A Spanish speaker in a Spanish class sounds about as challenged as a nerd in study hall, but Victor Mondragon would disagree — mostly.
The 19-year-old senior at Kensington’s Einstein High School said Advanced Placement Spanish is easier because he grew up speaking the language in El Salvador.
“But I’m learning better Spanish, and more polite Spanish,” he said. “And we’re learning to write formal letters, and to read to make summaries of what we read.”
Spanish is the only AP class he will take in high school, but Mondragon said he hopes to pass the test and knock off one credit when he attends college next year.
Marcia Wilbur, who directs world language programs for the College Board, calls students like Mondragon “heritage speakers.” She said the classes expose them to “mental gymnastics” that transfer to other classes and allow them to become truly bilingual as an adult, instead of speaking Spanish at a child’s level.
The College Board, a New York nonprofit, operates the AP program, as well as the SAT college entrance exams.
“Certain segments of the exam will be less challenging … but there are a lot of inference questions and higher-order thinking skills that will be challenging,” Wilbur said.
She said AP Spanish is aimed at students already at an intermediate level, so they’re not being tested on “hola” and “adios.”
Nancy Navarro, a Montgomery County councilwoman and former president of the county school board, emphasized the importance of getting students in AP classes — even if they’re relatively easy — as a gateway to other challenging courses.
“There’s a balance to be struck,” said Navarro, who grew up speaking Spanish. “But it’s important to be able to say, ‘Yes, you can do this — yes, you can be successful in AP.’ And when my daughter took AP Spanish, kids were all over the place — some could speak really well, but they couldn’t read or write.”
