Language B

Courses offered:

English B (HL) Chinese B (HL/SL) Malay B (SL) Tamil B (SL) Hindi B (HL/SL) Spanish B (HL/SL) Other Language B (HL/SL) via the Home Language Programme - Additional Fees Apply

1. What is the nature of Language B at IB level?

Language B is a language acquisition course developed at two levels SL and HL for students with some background in the target language. While acquiring a language, students will explore the culture(s) connected to it. The focus of these courses is language acquisition and intercultural understanding.

2. What will be the approach to learning?

The course uses a balance between approaches to learning that are teacher-centred (teacher-led activities and assessment in the classroom) and those that are learner-centred (activities designed to allow the students to take the initiative, which can also involve student participation in the evaluation of their learning). The teacher is best placed to evaluate the needs of the students and is expected to encourage both independent and collaborative learning.

3. What will be the subject content?

The Language B syllabus approaches the learning of language through meaning. Through the study of five prescribed themes at SL and HL, plus two literary works at HL, students build the necessary skills to reach the assessment objectives of the Language B course through the expansion of their receptive, productive and interactive skills.

SL and HL are differentiated by the recommended number of teaching hours, the depth of syllabus coverage, the study of literature at HL, and the level of difficulty and demands of assessment and assessment criteria.

The five prescribed themes for both SL and HL are:

● identities ● experiences ● human ingenuity ● social organization; and ● sharing the planet.

Also, at HL, students read two works of literature.

4. What will be the nature of assessment?

Assessment throughout the course will be based on class activities, class work, homework and tests.

The individual oral assessment accounts for 25% of the final grade. It is internally assessed and externally moderated by IB moderators.

The External Assessment accounts for 75% of the final grade, comprising a Writing exam (25%) and a Listening and Reading exam (50%).