|
Is your child in the middle of taking SAT and AP exams? The process can be exhausting, especially when teens are trying to figure out what college level courses to take. Although advanced science and math exams will be encouraged, encourage your child to take language. Your child will most likely be required to take a language as a high school requirement. If he/she already has high grades in her language course, taking an AP language exam is a great way to earn extra college credits. The journey to getting into college may not be easy, but there are other reasons why taking a language entrance exam is beneficial.  Increased Chance to College Acceptance
You might also think having a high GPA and taking AP classes is how you get into most colleges. However, you will be surprised to know that a lot of universities are actually interested in high schoolers who know a foreign language. If your child has hopes to go into a top university such as Princeton, he/she should definitely take a language placement test. Research has shown that Ivy League Colleges accept more applications that involve knowing or studying a foreign language. Many colleges are starting to see that students who know a second language have more opportunities after they graduate. Guaranteed College Credit There are other perks that taking a language placement exam can also offer. If students are looking to earn a Liberal Arts degree, there is a minimum requirement to take a full year of language. If a student scores over 200 there he/she already gains enough credit to meet the language requirement. But what if your child would like to continue learning the language she gained credit for? There are opportunities for students who decide to minor in a language, especially if it is a popular spoken language such as Spanish or Chinese. (It can open many doors in careers like business, tourism, and education.) Higher SAT Scores You may think learning a language can be a distraction for a high schooler’s other studies. Perhaps you might say that the extra studying for SAT's and AP’s is already enough. However, did you know learning a language improves your child’s test scores? According to College Board, students who studied a foreign language scored better than peers who did not study a foreign language. Students who also studied a foreign language for all four years of high school scored higher than those who studied for two years. Studies have also shown that high schoolers who learned a second language showed improvement in both English and Math scores. Who knew prepping for a language AP exam can help your child’s other classes. Finer Language Skills Assessment Are you curious how fluent your child is in the language they are taking? The language placement and AP exam are great ways to figure out a student’s fluency in foreign language. Both exams are divided into four sections: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. The test results that a student will receive reveals how well they scored in each section. Naturally, there will be areas one will score better on. This will be beneficial to point out what areas your child needs to work on. Whether it has to do more with grammar or conversation practice, a student can see which steps to take to become fluent. Greater Career Opportunities Did you know that those who know a second language have more job opportunities? According to careerprofiles.info, being fluent in a second language has advantages in many career fields such as marketing, administration, banking, education, law, government, etc. Recent research also suggests that there will be an increase of about 42% in demand for those who are able to translate and interpret in the job force. Still not convinced? Those who list a second language on their job resumes are likely to be hired than their counterpart who does not. The reason being that there is simply a demand in the job market for those who speak more than one language. There is even a 10-15% higher pay raise in those who are bilingual, according to BRIC Language System. Better Grammar Foundation As stated previously, the AP, SAT and Regents language both test a student knowledge on his/her grammar skills. You may think that learning to understand and/or speak the language holds the most importance. However, college courses in language heavily focuses on grammar structure. Especially as a student advances to higher course levels, much of it will be writing and reading. High schoolers who already introduced to learning about grammar foundation have a great chance to strengthen these skills in college. Studies have shown that studying the structure being grammar and vocabulary help gain better cognitive skills. In other words, students who studied a second language scored higher in math, reading comprehension, and vocabulary than those who did not. Easy Option for Native Speakers Lastly, if your child is already bilingual, taking a language placement exam is an easy and guaranteed way to gain credit. You may not have thought of this, but there are already tons of requirement classes a student will need to take in college. Why not let one of them be a language he/she already knows for an easy A? It’s an even better option for those who grew up in a bilingual home but never fully grasped the second language. Your child will already have an understanding at home and excel the foreign language in class. Or perhaps your child will begin learning at school and continue his/her language skills by practicing at home. This can also establish better skills grammatically (as mentioned before) and guarantee your child will be fluent. Although studying for these college exams can be scary, there are many benefits in taking them. This is a chance for students to be able to discover their talent and/or passion for learning languages. There will be advantages in college but also in their job search well after. So if your child has a knack for language, encourage them to take a placement or AP language exam! You never know where it could take them. AP Tests are available: AP Chinese Language and Culture - May 14th, 2021 - 12 pm Local Time (Paper, In school) - Computer- based