# foreign language class



## xi (May 9, 2006)

I wanna take a foreign language class to boost my gpa but I'm afraid of participation. Sigh.


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## Jack (Dec 29, 2004)

From my experience, I was in Spanish for 3 years (quitting this coming year- I wanted the last hour off), and participation really wasn't too bad for me. A lot of it was voluntary, meaning you raise your hand, get called on, supply an answer, and move on, which I was happy about, cause I don't really volunteer anyways. If I were you, I'd hook up with someone who's had the teach before, ask them whether you're forced to answer a lot of questions or not, and go from there. If you're good at language stuff, I'd seriously consider it, it made a good filler class for me...and it looks better later on to take a language.

And on a sidenote, participation (or a lack thereof, for me) really didn't affect my grade too much. If you ace your tests and quizzes, do your assignments on time, that sorta stuff, it all balances out participation. I rarely participated 2nd semester, and still held down a B+ in that class.


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## vicente (Nov 10, 2003)

In my experience, foreign language classes are low in workload but in the end, it's not worth it at the end for people who have problems with presenting and participating, for example, me. I mean, the assignments were easy, I got A's in all of them, but often times the participation mark is such a high proportion of the total mark that it can screw up your total mark in the end. I really like taking these classes, but I find that although I get good marks on everything EXCEPT participation, my mark usually turns out to lower than anything i've turned it, because of my crappy presentation or not participating enough. So in my experience language courses might not be the best way to boost GPA for people with SA, though they can still be fun in that you're learning a different language.

I find that language clubs are better for me, where people meet up to speak in a foreign language. At first you might be like, "oh no no no, there's no way I'm going to feel comfortable talking with a bunch of people I barely know", but the fact that it's a foreign language makes everyone kind of anxious, and when they see you hesitating or nervous they just assume you're struggling with a word, and not because you have Social Anxiety Disorder! There should be some of these clubs at your school, if not, you can check out sites like Meetup.com. There are a bunch of them in Long Beach and all over the place in LA county. I go to the Portuguese one which often meets in a cafe in Pasadena, the people there are really friendly.


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## terra (Feb 12, 2007)

I've taken 3 quarters of French language. I had a 3.93 cumulative GPA for those 3 courses. I didn't participate much at all, my instructor seemed sensitive to the fact that not all of us were anxious to speak up in class, let alone in a foreign language! You will be required to participate, of course, but in my experience, most instructors give full participation points as long as you show up for class regularly. At least make an effort to volunteer to speak at least once in a while, show some interest, and you'll be fine. Foreign, or World Languages (politically correct term these days) are great GPA boosters.


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## xi (May 9, 2006)

People tell me psychology class is a gpa booster and I've already done two. Yet all I got are B's. I can't really memorize all the DMS-IV stuffs.  My gpa is still 2.2 although I've a year to boost it. I think language class is my last resort.  Someone who had took French told me that participation point was 30 % of the total grade. Sigh...


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## bezoomny (Feb 10, 2007)

You will never have to speak Latin. Ever. 

Makes it a good choice for sa'ers, imo.


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## barnabas (Apr 24, 2007)

What is "participation" though? I've taken several language classes and for the most part participation means attending class and answering the question when the professor happens to call on you. I personally never find that nerve-wrecking. If it were another class I _would_ be afraid to say something out loud in case I sound stupid (and modesty is never my thing), but in a foreign language class (especially a beginning one), you're kind of expected to sound stupid (a.k.a. not very fluent).

(I like parentheses entirely a little too much.)


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## Starbuline (Jul 4, 2007)

Taking German was hell for me. About 50% of the grade was participation.


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## Mayflower 2000 (Nov 11, 2003)

barnabas said:


> What is "participation" though? I've taken several language classes and for the most part participation means attending class and answering the question when the professor happens to call on you. I personally never find that nerve-wrecking. If it were another class I _would_ be afraid to say something out loud in case I sound stupid (and modesty is never my thing), but in a foreign language class (especially a beginning one), you're kind of expected to sound stupid (a.k.a. not very fluent).
> 
> (I like parentheses entirely a little too much.)


Is that what language classes are like? I'd be terrified. The worst thing about school for me was the possibility of a teacher calling on me to read or answer a question, at any random time. I almost lost my mind in high school from that!!

I took a language class before, but it was online and the only speaking I had to do was recording sound files and sending them to the teacher, which for me anyway isn't a problem since I can start stop retake as much as I want.


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## emptybottle (Jan 3, 2005)

See if your school has online sections for language courses. It's easy as hell. The downside is that you get next to no practice speaking, so this is recommended only if you don't care about actually learning the language.


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## Speak Easy (Jun 27, 2006)

I've taken French and Spanish and both required participation. It may depend on the teacher, but in the end, what better way to learn a language than to speak it? You will definitely need to participate.


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## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

It does depend on the teacher. I remember our French teacher in high school would have everybody line up outside the door and have a brief conversation. They wold have to do it right, or not get into the classroom! :eek

I tried to take French I and Spanish III my junior year. I dropped French after the first week after the teacher decided to make an example out of me because I forgot to cover my book. She said "Monsieur MM c'est zero". That was enough of that! I ended up taking four years of Spanish, and two Junior level college courses.

For Spanish I, we had to put together a news program. I, of course, did weather. Ended up with an A and an award for best weather out of six classes!  Trying to give an entire weather report in Spanish like on television was hard, but I learned a LOT of vocabulary!


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## whiteclouds (Mar 18, 2004)

I took two years of Spanish in high school. I got a little nervous speaking in front of the class or speaking for a test, but I really enjoyed the subject, itself. Especially, the reading and writing parts.

I eventually stopped my Spanish studies, mainly because the teacher was terrible - he was very lax on grading, to the point of helping us cheat, he lacked discipline and let the class go wild everyday - it would take twenty minutes of goofing off, before we finally got to business. It felt like a waste, like I wasn't learning anything.

But those were teacher problems. I loved the subject, itself. I'd like to take up Spanish again, someday. It's an interesting language.


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## Whimsy (Mar 16, 2006)

I took spanish for a long time and I finished in high school since it was no longer required of me to take it. I hated the participation but I could write essays and read spanish literature after wards. Then I took Latin for a year in college there were only 10 of us in class so it wasn't that bad. However the professor required tons of participation from reading, translating, going into every bit of grammar out loud by drilling us...we even had to voice our opinions on Roman history  But I loved the history part it killed alot of time lol. Now I'm taking sign language, hands down the best class ever.


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