For senior year, I only have 4 classes planned: AP English Literature, Multivar, AP Gov/Macro, Comp Civics. My school requires a schedule of at least 5 classes, even if I take courses at a community college, so that leaves me with a blank spot in my schedule.
Nothing offered at my school interests me - at least none that I won’t have taken by senior year. The only exception to that is AP Spanish V, but the problem there is that I take French. By junior year, I will have completed French Literature.
Is that enough of a foundation (if I supplement it with major studying over the summer and possibly next year) for me to go on to Spanish V senior year? If not Spanish Literature, would I be able to handle Spanish IV?
edit: i might also be able to squeeze in a community college course for introductory spanish next year
Unless you have some knowledge of Spanish already to the point of knowing it at least as well as the lower level courses would teach, it would not be a good idea to jump into a higher level course.
Wait, you’re asking if, as a high school student, you’re likely to do well in a college course in a language you’ve never taken? So you’re implying that Spanish 1- Spanish 3 teach absolutely nothing of importance for Spanish 4-5??
@bjkmom That’s not what I’m asking. Of course taking Spanish 4-5 without knowing ANY Spanish beforehand is a stupid idea; what I was asking is if it’s possible to self-study enough Spanish next year to be able to take Spanish 4 or 5 senior year.
@enaword Even with self studying, I still think this would be too much of a jump. I can see you self-studying Spanish 1, but as someone in Spanish 3 currently, I think there is too much information for you to self-study all 1, 2, and 3 over the summer. There is so much practice for speaking and writing involved, a lot of different types of grammar and vocab to learn, and there is a lot of interesting facts on Spanish culture you probably want to learn. I think trying to do this would make you very tired and disinterest you in Spanish. I recommend starting from Spanish 1, but if you must study some, then study Spanish 1 and take Spanish 2.
In the end, it is up to you because you know yourself the best, but I feel that this would be too much work and would not be able to help you learn enough of the language.
Aren’t you just finishing soph year? The answer depends on your goals. If STEM, I agree with the prior suggestion to include a science.
Were APES and HG self studied? You want your overall courses taken to make sense, not be too scattered. So is comp civics a required elective?
With an advanced knowledge of French, I’d suggest to self-study Spanish 1 & 2 and enter Spanish 3. As @anthonytheboy alludes to, typically the third level of any language is the most important year because it covers advanced grammar. Levels 4 and 5 will be perfecting/practicing what is learned in the first three levels.
@anthonytheboy@ChezCurie
Thank you for the advice! I agree that skipping Spanish III might be too big of a jump - for French, I took I in middle school and went on to III in freshman year. In my experience, there weren’t that many grammar concepts taught in French III, but hearing the class conducted all in French definitely helped me improve exponentially. I’ll probably go try to self-study I and II and take III senior year.
@lookingforward
Nope, I’m not a STEM person. The main reason I want to take Spanish is because I like Spanish literature, though I agree with previous posters that if I try to cram four years of Spanish into a few months, I’m likely to lose interest.
Yes, I self-studied APES and APHG. Comp civics isn’t a required elective (there are tryouts, but I think I have a high chance of making it in). It’s just a class that’s interesting to me.
(also, I’m a bit confused - was this reply supposed to be on one of my other threads?)
A cc language class would cover high school levels 1+2 in a semester. It’d be fast paced. If your goal is to read literature in French as well as Spanish, in addition to advanced French you could take Spanish classes at the CC and accelerate, covering 4 years in 4 semesters, leading you to literature and culture classes faster.