May 21st, 2021 - 12 pm Local Time (Paper, In school) - Computer- based June 4th, 2021 - 8 am Local Time (Paper, In school) - Computer- based AP French Language and Culture May 10th, 2021 - 8 am Local Time (Paper, In school) May 21st, 2021 - 12 pm Local Time (Paper, In school) June 4th, 2021 - 12 pm Local Time (Paper, In school) AP German Language and Culture May 4th, 2021 - 12pm Local Time (Paper, In school) May 21st, 2021 - 12 pm Local Time (Paper, In school) June 4th, 2021 - 12 pm Local Time (Paper, In school) AP Italian Language and Culture May 14th, 2021 - 8am Local Time (Paper, In school) May 21st, 2021 - 8am Local Time (Paper, In school) June 4th, 2021 - 8 am Local Time (Paper, In school) AP Japanese Language and Culture May 5th, 2021 - 8 am Local Time (Paper, In school) - Computer- based May 21st, 2021 - 8 am Local Time (Paper, In school) - Computer- based June 4th, 2021 - 8 am Local Time (Paper, In school) - Computer- based AP Latin May 21st, 2021 - 8am Local Time (Paper, In school) June 4th, 2021 - 8 am Local Time (Paper, In school) AP Spanish Language and Culture May 11th, 2021 - 8 am Local Time (Paper, In school) May 21st, 2021 - 8 am Local Time (Paper, In school) June 4th, 2021 - 8 am Local Time (Paper, In school) AP Spanish Literature and Culture May 7th, 2021 - 8 am Local Time (Paper, In school) May 21st, 2021 - 12 pm Local Time (Paper, In school) June 4th, 2021 - 12 pm Local Time (Paper, In school) Now that we’re spending more time indoors we have more time to spend with family. We miss hearing the kids in our classrooms and hallways, and we wanted to continue to support you while they’re home.We’ve put our heads together and came up with some ways to keep your kids mentally active and engaged in productive activities. While also giving you the opportunity for some much-needed time to yourself.  1. Setup a pandemic proof virtual playdate We've all seen how efficiently kids can adjust to a new situation, and they've spent a significant part of their lives interacting with an image on a screen. Research has shown that today most children behave similarly to having a friend on a screen as they do when they are physically next to them. Let's face it, there are some added benefits: setting up an online playdate saves you a bunch of time and energy from making a trip to and from your kid's friend’s house. You’ll be able to watch them eagerly walking around the house, showing their room, introducing pets, and playing music for hours - or until their time is up. They’ll be able to interact and develop social skills in a comfortable and safe environment, without you having to clean up all the added messes. Thank goodness for technology! 2. Play a game on your app Whether it’s on a cell phone or a tablet, devices offer endless possibilities for engaging material. There are free apps for helping with school subjects like math, science, and language learning, as well as a remarkable benefit to games and puzzle apps. Apps like “Cut the Rope” are today’s tetris, capturing children’s attention and training quick thinking, pattern recognition, and forward thinking. In fact, statistics show that nearly 85% of people will read this article from a mobile device. Parental controls only take a few minutes to set up and you can make sure they’re getting the most out of their device time. Most devices and apps allow some sort of monitoring capabilities for parents and are relatively easy, just make sure you use a password your kids won't be able to guess. Your kids are familiar with the devices, so they'll hardly consume any of your time or energy if any at all when they're on a device. They'll be completely engaged, and even if it's for 30 short minutes, it'll give you a window to recharge from a long day or keep them out of the kitchen long enough for you to make dinner. 3. Find new ways to read Your kids read more than they know. It may not be a traditional book, but anything from comic books or the storyline in a video game technically requires reading. Learning their favorite athlete's bio or stats, or even stories and articles about their favorite shows or movies counts in our book. With the right topics, reading will be less like eating vegetables, and more like watching TV. If they're interested in the topic, they'll read about it. It’s all about finding what they like, it doesn’t have to be traditional, it just has to connect with them. Education is all about connecting, the more your child feels connected to something the more engaged they’ll be. You’ll feel the silence once they get into it - you'll know you’re on track when they don't want to stop. Ahhhh, the feeling of sweet silence... 4. Learn to connect with a new language Languages aren’t as difficult to learn as we're led to believe. The excitement of being able to engage with someone in another language is what we live for at Tribeca Language. Have you ever met someone that speaks 3, 5, even 9+ languages and just thought to yourself, I wish I knew one of those? Research has shown, language learning uses multiple areas of the brain simultaneously - making it the most mentally engaging activity on this list. We live in a connected world where our kids are exposed to more culturally and linguistically than we were even 10 years ago. Many of your kids play sports or are in clubs with teammates that English isn’t their household language - you might be one of them. Beyond benefits like better job opportunities, or mental and cultural growth, language learning can be a fun and interactive experience that your kids will want to continue. 5. Get all hands-on deck with cooking or baking It'll need a little more of your attention and energy than some other suggestions on the list, but delicious food will be sure to keep them focused. Your kids will be completely focused on each step because they'll quickly realize a small change or mistake can make a big difference in the end - and no one wants to eat cookies that aren't right. We practiced math measuring and portioning. We got exercise stirring and mixing caramels and sauces for what felt like hours. Even when to know if something was ready from the look, smell, and feel of it. Cooking and baking with my family growing up was a way to connect with each other, but in the end, it's also a great way to kill a few hours.  