The Sixth Form College Colchester

2016

IB

Spa

nish

(ab

Ini

tio)

Introduction

IB SPANISH (ab initio) The aim of all IB programmes is to develop internationally minded students. It is therefore essential for all IB students to learn a language. The Spanish ab initio course is a language learning course for beginners, designed to be followed over five terms and taught for four lessons a week in addition to a lesson with the Spanish language assistant in the second year.

Entry Criteria Standard College entry requirements for IB. The ab initio (beginner) level course in Spanish is aimed at all students who have little or no previous experience of Spanish. In a few cases, it may be appropriate for students who have already studied Spanish at GCSE level to join this course. Students need to have a keen interest in learning a new language and be prepared to learn vocabulary and grammatical constructions on a regular basis. Students are not required to have a GCSE in a language in order to take this course, but previous language-learning experience would be an advantage.

Course Content Language, themes and texts provide the basis of the course and students are encouraged to develop a greater awareness of their own culture through learning about another. The course will be taught around three themes. These are:

The Individual and Society Leisure and Work Urban and Rural environment

Language Skills:

The four skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking will be regularly practised in class around these themes.

Grammar:

As the International Baccalaureate Standard Level examination places great emphasis on the knowledge and correct use of Spanish grammar you will do a lot of work on learning verbs, tenses and grammatical constructions.

The main focus is on the acquisition of language required for situations in everyday life in Spain and Spanish speaking countries. Through the use of a variety of texts the course also aims to develop a basic awareness of the culture of the countries where Spanish is spoken. The grammatical structures and vocabulary specified in the syllabus will be introduced at each stage of the course. Emphasis is placed on the practical use of the language and therefore Spanish will be used as much as possible in the classroom.

Vocabulary:

It is essential to build up a wide knowledge of vocabulary as quickly as possible. Therefore, vocabulary learning must be done on a regular basis to be successful on this course. To help you with this process, a vocabulary book will also be used in addition to the class textbook. Testing and consolidation of vocabulary will be done continuously.

The Sixth Form College Colchester

2016

IB

Spa

nish

(ab

Ini

tio)

Culture:

We shall also be looking at everyday lives, customs, traditions and festivals of both Spain and Spanish speaking countries. As Spanish is such an important world language it is always fascinating to learn something of the many countries which have Spanish as their first language.

Assignments:

A variety of assignments will be set for homework. These may include written work, learning vocabulary/verbs, reading comprehensions and listening exercises. This will help reinforce class work and give you the opportunity to practise what has been studied. Students may be asked to pay a small contribution towards the cost of some materials.

Assessment Assessment will be done continuously throughout the course to help reinforce learning and to measure progress. An end of year examination will be set in the summer term of the first year. A mock International Baccalaureate exam will take place in the spring term of the second year. The final Diploma written examinations will be in May of the second year. International Baccalaureate examinations for ab initio Spanish (Standard) are as follows: 1 Paper 1 (1 hour 30 minutes): Understanding of 4 written texts 2 Paper 2 (1 hour): Two compulsory writing exercises 3 An individual oral assessment (10 minutes) will be done with the teacher. You will do a short presentation on a

visual stimulus followed by questions and conversation around it. The second part of the individual oral is five minutes of general conversation covering a variety of themes related to the topics studied.

In addition, students will be required to carry out a written assignment of 200 to 350 words.

Further Information

Students are encouraged to participate in cultural activities such as film and theatre visits, art exhibitions etc. Also, students will probably have the opportunity to take part in a Spanish language trip around Easter and possibly participate in the Colleges charity expedition to Peru.

Progression In order to continue Spanish at university, check with the relevant University admissions department to see how many points they require. Most university Spanish departments accept students at all levels. Students often choose to study Spanish in combination with another foreign language or with a subject such as European studies, Business studies, Marketing, Law, Politics or History. Spain is an extremely popular holiday destination. Mexico, Peru and other Latin American countries are also attracting increasingly greater numbers of visitors. Spanish is a language spoken by over 400 million people throughout the world. It is one of the official languages of important international organisations such as the United Nations. The ability to speak Spanish would be a great asset in the world of business.

ib-spanish-ab-initio-2016IB Spainsh (Ab Initio) 2016