Languages A2, B and Ab Initio
Discussion on Languages A2, B and Ab Initio. There is a separate subforum for Language A1!
1,222 topics in this forum
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Just out of interest, I wanted to ask people how many options their school offers their students in terms of Language B's. The most common Language B's being studied on this forum seem to be French, Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, German and and Italian. Is anyone out there studying a very random language, or one that is not commonly spoken worldwide? If you are, why did you choose it instead of a more commonly used language? My own school offers French, Hebrew and Arabic as Language B (and a few students have taken Spanish, Italian and Finnish as a 7th subject).
Last reply by letryhard, -
- 24 replies
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Ya hi. This is really effing late. My laptop is having issues so I had to get it fixed. Please don't hate me forever. Anywho I'll just explain to yall the format of the paper then give you some of the normal question formats that will be on the test. Mkay.Ready? Let's go! The Format Yall Ok so the paper 1 is divided into 4 different texts: A, B, C, and D. Each of these texts have their own set of questions and prompts. This paper tests two things: Your ability to respond to text based question and a written response to a text. The texts will be all in the language that you have taken and will be chosen externally. You have no say whatsoever in what they pick. Sorry. Altho…
Last reply by Swasub, -
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Here are some tips that I think will help with formatting paper 2's for language B. Sorry it's not very well edited. Paper 2 Tips Overarching tips: -Register: Who are you talking to? Should you use “tu” or “vous”? Are you being subjective or objective? -Linguistic elements: Always remember to include a variety of tenses and colloquial language. However, when considering tenses always make sure to stay consistent and match the tense that the prompt requires. -Structure: For structuring, always make sure your paragraphs are cohesive and transitions are solid. As Lower would say “Give their eyes a break”. -Principal ideas: This is very important. So important it needs to…
Last reply by turtle turtle, -
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Greetings humans. The following are some tips I've compiled in order to make your oral a less painful and rather care free process in which you talk with the examiner (which may or may not be your teacher) about a topic that you have chosen (or not). So here we go with the tips... The Format Alright. The oral for language B consists of 9-12 minutes of you purely talking in your chosen foreign language. Whether it be French, Spanish, German, MAndarin, etc. the list goes on and on, the format will mostly be the same. (Unless I'm delusional in which case it isn't). It is also divided into three 3-4 minute chunks. These 'chunks' if you will each have a different component to …
Last reply by eatingpieisgreat, -
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Here are the links to the notes and sample works for Languages A2, B, Ab Initio we have on our Files archive. To be able to download files, you have to be a VIP member or a VIP subscriber. Please see the FAQ for information on how to become a VIP or how to buy a VIP subscription. If you want to donate and contribute files to our archive, please see this announcement or this FAQ section. Languages A2, B & Ab Initio Language A2 Language B and Ab Initio French: Notes and essays for French B and Ab Initio
Last reply by Survival Robot, -
Bonjour, tout le monde! Je m'appelle Caitlin, et je crois que pour ameliorer le francais, il faut le parler! Donc, si vous parlez le francais, repondez-vous a ce thread! B) Nous pouvons discuter en francais pour gagner les 7s!! Parlez de n'importe quoi: votre ecole, votre famille, votre leisures, qu'est que vous apprenez dans votre classe de francais? A bientot, mes petits poulets! Caitlin
Last reply by mariekur, -
- 210 replies
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So this thread is for people who do Spanish. I figure we can make this thread Spanish-only, for people that want to learn Spanish. Post whatever you want, describe yourself etc. So from under the Line of Spanish, you can't speak any English, If you want to correct something PM them (Please do, it would help ) -----------------------------Line Of Spanish--------------------Línea de español------------------------------ Hola! Yo también juego al futbol pero ahora es verano mi no juego tanto.
