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Should I do Spanish SL or Spanish AB Initio


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I am currently going into 11th grade, and I am wondering which level of Spanish I should take. Ive taken Spanish for 4 years, and am not really good at languages (barely getting a B at the end of my 10th grade year and think that she is a bad teacher who is also the teacher teaching SL next year.) Should I take ab initio and get an A in a class where i'm more comfortable in, or do Sl where i will struggle to even get a B. I heard that colleges will look down on me if I have taken 4 years of spanish prior and choose ab initio. In addition, the rest of my classes I have A's in so i'm looking to apply to some top colleges. Any help would be greatly appreciated. (I am also doing the full ib diploma)

Edited by jw201
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Hi Jw201, 

I am a French teacher, but I think I may be able to offer some comments. 

I think it all depends on which major you will be studying in university. If you aim to study science, then I would not worry, I don't think universities will focus on your Spanish ab initio. However, if you are going for social sciences, political sciences, etc. then you will have to endure and go for level B SL. The good thing is that you already know that getting an A in Spanish B will be a challenge and something you can prepare for ahead of time. 

Since you already know it will be challenging, make an action plan ahead of time:

1. Establish your monthly study goals: list all the content that should be known for the exam (grammar, vocabulary themes, and conjugation). This way, you will make sure to respect a timeline to cover all the requirements. Pay special attention to the lessons that are the hardest. 

2. Have study sessions: 1 session = 1 goal.

3. Immerse yourself in the linguistic culture to improve your vocabulary and the ways in which you structure sentences: 

- Find well-known journals (El Pais, for example) and read 1 article per week (great for reading exam practice). Choose articles that are related to the curriculum vocabulary topics (the environment, technology, health, etc.). 

- Watch movies, even if it has subtitles, it will help you for your speaking exam, your brain will pick up new words. Similarly, choose movies/documentaries related to the curriculum and vocabulary topics. This is exactly how I became fluent in English. However, while I am not a Spanish teacher I think that some words in South and Central America are different from Spanish from Spain, so choose wisely the origin of the material. 

4. Practice makes perfect: practice with as many past papers as possible. With my students, I do a whole exam per week (paper 1 & 2 + oral exam). Your teacher will probably not have the time to do this, but you can get a private tutor. If private tuition is too expensive there are websites in which you can 'share time': find a Spanish who wants to improve his/her English, and he/she can correct your grammar in exchange. It's free and you won't struggle to find someone who wants to learn English. 

5. Strategy for the reading exam = based on all the past papers you completed, think about the formats of questions they usually ask, how to best answer it, what are the most common tricks.

Final and best: Regularity will be essential. 

I hope this helps, and I wish you all the best. 

Amelf, 

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I have been told that very competitive schools such as ivy leagues will look down on me because they want you to take the most rigorous classes possible considering the fact that ive taken spanish for 4 years. Also im planning to study business in which language doesnt matter at all.

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18 minutes ago, jw201 said:

I have been told that very competitive schools such as ivy leagues will look down on me because they want you to take the most rigorous classes possible considering the fact that ive taken spanish for 4 years. Also im planning to study business in which language doesnt matter at all.

I'll disagree with you on that one. By studying business you have to be ready to work in international companies which might have locations in other countries such as Germany, France, or Russia. Being able to speak more languages makes you a stronger applicant in the future. Business isn't only abou the mathematical side - communication is key in this field.

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To be honest, I dont ever see myself learning Spanish to the point where I can have a full conversation with a native speaker. I have been taking it for 4 years and I feel as if i have hardly learned anything When I get older my goal is eventually to own my own company, but in order to do this successfully, I do need a lot of knowledge about business which is why I am applying to some of the best colleges. Do you think me choosing ab initio and getting an A will hinder my chances of getting compared to doing sl and getting a B?

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6 hours ago, jw201 said:

To be honest, I dont ever see myself learning Spanish to the point where I can have a full conversation with a native speaker. I have been taking it for 4 years and I feel as if i have hardly learned anything When I get older my goal is eventually to own my own company, but in order to do this successfully, I do need a lot of knowledge about business which is why I am applying to some of the best colleges. Do you think me choosing ab initio and getting an A will hinder my chances of getting compared to doing sl and getting a B?

I personally think it should not be allowed to take an ab initio language if you've done four years of the language already. Language B is for people who have studied a language for around that length of time. Is there another language offered by your school that you could take ab initio?

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If I may ... If you are struggling in Spanish then French will be a nightmare. And I agree with what has been said above, languages are very important if you are aiming for a business major. Now if you target Ivy League universities, they may not like the ab initio thing so take Spanish B SL and work hard.

As a French teacher, I took over some really hard core desperate cases and trained them to get As, so it is possible, you just need to get organised well in advance. 

Good luck. 

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  • 1 month later...

It would be better if you just focus on Spanish. French AB initio is probably not very hard (I take French B HL) if you've take some french before, or if you speak any similar language fluently (like Spanish or Portuguese). Otherwise, you are just complicating yourself too much, and I think Spanish will be much more useful for you. 

Definitely take Spanish B SL, it is a challenge, but with adequate preparation and determination it won't be that hard. If you read a lot, practice your oral presentation, and practice the writing tasks you'll do well in Spanish B. 

 

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