IB Spanish
Words of wisdom
Contributors: Alisha Pradhan and George Jolly
What should students know before choosing Spanish?
“YOU GET Spanish NAMES. Sometimes.” - Alisha
"In my opinion, seeing as you need to choose at least one language, you should decide upon the language depending on two factors: how much passion you have for the language and how useful you think it’ll be in the future. If you have no interest in either, pick the easiest! But otherwise be careful with the one you choose; you need to study hard for languages especially if you want to get good grades in them. If Spanish is the ideal language for you, go for it!" - George
“THIS NOT IGCSE ANYMORE. They say that about all IB subjects, but I personally felt it the most in Spanish. An A* at IGCSE can guarantee you a 3. And that's at SL, not even HL.” - Alisha
"You need to be ready to work really hard on this language if you want to do well. Reaching a 5 is pretty tough in itself. Aiming for a 6 or a 7 is much more difficult than you would expect. Spanish is an easy subject to get distracted in. It's also incredibly easy to leave your work till the last minute and to not put in the effort required. Don't fall for that trap, because in the long run you will regret it.
With that being said, the topics you study in Spanish are really interesting and bring in the 'international' aspect of the whole IB course. You get to study topics such as drugs, alcohol, plastic surgery, tourism and even LGBTQ issues in such depth. It's tough that its in a foreign language but you learn things that you wouldn't expect from a language course. Another thing is that the subject is taught through real life examples (kind of like claims in TOK essay). Most of these examples are from Spain or Latin American countries. But being an IB student, you also have to find examples from your own country in order to compare and contrast. (THIS IS HOW TO GET A 7 RIGHT HERE.)
OH ANOTHER THING YOU NEED TO KNOW there's no listening exam. That is pretty much tested during your orals (group & individual)" - Alisha
How should you approach studying for subject?
"For the ideal hardworker? Studying everyday. Sounds like a pain, but constant practice of a language daily helps IMMENSELY to preserve your memory in the language’s vocabulary and syntax, and this can be achieved without too much effort. Reading an article or perhaps writing to your friends in that language is a good start, and a good habit to keep into.
Doing homework seems trivial in most cases during the IB, but during the first year of Spanish B it's pretty much all that you've got. Textbook exercises that your teacher may set are great methods to revise and to learn exam techniques since most questions are set in a similar style to your reading or writing exams.
Aside from homework, working on your conjugations in your spare time is a really great way to nail down your basic accuracy (which can bring you down a couple of points in the real exams)." - Alisha
"Memorising vocabulary and how to structure sentences is the key to any language. When you’re at IB level especially, you’re expected to use more complex vocabulary in your writing and speaking." - George
"Keep a list of your verb structures, one for complex vocab and one for idioms. You're meant to be incredibly fluent when you write and when you speak. If you keep up with those lists and look back at them every now and again or before an exam, your proficiency will definitely improve to what the examiners are looking for if not more.
Another thing, just as an add-on that can help sometimes, change your Facebook language settings to Spanish. It helped me quite a bit when I was really struggling for a while. All of your notifications are in Spanish, and any updates by Facebook are in Spanish. Just in general, getting as much exposure to the language as possible is key.
Reading Spanish books, watching Spanish films, basically any attempt at becoming 'cultured' in Spanish is a good way to prep for the final exams because it promotes fluency, depth and understanding for your writing, reading and speaking." - Alisha
"For the ideal hardworker? Studying everyday. Sounds like a pain, but constant practice of a language daily helps IMMENSELY to preserve your memory in the language’s vocabulary and syntax, and this can be achieved without too much effort. Reading an article or perhaps writing to your friends in that language is a good start, and a good habit to keep into.
Doing homework seems trivial in most cases during the IB, but during the first year of Spanish B it's pretty much all that you've got. Textbook exercises that your teacher may set are great methods to revise and to learn exam techniques since most questions are set in a similar style to your reading or writing exams.
Aside from homework, working on your conjugations in your spare time is a really great way to nail down your basic accuracy (which can bring you down a couple of points in the real exams)." - Alisha
"Memorising vocabulary and how to structure sentences is the key to any language. When you’re at IB level especially, you’re expected to use more complex vocabulary in your writing and speaking." - George
"Keep a list of your verb structures, one for complex vocab and one for idioms. You're meant to be incredibly fluent when you write and when you speak. If you keep up with those lists and look back at them every now and again or before an exam, your proficiency will definitely improve to what the examiners are looking for if not more.
Another thing, just as an add-on that can help sometimes, change your Facebook language settings to Spanish. It helped me quite a bit when I was really struggling for a while. All of your notifications are in Spanish, and any updates by Facebook are in Spanish. Just in general, getting as much exposure to the language as possible is key.
Reading Spanish books, watching Spanish films, basically any attempt at becoming 'cultured' in Spanish is a good way to prep for the final exams because it promotes fluency, depth and understanding for your writing, reading and speaking." - Alisha
What are your tips for acing the exam?
"Practicing and practicing! There's not much point in completing past papers as often times the questions will be hugely varied. Instead, focus on learning essential vocab from each topic that you’ve learned as these will come up often and will be easy to recognise. Learning tenses is especially useful and in Spanish IB, as you’re expected to know a great deal about how to conjugate. This will take a while to get used to but provided you know how to conjugate well, verbs will come easily!" - George
"IDIOMS - You want to sound as close to a native speaker as possible. Idioms are a great way of doing that. You sound fluent and examiners will think that you're more engaged into Spanish culture, which is always a plus.
"Practicing and practicing! There's not much point in completing past papers as often times the questions will be hugely varied. Instead, focus on learning essential vocab from each topic that you’ve learned as these will come up often and will be easy to recognise. Learning tenses is especially useful and in Spanish IB, as you’re expected to know a great deal about how to conjugate. This will take a while to get used to but provided you know how to conjugate well, verbs will come easily!" - George
"IDIOMS - You want to sound as close to a native speaker as possible. Idioms are a great way of doing that. You sound fluent and examiners will think that you're more engaged into Spanish culture, which is always a plus.
“SUBJUNCTIVE SUBJUNCTIVE SUBJUNCTIVE.” - Alisha
You should be aiming for at least one subjunctive structure per paragraph in your writing exam and as many as possible in the group and individual orals. These are pretty tricky to get down accurately so work hard on them!
“FACTS AND STATISTICS. BE THE EQUIVALENT OF THE CIA WORLD FACTBOOK IN YOUR WRITING EXAM.” - Alisha
You need statistics and examples from Spanish speaking countries and your own country for every single topic you do. A couple of examples per topic can really help you get discussion going in a group oral, back up your points in the individual oral and bring substance to your creative writing in the writing paper." - Alisha
Notes / Resources
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For the Over-achievers
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