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So for some reason, my school allows fluent students to take Language B, instead of giving them a different language option. We had practice orals last week, and of course the fluent kids scored a near perfect on their interactive oral. Their parents only speak Spanish at home. I just dont see how this is ethical. The schools get a false reputation for language B curriculum, and the students taking the classes while fluent earn an easy grade. The language B is specifically designed for students who don't speak the language, not those who wish to earn an "easy 7". whats your school policy and take on this?
Last reply by BeezyW, -
So who amongst us is doing IB German B (SL or HL)? Might be a place to share tips? Advice? Strategies for coping with awful teachers? Shall I start then? I've got hold of the Alevel equivalant (NCEA) vocab list. Now, it's not fun, but have divided it up into weekly sections and am learning one section a week. Pretty boring but really helps! Any other ideas?
Last reply by Tilia, -
So according to some, having language pen-pals can count for creativity hours. How? Basically, what you have to do is find someone who is doing IB somewhere else (outside of your country of residence), and talk to them in a language that you are not fluent in. In this case, us IB students can use our language B to fit that criteria. The only requirement is that you conduct your email entirely in that foreign language, and that person will reply to you in their foreign language (one in which you can understand of course). The emails should be set about once or twice a week for about 15 minutes, depending on how free you are. However, you'll notice that if this is continue…
Last reply by MeganHickey, -
大家好, 汉语太难了。。。:( 我是 安地, 我住在新西兰。 虽然我的汉语不好,我喜欢说汉语。 在这论坛里只能说汉语。 你好吗?
Last reply by Lei Chen, -
Hi, I will study the IB next year and want to take Mandain ab initio. Anyone here who has studyed this language so far? Is it very difficult? thanks
Last reply by MinaDoan, -
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¿Hay unos estudiantes aquí que quieren hablar español conmigo? ¡Tengo que practicar!
Last reply by purple, -
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Hi, im about to start the IB in sept and was wandering which course would be more suitable to me but also less stress and demand and work! I have studied french for 5 years and achieved a grade A at GCSE so was thinking at taking it at HL but i was wandering if spanish ab initio would be easier as the languages are very similar.. HELLPP
Last reply by cjy, -
- 24 replies
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What would be a good oral topic for my Spanish B oral assessment?
Last reply by Gnick Wright, -
- 23 replies
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At my school, we have to take 5 years of a language before we may take the IB test. That seems odd to me, because it is SL, and most SL courses are only 1 year. How long is a normal amount of time to take a language before taking the IB test?
Last reply by Patel108, -
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Hey Guys!!! I'd like to get to know more people around the world who are learning German! I'd like to improve my german by speaking/writing to other IBers around the world, so if you're interested, drop a line!
Last reply by Faffyfoo, -
French Idioms 1 2
by otter12- 21 replies
- 14.2k views
occupe-toi de tes oignons - lit. look after your onions, really -mind your own business
Last reply by walking tea party, -
- 20 replies
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I don't know if this is anyone else's ab initio class but in mine, one of the students knows the language really well (almost fluently) and i think it is a disadvantage to others who do not know the langauge and actually deserve to be in ab initio. Tell me if this prevalent in other classes around the world
Last reply by nikkiwilde, -
- 20 replies
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Does anyone know where I can learn how to write the different formats for French B SL paper two? Our teacher did not teach us them and I hear that you get marks off if they aren't done properly...is this true? Whoever changed my post is just rude
Last reply by saquibkhan, -
French SL or HL 1 2
by sraja90- 20 replies
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I dont know whether to take SL or HL. My teacher has been trying to convince me to take HL, but im worried that if i do, i may not get my diploma. So idk what to do?!?!?!
