Second Language As A Sixth Subject

[elmar]

I know some students, not personally, who have attempted taking another language as their sixth subject and I was curious as to how this was done.

My school prepares students prior to their IB year by requiring to take five classes of their selected language, followed by the IB tests and potentially SAT II and etcetera. However, I would think it would becoming very confusing to manage two languages, on top of a regular IB schedule. Yet, I know of people who have accomplished it and although I do not believe my school allows it, I would still like to know more about it.

[Abu]

I did French B HL and Spanish Ab Initio along with English A1 for my IB. Completely manageable, and in my case sometimes the French and Spanish complemented each other. That said, I don't think it's going to be possible if you were to take Spanish and Mandarin or something along with Maths HL, History HL and Chem SL which you're doing because the workload becomes unmanageable. If you're going to be doing 2 foreign languages stick to two that you're comfortable with.

[Sandwich]

Doing 2 foreign languages is one of the easiest IB combinations We had some people do it and because languages have hardly any workload, unless you're pretty terrible at them naturally (i.e. provided you have some mild facility for them!) you should be fiiiine. If you want to get a high total point score at the end, doing 2 HL B languages is a doss relative to other combinations Easy to get 7s in if you've got the ability there (not many people take HL B languages without having that facility, though) AND even better than that you can't really practice or cram much info before the exams so you instantly lighten your workload enabling you to do even better in other more intensive subjects. You just have to keep on top of the language for 2 years, is all - if you're determined and put the effort in to learn the vocab and practice getting your writing/speaking up to scratch, methinks you're onto a winner

[elmar]

If I had the opportunity, I would love to take Spanish and French. I am currently in Spanish II and I know the basics to French, as I have friends in the French II pre-IB class who share their words and phrases amongst themselves. I know one girl who is both a native speaker to French and Spanish and she can manage both, yet I am unsure if she's willing to do two languages as well. I will defiantly look into this more with my IB coordinator, thank you!