FCPS ACE Program - any opinions on language classes? (high school, rating)

[PK12]

I'm interested in taking one of the FCPS ACE Spanish courses this summer. Seems like a pretty good deal, about $250 for 8 to 10 classes.

Anyone here have any experience with their language classes, or the ACE program in general? Would you recommend it? I was thinking of taking the '200' level course, since I have taken 101 and 102 during undergrad, but really wish I had kept up with practicising it.


Any opinions or feedback would be truly appreciated

[PK12]

No one?

[ICS67]

I took two ACE sessions of the Italian language course a couple of years ago, starting from scratch with the 100 level. I'm a bit reluctant to generalize based on my particular experience, but some observations on the beginner's course for what they're worth:

-- We started with 14 people, but by the end of the semester were down to five. Obviously, different levels of commitment and of ability to learn a language. A bit frustrating to have people with different abilities, since the teacher had to tailor his approach to those who were having the most difficulty.

-- This may have been our teacher's preference, but the text he used was really heavy on grammar. Way too much way too soon. I don't think any of us achieved even minimal fluency or comfort in actually speaking the language to any degree.

-- Compared to learning German in high school (40 minutes a day every day for three years) or three separate languages at the State Department's Foreign Service Institute (6 hours a day for anywhere between 26 and 44 consecutive weeks) I found trying to learn a language for two hours once a week a lot more difficult. Maybe it's just that learning language gets harder as you get older, but my Italian -- such as it is -- firmly resides in that rather large part of my brain coated with Teflon.

Having said all that, I still think you should take the ACE course in Spanish that you are thinking of doing. In this area you certainly are not going to lack the opportunity to use Spanish frequently in everyday situations, which is how you really learn a language.

Good luck, or to put it another way, "Buena suerte!"