Last reply by lindieeluieee, -
- 20 replies
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We got back our scores from the mock orals in French today, and I'm having mixed feelings about mine. I got 24/30, and while I realise it's good for someone who doesn't like to speak and dreaded this for weeks, I'm really not used to getting scores below 25. So I was wondering what you guys think is a good score... Thing is, these were mock orals but according to our teacher we're allowed to use them as the real ones if we're satisfied with the score, assuming we don't make another attempt. I asked my teacher if she thinks I could do better, and it sounded like she didn't expect me to get more than one or two points above what I already have. To be honest, I don't think t…
Last reply by Samra, -
Hey guys, for you who know Japanese or who are studying it, what is the best way to start to learn? I'm doing Japanese ab initio next year and I don't know what to start thinking of doing. Should I learn Kanji and the different ways of writing, should buy I a particular book, are there any good websites and tell me at what level you're studying Japanese. It could always be interesting to see people who are studying Japanese on this forum. Thanks in advance ^-^
Last reply by melodyyy., -
- 19 replies
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Hi, I can hardly find anyone doing Japanese B. I used to do SL Japanese (B) at my old school because HL was not offered. In the new school I'm going to, HL is offered and i will be taking it (I'm taking 4 high levels oh my gosh) And I was wondering if ANYONE here does HL jap...? How difficult is it? I've recently took the JLPT (japanese language proficiency test) N3 and is planning to take N2 in either december this year or july next year.If I am at that level, would I be okay? Thanks
Last reply by I`m Potato, -
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Hi guys, first post here, sorry, etc etc. I'm nearing the end of my first year of the IB diploma. Mocks are in a month. My current grades are: Maths HL - 7 Physics HL - 6/7 Business HL - 7 English lang/lit SL - 6 Chemistry SL - 4 French SL - 3 Core (TOK/EE)- 2 I'm interested in applying to Oxford/Cambridge, but am held back by a level 3 at French. The requirement for application is at least all 6s (and I'm hoping for 777 at HL). I have never been good at french, have had multiple tutors, but just don't *get* it. I haven't tried enough to actually improve myself, but now that everything is so .. real, so soon, I want to work as much as possible on French. M…
Last reply by mac117, -
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I've been doing french for the past 5 years and am currently doing the IGCSE course. I am currently working at A/A* grade with little effort (as in i do my homework and ONLY do past papers the night before for exam revision). If i change my study habits for french and put the effort in do you think i'd be possible to do well in sl french (preferably a 6)? Or would it be too difficult? You should also take into consideration that the IB coordinator said that student's from our school who do the IGCSE course struggle in french (the IB school i'm moving to also does IGCSE). Or Would it be easier to get a 6 in Spanish Ab initio?
Last reply by YellowSpider, -
- 16 replies
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Hey What sup guys Didn't find any topic related to Arabic language .. that why I opened this thread for any Arabian person from the middle east and the rest of the world ---------------------------Line Of Arabic --------------------الخـــــــــط العربي------------------------------ يا هلا السلام عليكم وكيف الحال يا اهل العرب.. مرحبا بكم بصفحة اللغة العربية في منتدى الاي بي
Last reply by cjy, -
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I noticed there's not a lot of conversation about English A2 here, so here's your chance to share your thoughts on that. For those who have graduated from the IB with English A2 Higher Level, I would like to ask whether you thought it is hard to get a 7 in it? Should one be completely bilingual in order to attain that mark? Oh and does an accent affect one's IOC results? Also, it would be fun to hear what works you are doing in order to see if there are a lot of similarities. Which of them are wonderful and which prove to be pains in the asses? To end this for now, I would like to ask how I could bring up my Criterion C mark, which at the moment is an 8. I use varied voca…
Last reply by capitalist, -
- 15 replies
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Of all the IB subjects I'll soon be taking (school starts in less than a week), it's French I'm most worried about. Though I've taken it for 7 years, I still can't speak the language (except for some basics) and can only barely understand the gist of a text after re-reading it several times. All my friends are even worse off than me (except for the students who took French immersion when they were younger) so I think it really has to do with the quality of French teaching in my region =/ Anyways how worried should I be about French IB? Do they expect me to be fluent in it? With my limited skills, what are the chances of me passing? Really anything you can tell me abou…
Last reply by faith, -
- 15 replies
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Hi guys, I'm taking Mandarin AB Intio as my foreign language and I have it as an online course. For the first few weeks of the lesson, I thought the class was fine. But few weeks passes and the class begins to become a burden for me and I start neglecting my tasks by that time. I have also received few reminders from my teacher and I can't help but to be lazy and do what I want. I realized that I'm a different person when I'm in all the other classes. I take everything seriously, I do my homework and I love them. Now I'm in my second year of IB and I have few more months before finals. Plus, my mock exam for this subject will be tomorrow. since I can't do anything fo…
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Is it a big disadvantage to take B instead of A2?
