Aliso Niguel offers two foreign languages, Spanish and French. This year, the only Advanced Placement Spanish course offered was AP Spanish Language and Culture (Spanish 4). AP Spanish 5 was not available this school year because of decreased enrollment in the course.
Aliso, alongside Capo Valley and San Juan Hills are the only schools in the Capistrano Unified School District that offer AP Spanish 5. However, Aliso is the only non-immersion school that teaches AP Spanish 5, meaning that we do not have students who have been learning Spanish from kindergarten or are heritage speakers.
Due to the large latino population in the area, Aliso offers Spanish for Spanish Speakers courses. Once students have gone through those courses, they have the opportunity to enter the AP Spanish track and take AP Spanish 4 and AP Spanish 5.
Sra. Sepe is one of two teachers that have taught AP Spanish 5; she previously worked with Sra. Novak who has recently retired.
AP Spanish 5 has been gone in the 2024-2025 school year, with Sra. Sepe said, “I just didn’t see the numbers there, it wasn’t a really big class to begin with. So that’s why we eliminated it.”
AP Spanish 5 is a literature class, teaching students about classic Spanish literature. It covers literature from Medieval times to the 21st Century.
Sra. Sepe thinks it’s important for the latino population at Aliso to learn about their heritage from a less American perspective, “… to be able to understand and decipher what other countries are doing… [she] thinks it’s really powerful.”
Not all students are eligible to take AP Spanish 5, they would’ve needed to either have taken a Spanish course in Middle School or have been enrolled in the Spanish for Spanish Speakers classes. Because of this almost all AP Spanish 5 students are Seniors.
When asked about this Sra. Sepe says, “there is a burnout senior year… they want to take it easy… AP classes are hard.”
In AP Spanish 4, students earn their Seal of Biliteracy if they pass the end of the year AP test.
Sra. Sepe explains how many of her previous AP 5 students have reached out to her, praising AP Spanish 5 because they are applying AP5 concepts in college.
Sra. Sepe thinks it’s important to take this class because “It’s not over… College is hard and if [students] can take these classes it will be much easier.”
Shiley Moeinzadeh (10) is currently a sophomore enrolled in Spanish 3, and is on course to take AP Spanish 5 her senior year.
Moeinzadeh wants to enter the medical field and says, “I want to be fluent in Spanish to be able to communicate with more patients.”
Spanish is a very versatile subject and Aliso gives students the opportunity to advance their understanding in foreign language with AP Spanish 5.