6. Getting hands-on with arts and crafts Any teacher will tell you, providing creative outlets is a powerful way to enable your kids to be mentally and physically engaged with something. It could take a couple of trips to the craft store but once you find the activity they enjoy, it's relatively hands-off and minimal energy from you. Of course, some activities may need a little more supervision, but your kids will be engaged, and they’ll be eager to show you what they did when they're finished. It’s more about what your child feels comfortable with and enjoys than anything else. Arts and crafts allow your kids to “create” something, it could be a drawing or a sculpture. For most, the physical result of their work will create a sense of pride and an enthusiasm to do more of it. Your kids will have a task they're excited about and eager to "work on" for long periods of time. It'll also offer an outlet for them to find ways to express themselves as they grow and mature. 7. Stimulate mind, body, and spirit, with fitness activities There's so much more to regular exercise than its benefits for your physical, mental, and emotional health. Having your kids join you in physical activities will help them learn their own limitations and ways to calm their minds and relax - a skill many of us forget in the relentless non-stop life as an adult. Yoga, for instance, is an activity for any age and ability. It's a great way to help you and your kids learn to be calm under tension, improve your breathing, and provides a positive outlet to exercise with minimal impact. Spending time in nature also has a way to calm our minds - just picture the feeling of tranquility and calmness of the wind blowing through the treetops. Hikes allow time to enjoy the outdoors but also provides fresh air and a break from the busy world we live in. A screen can stimulate sight and sound, but it doesn't come close to the stimulation and engagement they'll experience during physical activities. 8. Use the old-fashioned storytelling trick This is another one that you’ll need to be more involved in, but it’s well worth keeping your kids engaged and having them use their imaginations. It can be a story about when you or a family member were their age or could be a complete original you make up on the spot. The characters and setting can be made-up but the more familiar the theme of the story the more they’ll be reeled into it. As you engage their imagination and creativity try to find a balance of telling and having them ask questions. Kids love to ask questions, to the point that you may have started to wonder if they were some kind of evil genius trying to make you go insane. Sometimes they don’t even care about the answer! They’re just trying to get you to acknowledge something - Anything. To counteract this seemingly never-ending loop, offer them a story. 9. Your kids will love the attention and amazement they receive when they learn to play an instrument. Playing music is an activity that for better or worse you can hear while you're cleaning up the room next to theirs, but you'll quickly be able to hear when they're focused on the music. Whether it's the title track of their favorite movie or the latest pop song, someone has probably created a version of it that can be played on most instruments. Learning to play an instrument requires time and focus to connect a sound with a physical action - like strumming a chord on a guitar. From the piano to the harmonica, learning a note takes practice and memorization for it to become more fluid and sound it's best. It’ll be rough at first, but with regular practice, they’ll gain the confidence and want to play their new song for anyone that will listen. Fortunately, the internet is filled with material kids want to learn. But the reality is, like language learning, having a formal teacher is by far the best way to learn an instrument efficiently. There’s no cookie cutter solutions when it comes to kids. We all like different things and have different things that excite and engage us, but we hope this list will help your kids find a productive activity to focus their energy on. Even if you’ve been looking forward to reconnecting with your family, it’s good to remember a little time for yourself can be just as beneficial as an engaging activity. These aren’t cookie-cutter solutions, but we felt they’re great places to start.
Please click the contact link below if you have any ideas or if there's something you’d like us to write about to help you. We love hearing your feedback and pride ourselves on taking time away from lessons to get to know you (the parents) more and offer you as much support as we can. Learning a new language is challenging, and sometimes even frustrating. There might be a thousand times that you want to give up. If you are learning a new language, or preparing to start learning a new one, here are 10 inspiring quotes that will keep you motivated. Always remember: keep going and never give up! Quote #1: "A special kind of beauty exists which is born in language, of language, and for language." - Gaston Bachelard  Quote #2: "Knowledge of languages is the doorway to wisdom." - Roger Bacon  Quote #3: “To learn a language is to have one more window from which to look at the world.” - Chinese Proverb  Quote #4: “Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going.” - Rita Mae Brown  Quote #5: "If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart." - Nelson Mandela  Quote #6: "Learn a new language and get a new soul." - Czech Proverb  Quote #7: "One language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every door along the way." - Frank Smith  Quote #8: "Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things, but learning another way to think about things." - Flora Lewis  Quote #9: “Do you know what a foreign accent is? A sign of bravery - Amy Chua  Quote #10: "you can never understand one language until you understand at least two." - Geoffrey Willians  |
RSS Feed
|
Connect with us!
|
Proudly powered by Weebly