Foreign Language Course Advising Tips for 2005-2006 Preregistration

• The Foreign Language Requirement at MBA: In order to graduate from Montgomery Bell Academy, a student is required to have at least two years of Latin (usually grades 8-9 or 9-10) and either a third year of Latin or two years of a modern language.
• A modern language can be taken successfully at the same time as Latin.
• 9th Graders who plan to take a modern language through the AP level (4th year in French and German, 3rd and/or 4th year in Spanish) should understand that they must begin the modern language in the 9th grade year, usually while taking Latin II.
• Going Beyond the Minimum: Just as is the case in any other discipline (with the exception of English), the foreign language offerings at Montgomery Bell Academy go beyond the minimum requirements for graduation. A student may take Latin through the 5th year (there are two AP courses offered – Vergil and Latin Literature [Lyric Poetry]), French through the 4th year (AP Language), German through the 4th year (AP Language), and Spanish through the 4th year (two AP courses are offered – AP Language in the 3rd year and AP Literature in the 4th year). The Greek Honors course is a college-paced course in Classical Greek for seniors or juniors, at the conclusion of which the student will be able to go into Intermediate Greek in college.
• Colleges do tend to favor students who have made it at least to a third-year course in a foreign language. Students who have an affinity for foreign language study and the space in their curriculum, should be encouraged to continue beyond the minimum.
• Students should be advised that any foreign language, classical or modern, is a doorway to further language study and is a shaper of mental discipline which is not easily acquired any other way.
• A student who aspires to international business of any sort will have to deal as much with French or German as he will with Spanish.