p>I hadn’t come across the Concordia Language Villages before. I did see that Middlebury had a program for high school students. What are the tradeoffs of an immersion program in the US vs. one in Italy?</p>
<p>I suspect that if her counselor notes the continued scheduling conflicts between Italian and her AP/honors courses, that it will not be a problem for college admissions UNLESS she is applying to a public university with very rigid course requirements. (University of California comes to mind.)</p>
<p>The Concordia credit programs in the summer are a bit pricey, but very well organized.</p>
<p>On the ‘whether it is worth it’ question…
I think the reason you pick Italian, as opposed to say Spanish which would have had more sections and thus not have been a scheduling disaster… is because you are really interested in learning it. Plus, it kind of distinguishes you from everyone who was learning Spanish… I think you lose on both of those presumptive ‘advantages’ if you do only 2 years…</p>