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How many years of _________ language?


KyleAdams

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On a random note, SL courses are usually 2 years - most people outside of the USA actually take the IB diploma as their whole educational programme so they take all 6 subjects simultaneously for both years. Anyway, that aside, most people who did B for a language have done at least 2-3 years of a language, often 4 or 5 as you said. I don't think there's a normal amount of time, it's mostly just a standard amount of ability, I guess. People doing B are usually either fluent people trying to get an easy 7 (which the schools technically should filter out) or people with a mediochre level of language, no matter how many years they've been learning.

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Most people at my school take four years of a language before they sit for the Spanish B/French B/Latin SL exam.

It's impossible to become proficient enough at a language to the standards that are expected of you in a language B SL class in one year. Ab initio languages are usually 2 years. It's kinda like if you haven't been exposed to a language at all before IB, you can still meet the requirements fairly if you do ab initio.

Think about it like this... for any class you take at IB, it's not like you have no prior knowledge of it whatsoever. You're not coming in with a blank slate. Even if you were, it'd be easier to understand a subject you have no concept of at all than it would be to grasp a language and acquire good writing, listening, and speaking skills.

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At my school, most people have done three years of language prior to commencing language B, although, there are some who had done more (about 6 years) and others, such as my self who had done less (1 1/2 years). It varies, it really depends on the standard of language that the person is at, irrelevant of how long they've studied it for. :)

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At my school, most people have been learning their language for 4 years, but some people only have 2 or 3 years before starting the IB. I did German for 3 years before starting IB and I find the German SL course not too easy, but not incredibly difficule either.

The ab initio Spanish at our school is only really for people who want to do IB and don't already have a language, so they start from scratch

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My school doesn't offer a plethora of language options, because in Canada, it's pretty much assumed that most people will take their French B exam. Most of us have studied French for approximately 9 to 11 years prior to writing that exam.

We also offer French A2 for those who have gone through the French Immersion programme. These people are more proficient because they've been studying French in-depth ever since they were around 5 or 6 years old. Therefore, A2 is a better choice for them.

We also offer Spanish and Japanese ab initio. For those courses, you've only needed to study the languages for two years - IB 1 and IB 2.

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At my school French is taught for five years before IB, so in theory that's how much experience people should have. However, out of my class of only five two speak French at home (apparently they can justify it because they have never been to a French speaking school.) One goes to France every holiday and is naturally good at languages. I've lived in France for two years from the age of 9-11 and have steadily been loosing my French ever since. So we only really have one "normal" student.

Most people at my school take German, because we are in Germany. They are a bit more strict though about which class they put people in though; the B class is quite small most take A2 (although a good proportion of these are German), or of course A1. There is ab intio for those people who have only just moved to Germany; but having German spoken around them all the time must give them a huge advantage.

Then there is also Japanese and Korean but only A1. And a small Spanish class, I thinks its B, regardless its full of native speakers.

I suppose it would be fair to say that languages are the soft/easy subjects for most people in my school.

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I took French for 11 years before writing the French B SL exam. But that's because French is the second official language in Canada and we have to take it in the regular school curriculum at least until grade 9. So basically the IBC only enforced 2 extra years of French.

wow that's so cool ! Here in Alberta, especially at my school, the minimum you need of French before French IB is 2 semesters of it in grade 10. Our province only offers it starting grade 7 as compulsory, but most drop it in grade 8. Then if you want to take it in our school for IB, you need to take it for 2 semesters in grade 10, and that's supposedly good enough. Grade 10 french is pretty much a highly intense crash course in french, it's really difficult =( I personally did primary school under the British curriculum in Kenya, so I've been taking French since I was 7. I'm not sure what level French our school offers, but I do find it pretty easy because I've been studying it for 9 years, whereas some students only started last year. But our school only offers 1 level of French, so we're all glomped in that one category. There is a girl in my class who is from Quebec, so her French is even better than mine, and she's in the same level of French, too ! I don't know what the IB rules are regarding this, but I definitely find it a little unfair.

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At my school, French and a third language are mandatory until Grade 9 (mostly as a "taster", not really a prerequisite). French is a four-year program whereas third language is a three-year program, so each of those courses are a prerequisite for each other. IB courses only kick in in Grade 12 so you can only do an IB language if you have taken the 9,10,11 prerequisite courses of high school French and 2 years of third language.

It's similar to how you cannot simply jump into Grade 12 Calculus - you have to have math, functions and advanced functions under your belt if you want a chance of survival. :D

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In my school, we were offered only Spanish B SL and German B HL. Since I didn't feel well with German (I've been studing it 3 years before), I've decided to take up Spanish. I've studied it only for 1 year in pre-IB class before etering the programme and it's not bad so far. I think the level is quite unfair though since there are also people who have been studing Spanish even 6-7 years before. But then it motivates me to work harder, and I am able to achieve even higher grades than they do now.

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