On the first day of her sophomore year, Cassidy Winsor walked into a completely unfamiliar classroom filled with students that she had never met before. All eyes were on her, and she knew right away that she was the odd man out. It was going to be a long year.

Cassidy started the year being the only sophomore in her French 1 class, making her a sort of outcast in a class that is daunting enough without added aspects like the ones she has faced. Having had a full schedule freshman year, Winsor had to start French her second year of high school, unlike most sophomores.

Cassidy admits that being singled out as the lone 10th grader in class was hard.

“I was so embarrassed at first when I was the only one,” Winsor said.

Cassidy may have been the only sophomore in her hour, but she certainly wasn’t the only student faced with the struggles of high school foreign language class. Students are warned in middle school about the jump from junior high to high school, and some classes prove that maybe the teachers and counselors from schools past are right; stepping up to the educational plate, especially at Southwest, is essential to success in classes like French and Spanish.

“Students need to realize that any time you’re learning something for the first time, it’s going to take a lot of effort and time,” Winsor said.

Emilie Grant, or Madame Grant as her students know her, a Southwest French teacher, agrees with Winsor’s ideas. She has a fool-proof tip when it comes to being successful in French.

“One short and simple piece of advice: daily practice,” Grant said.

Putting in a little time each day can take the stress off studying before a big test, because the material will be familiar.

Now, French is hard, but there is another class at Southwest that may prove to be just as hard, if not a little harder, and that’s Spanish class. Sophomore Riley Trent, a Spanish 3.5 student, thinks that getting back to basics, or rather not getting them, can be the death of some students.

“I think the hardest part is becoming comfortable with learning the fundamentals,” Trent said.

The little things a student learns in a 9th grade language class will be used for the rest of their high school career. Understanding the building blocks of French and Spanish is imperative if a student is looking to take their learning of the language to the next level, whether that be taking Spanish sophomore year, or taking college French.

Some students can apply the skills they have learned in foreign language class on trips around the world.

Rachael and Jessica Sorcher, two French 2 students, visited France, and found that though they could speak English most everywhere they went, they could use other skills that they have attained through French when doing different things.

“When asking for directions or ordering at restaurants, knowing some french culture and basic french words made me feel better about talking to people who live there, and it definitely gave me more confidence,” Sorcher said.

Taking French made the experience more than just a vacation, it was like seeing all the things that Rachael had learned about in class in real life. That was one of the coolest things for Rachael, seeing the things she had learned about in a classroom in person. The reasons to take a language are endless, to be convinced check out this article on reasons to take a language.

To put it simply, taking a foreign language is hard work. Students can expect homework every night, and class time must be put to good use in order to get speaking points, but it’s all worth it.

The positives out weigh the negatives in every category when it comes to foreign language. So, taking a foreign language class is definitely something to give a try, and maybe stick with, while in high school.