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Post by sizzling63 on Mar 9, 2019 17:34:04 GMT -5
It's a very different school system here in the States - everybody goes to high school but within high school there are different "tracks" or level of difficulty for individual subjects. For instance, if you're good in math and sciences you take the advanced placement courses, and if at the same time you don't have a knack for languages you can keep those at a required minimum. The curriculum is more "customized" but a certain amount of units of all subjects and fields are required. High school students switch classrooms during the day as everybody has a different curriculum, contrary to Germany where the whole class moves on throughout the years with pretty much identical schedules. Language requirements here are minimal compared to Europe or what I know from Germany where students in advanced education like "Gymnasium" or "le lycee" typically take at least two languages at the same time (English/French or English/Latin or English/Spanish and may be another). In the US however, you typically get to a top college (yes, there are tiers too) if you only took one language and not sure if you even need to take it all the way throughout. Both my kids started with Spanish in middle school (7th/8th grade), continued with advanced placement throughout high school, and got college credit for it, but that was more out of interest and not a necessity. Of course if you want to make it to a top college here you have to take more advanced classes of various subjects AND ideally take solid language courses too. Again, it is a bit more customized based on your talents and interests, but languages are a lot less emphasized. Are you confused now? Thanks! To you and nica575 as well. And thank God, I‘ve been at an American Highschool myself as an exchange student, so I’m not completely confused, because I know a bit about how the schedules and classroochanges ect. are handled very different there. I just never understood, after which rules the classes were picked. But it sounds like on university. Must be very complicated to choose, especially at a young age in middle school. I‘m glad, that we don’t have big differences between public and private schools here. Parents don’t need to pay money for school. There are some private schools, but not too many. So, we have no idea, how much Spanish Adam has learnt in school, right? Middle schools are more "regulated", also as there is less variety of classes offered, but in math and English you find different levels of placement already. In high school, there are counselors or "advisors" who help with course selection and staying "on track" for successful graduation and also towards college goals. Yes, it is more complicated. I think it was pretty stressful actually in terms of support from a parental perspective. Many people here even hire private college counselors who advise on course selection and application letters to get into desired colleges. A very different world compared to Europe, based on my own experiences and what I learn from my nephews (who are both in Gymnasium). "Leistungsgesellschaft" aka a "competitive world". How does this tie in with Adam? It even trickles down to gifted artists like him who had their self worth suffer. I bet he did not take more than may be two years or so of regular Spanish. That's pretty normal.
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Post by girldrummer on Mar 9, 2019 17:40:59 GMT -5
So, a question to my American friends: If someone learnt a language like Spanish in Highschool, what can one expect? How long do students in the US have to study a foreign language? I remember from my few weeks in an American Highschool in 1996, that the American standards were very different from what I was used to. I started to learn English in elementary school, 3rd grade. I was never allowed to use German in these classes. When I started upper school at 7th grade, I had to choose a second language (this is only necessary, when you want to achieve the German „Abitur“). In the end I studied English for 11 years (British, American and Australian - that depended on our teachers and changed through the years. The first 6 years were British though.) and French for 7. We had to analyze and write essays about Shakespeare‘s sonnets and Sartre‘s works. But that’s only for students, who graduate after 13 years (now often 12) with the Abitur. Today all students in Germany are learning English from grade 3 to 10 -that’s 8 years. Until about 15 years ago, it were at least 6 years of any language (usually English, but sometimes French or Latin). How is that in the USA? Lol.... may be depends on the school? There is no foreign language requirement at least in the NYC school system... all depends on the school, and the funds they have... my kids attended the very best public schools (as opposed to private, i.e. I didn’t have to pay for them), they had to take IQ tests to get in at the Age of 3 and had admission tests to get into middle and high schools (harder to get into these than into Harvard)... anyhoo, the parents had to collect funds to get a Spanish language teacher at the elementary level...there were choices of languages in the middle and the high schools though, but it wasn’t a requirement... Idk what the situation is in other states or cities... I think “the world speaks English” is the underlying problem... I think "the world speaks English" isn't so much a problem as it is a fact. In America, kids take a foreign language more as a recreation or an "extra" rather than as a necessity to get along in the larger world. Many US kids take a few years of Spanish or French or German or Latin, get the basics and then kind of forget it. In general Americans don't use the second language a whole. I know I'm generalizing but I think it's pretty true. But in other countries, English is more of a necessity than a recreation. English is spoken so commonly around the world, esp. in business. And lots of English language media (TV, movies, etc.) are in English. (I know subtitles can be used.) And English seems to be taught very early in elementary school in other countries. So it's taken more seriously than here in the US. I think it's great to know more than one language. I took my two years of HS French and I loved it. Wish I had taken more. It's helped me with vocabulary and reading and other benefits. Hope Adam learns some Spanish. It's a very sexy language. I keep thinking of Antonio Banderas. What a babe! American is kind of isolated. Canada up north and Mexico down south. But Europe and other areas have countries very close together. I think languages spill over a lot more from country to country.
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Post by girldrummer on Mar 9, 2019 17:43:47 GMT -5
Uhm, what’s that on Adam’s left shoulder? Did he get extensions? Priceless! May be for his next tour he will put the scarlet letter "A" back on his vest haha. Remember Glamnation? Adam looks utterly smoking hot in this photo! Love the color and pose. And the hair extension or whatever. Very sexy! He really loves to dress up for a theme. He would look fabulous in a movie set in "old Hollywood." He just has that star quality, and he sure knows how to use it.