Last reply by romice, -
- 15 replies
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what are the differences in HL and SL spanish B? sorry if this has been asked before. i'm in spanish B SL1 and i have an A... so i was thinking i should do HL next year. i am not a native speaker. also, did they change the individual oral for B languages? i thought you picked a topic and presented it and then your teacher asked you questions about it, but my teacher said that they give you a picture and you have to describe it and then your teacher asks you about it... which is it? sorry if i seem kinda stupid in IB stuff haha... i start the whole program next year but they let you take your foreign language early if you have all the prerequisites at my school.
Last reply by Sofia., -
- 14 replies
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What did you "spontaneously" talk about during your 10 minute orals? I took Spanish and discussed the importance of the hand fan [el abanico] in allowing women to show what they were thinking through gestures.
Last reply by Peachez, -
- 14 replies
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Hey, I finished writing my writing task (an opinion column) that's due tomorrow, but I don't know how to write the Rationale.. Can anyone please help me with what things need to be in there and how long it's supposed to be? PS: Is it gonna be graded? Thanks so much!! *Sera
Last reply by Gaby, -
- 14 replies
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I need your opinion on whether I should learn Mandarin or French. I want to learn Mandarin more than I want to learn French, because it is way more useful, but French is way easier. The problem with Mandarin is the difficulty, especially the letters/script/characters, when I look at Chinese letters it just looks ridiculously hard, memorizing them is basically like looking into the night sky and trying to memorize specific patterns of stars, and freaking hundreds of them!?!?!? So what do you guys think? Take an easier language, and probably get a better grade, but waste two years that I could have spent learning a more useful language? Or take a harder language, probably g…
Last reply by elaifyanre, -
- 14 replies
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Hi everyone! As I'm starting my IB program in, like, two weeks, I'd like to know more about the French B HL course from those of you who are currently attending it, or who've already graduated. I've been studying French for three years, have been to Paris multiple times and if I wanted, I could easily involve myself a little more in french culture, as I have various relatives who live in France and are fluent french speakers. During the past three years, however, I have not studied french at all (in fact, I have started studying french about six years ago, studied it for three years and then stopped for three years when I got into what in Italy is called "Liceo"). Do y…
Last reply by vals, -
- 14 replies
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I have two friends that are taking Ab Initio. One has been taking Spanish for five years, and is taking Ab Initio, and one has been taking French for four years, and is taking Ab Initio. Is this right? I'm in french with one of them and its just difficult for me.
Last reply by Leti, -
- 14 replies
- 5.8k views
I want to self learn Japanese. Not as a class because I would not be allowed to do that, but just because I have always wanted to learn it. So I was wondering if some people could give me a list of books I can buy to help me learn, websites, videos etc. I looked up Japanese in the search bar, but all the posts there are like over a year old so I couldn't get much out of it. So any help on how I can self study Japanese would be great!!! I watch Anime, read manga, watch Live Action Anime in Japanese I listen to Japanese music and I also watch some TV shows in that language. I do all my projects on Japanese culture as well. So I'm exposed to it a lot, which means that I can…
Last reply by A lei :3, -
- 14 replies
- 4.4k views
Hi, Just a few months before exams and i'm really worried about my grasp of the language which is very basic- i understand verb conjugations and so on but my vocabulary is very limited and i hardly know any prepositions etc. If there are any good websites , advice or books please let me know !!!
