At Aliso Niguel High School, students are given the option to take Spanish or French as their world language. Students can take French all the way until AP French IV, and Spanish until AP Spanish V. There is also Spanish for Spanish Speakers I and II.
Between the two, there are more Spanish classes than French as well as more class periods throughout the day. Only two out of the 10 world language teachers teach French. In general, more students sign up to take Spanish than French. This could be for a variety of reasons.
Ms. Aguirre, who teaches both Spanish and French says, “We’re in Southern California… we can hear Spanish outside school, you can be at the market and you can hear Spanish… It’s in the student’s best interest to understand what they hear outside of school.”
Here in California, Spanish is the first most spoken language after English. Many students choose to take Spanish because of this fact, it is far more likely that they will need to use Spanish in their daily lives than French.
“Spanish is more useful overall, because a lot more countries speak it and it is more common in the area we live in” says Shiley Moeinzadeh (10).
With the high population of Spanish speakers in California, some students have relatives who speak Spanish who they want to be able to communicate with. Additionally, this can be an opportunity for them to learn more about their heritage. Furthermore, it is common for students to have friends who speak Spanish, and they want to be able to talk to them in Spanish.
In the end, all students are required to take two years of a world language, and the one they decide to do is purely personal.