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Post by pi on Mar 9, 2019 17:52:16 GMT -5
:D Adam's stepmom's post to that photo..
amylizwrites Still doing construction on your house?!
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Post by svca on Mar 9, 2019 17:52:51 GMT -5
Would love to see Adam's pic a bit closer...but he looks great from a distance lol.
ETA: Adam has that "scarlet pimpernel" foppish, aristocratic look going on...very handsome.
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Post by lurleene on Mar 9, 2019 18:07:36 GMT -5
Lol.... may be depends on the school? There is no foreign language requirement at least in the NYC school system... all depends on the school, and the funds they have... my kids attended the very best public schools (as opposed to private, i.e. I didn’t have to pay for them), they had to take IQ tests to get in at the Age of 3 and had admission tests to get into middle and high schools (harder to get into these than into Harvard)... anyhoo, the parents had to collect funds to get a Spanish language teacher at the elementary level...there were choices of languages in the middle and the high schools though, but it wasn’t a requirement... Idk what the situation is in other states or cities... I think “the world speaks English” is the underlying problem... I think "the world speaks English" isn't so much a problem as it is a fact. In America, kids take a foreign language more as a recreation or an "extra" rather than as a necessity to get along in the larger world. Many US kids take a few years of Spanish or French or German or Latin, get the basics and then kind of forget it. In general Americans don't use the second language a whole. I know I'm generalizing but I think it's pretty true. But in other countries, English is more of a necessity than a recreation. English is spoken so commonly around the world, esp. in business. And lots of English language media (TV, movies, etc.) are in English. (I know subtitles can be used.) And English seems to be taught very early in elementary school in other countries. So it's taken more seriously than here in the US. I think it's great to know more than one language. I took my two years of HS French and I loved it. Wish I had taken more. It's helped me with vocabulary and reading and other benefits. Hope Adam learns some Spanish. It's a very sexy language. I keep thinking of Antonio Banderas. What a babe! American is kind of isolated. Canada up north and Mexico down south. But Europe and other areas have countries very close together. I think languages spill over a lot more from country to country. Very true. I took 9 years of Spanish (1 middle/ 4 high school/4 college) and my neighbors and best friends in high school were identical triplets from Cuba. The guys couldn't speak any English at first so I was one of the few who could communicate with them in the beginning. Also one of the few (other than their family members) who knew which was which. And it was good practice. Then after college I took a job for two years as a bank manager that catered to a large Puerto Rican Community. It was different but I could always help and communicate with anyone who could not speak English. When I left that job, and had no need to use Spanish, I lost it all. Sometimes I can read things and figure a little of it out but that is just about it, lol. I have regretted letting it go.
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Post by pi on Mar 9, 2019 18:12:20 GMT -5
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Post by nightowl on Mar 9, 2019 18:13:12 GMT -5
[ I think "the world speaks English" isn't so much a problem as it is a fact. In America, kids take a foreign language more as a recreation or an "extra" rather than as a necessity to get along in the larger world. Many US kids take a few years of Spanish or French or German or Latin, get the basics and then kind of forget it. In general Americans don't use the second language a whole. I know I'm generalizing but I think it's pretty true. But in other countries, English is more of a necessity than a recreation. English is spoken so commonly around the world, esp. in business. And lots of English language media (TV, movies, etc.) are in English. (I know subtitles can be used.) And English seems to be taught very early in elementary school in other countries. So it's taken more seriously than here in the US. I think it's great to know more than one language. I took my two years of HS French and I loved it. Wish I had taken more. It's helped me with vocabulary and reading and other benefits. Hope Adam learns some Spanish. It's a very sexy language. I keep thinking of Antonio Banderas. What a babe! American is kind of isolated. Canada up north and Mexico down south. But Europe and other areas have countries very close together. I think languages spill over a lot more from country to country. I thought that myself. My experience was to my astonishment especially during the last years different though. When I was in Prague for QAL in 2017, I usually started to speak in English, when I came into contact with locals. About 2/3 of them didn’t speak English. But German. I experienced the same in Poland, Italy, Greece and Spain. In France, people often didn’t speak any foreign language. Or they didn’t want to. 😁 On the whole, I found out, that people often don’t speak English. Maybe that were coincidences and I always meet the wrong people. I’m sure, the young generations usually do learn English by now. But not all. The Scandinavian countries are very different.They start very young, because even TV is often in English there (hence, they got Idol). To exaggerate a bit: Why should Europeans learn English, when only the about 60 Mio. Brits and Irish speak English? Who want to leave the EU. At the same time, more than 130 Mio people in several countries are native German speakers. And many others speak it as second language. That’s important for tourism, so people learn German. But to communicate worldwide and with most countries, English is the chosen language, of course. I think, it’s important to learn that, but as I described: I learnt, that there are countries, where it doesn’t help you. Maybe, Americans should keep that in mind, when visiting Europe. 😉
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Post by pi on Mar 9, 2019 18:13:25 GMT -5
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Post by lurleene on Mar 9, 2019 18:35:27 GMT -5
It just makes me so happy to see Adam there (Javi too). After going from thinking he would not attend the Oscars to being in the audience after actually performing at the opening was so special and so wonderful!
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