Last reply by puyol9, -
- 14 replies
- 2.2k views
I'm sitting the Nov 2011 IB French Ab Initio SL and I thought I should really get started on studying for french! I lack the motivation to do it alone so I thought if I could get some people who wants a 7 in French Ab Init. like me we will be able to form like an online study group or something. We can perhaps write Paper 2 responses and mark each other, correct each others work and also learn vocabs together? I use to do a study group for english vocab building and it went really well - it was fun and very helpful!! Anybody interested? PM or reply to this post?
Last reply by farooha, -
- 14 replies
- 16.2k views
I am currently a sophomore and will be taking IB Mandarin SL next year. I actually only started Mandarin (the course was called Mandarin I) last year in my freshman year but since I displayed a higher-level of speaking and writing proficiency at the end of the year in comparison to the other students in my grade, they bumped me up to Mandarin III this year. I currently know how to write about 800 characters give or take, and can recognize about 1000. The book that we studied in Mandarin I and III follows the Yuan Dong publishing corp. from Taiwan. We also take supplementary grammar and vocabularies from the widely used Chinese Made Easy series as well for IB prep. So for …
Last reply by JONGong, -
- 14 replies
- 3k views
Can anyone tell me how many points are the minimum to get a 7?
Last reply by adletaY, -
- 14 replies
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Hi All, Does the topic we write our external assessment essay (200-300 words) need to be from the prescribed topics from the syllabus? Or can it be anything? For instance, agriculture isn't one of the 20 prescribed topics in the syllabus and I wanted to compare farming between Indonesia and Australia. Any Help would be much appreciated! Thanks!
Last reply by Talalwarsi5897, -
- 13 replies
- 4.1k views
Hi guys, Last month I started the IB, and one of the subjects I'm taking is SL French B. So far this is my hardest subject and I can see this turning into a nightmare; I find it harder than all of my HL subjects even. I was thinking about switching out of it to another language B, but the only other option is Spanish, which I have no experience in whatsoever. In SL French B, so far we've been reading texts and answering questions on it, which is for paper 1 I believe. Also, we've been practicing writing paragraphs in French, which I believe is for paper 2. Other than the practices for these papers, we've been looking at pictures and talking in French about them, …
Last reply by turtle turtle, -
- 13 replies
- 1.3k views
Is it a good idea for me to take AB-initio french for ib? i didnot opt for igcse french but i got a 90 in boards for french so is it a good idea?
Last reply by by.andrew, -
- 13 replies
- 8.3k views
Hello I have to make up Oral Presentation and the topic has to be connected with the culture or something in English-speaking country. It has to last 3 minutes. Any ideas? please help me ! i am desperate at every subject
Last reply by timmotytimmoty, -
- 13 replies
- 6.6k views
Does anyone know exactly what it is we need to know for arabic AB ? My teachers ony have the syllabus in arabic...which is great considering the fact that no one in the class can read it well. we dont even know what it is we are doing...also, any tips for arabic ab?
Last reply by Candidate 2011, -
- 12 replies
- 3.3k views
Hey guys! I have a bit of a problem. I'm going into IB next year and it has come time to select IB courses. Unfortunately, the only second language course that my school offers is French B SL. I have studied French for a lot longer than my classmates (10 years) and I am almost fluent in it, so I find French class at school to be boring because I already know what's being taught. So, I'm considering doing French A2 SL self taught. Would this be a good idea, given my situation? I have never self-studied a subject before either.
Last reply by bLub, -
- 12 replies
- 1.8k views
I will be starting Year 1 of the Diploma program this September and I am worried, especially about my second language. I will be taking SL French, and I was just wondering if anyone has ever taken it. If you did, what did you think of it? Any tips? My teacher this year was horrible so I didn't learn a lot. I like French, but for some reason, I'm just not good at it.
Last reply by HiggsHunter, -
- 12 replies
- 17.3k views
What does it take to top french??? Omg it's so difficult and killing me these days... any tips for survival peoples? Merci
Last reply by cricketcrazynerd,