Language Ab Initio Guide 

Required Class Supplies  

1. Identities 

2. Experiences 

3: Human Ingenuity 

4. Social Organization 

5. Sharing the Planet 

Test schedule

External assessment: May of year 2

• 1. Paper 1: productive skills—writing (written responses to two required tasks)

  2. Paper 2: receptive skills—with separate sections for listening (demonstrating understanding of three audio passages) and reading (demonstrating understanding of three written passages)

Internal assessment: Fall of year 2

• 2. 1. individual oral assessment—productive and interactive skills

        1. A presentation by the student and a follow-up discussion based on a visual stimulus linked to one of the prescribed themes of the course, and a general conversation with the teacher based on topics from at least one additional theme of the course

Predictive tool IB grades

Independent, informal grade calculator  (this tool is only to be used as an aid, and has no official role. It serves as a helpful estimation of a grade, based on last year's grade boundaries)

Language ab initio

The language ab initio course is a language acquisition course for students with no prior experience of the target language, or for those students with very limited previous experience.

I. Course description and aims 

Language acquisition consists of two modern language courses— language ab initio and language B—designed to provide students with the necessary skills and intercultural understanding to enable them to communicate successfully in an environment where the language studied is spoken. 

Offered at SL only, language ab initio is a language acquisition course designed for students with no previous experience in—or very little exposure to—the target language. 

Language ab initio students develop their receptive, productive and interactive skills while learning to communicate in the target language in familiar and unfamiliar contexts. 

Students develop the ability to communicate through the study of language, themes and texts. There are five prescribed themes: identities, experiences, human ingenuity, social organization and sharing the planet. While the themes are common to both language ab initio and language B, the language ab initio syllabus additionally prescribes four topics for each of the five themes, for a total of 20 topics that must be addressed over the two years of the course. 

The following language acquisition aims are common to both language ab initio and language B. 

• Develop international-mindedness through the study of languages, cultures, and ideas and issues of global significance. 

• Enable students to communicate in the language they have studied in a range of contexts and for a variety of purposes. 

• Encourage, through the study of texts and through social interaction, an awareness and appreciation of a variety of perspectives of people from diverse cultures. 

• Develop students’ understanding of the relationship between the languages and cultures with which they are familiar. 

• Develop students’ awareness of the importance of language in relation to other areas of knowledge. 

• Provide students, through language learning and the process of inquiry, with opportunities for intellectual engagement and the development of critical- and creative-thinking skills. 

• Provide students with a basis for further study, work and leisure through the use of an additional language. 

• Foster curiosity, creativity and a lifelong enjoyment of language learning.

Key features of the curriculum and assessment models

• Only available at standard level (SL)

• The recommended teaching time to complete the course is 150 hours

• Knowledge of vocabulary and grammar (the what of language) is reinforced and extended by understanding audience, context, purpose, meaning and variation (the why and how of language)

• The development of international-mindedness is one of the key aims of the course

• The prescribed themes of the course are inspired by the transdisciplinary themes of the Primary Years Programme (PYP) and the global contexts of the Middle Years Programme (MYP)

• Students are exposed to a variety of authentic text types in relation to the prescribed themes and topics, as well as the content contained within the language-specific syllabuses

• Students produce a wide variety of oral and written texts for audiences, contexts and purposes associated with academic and personal interests

• Students are assessed both externally and internally

• External assessment consists of Paper 1: productive skills—writing (written responses to two required tasks) and Paper 2: receptive skills—with separate sections for listening (demonstrating understanding of three audio passages) and reading (demonstrating understanding of three written passages)

• Internal assessment consists of an individual oral assessment—productive and interactive skills (a presentation by the student and a follow-up discussion based on a visual stimulus linked to one of the prescribed themes of the course, and a general conversation with the teacher based on topics from at least one additional theme of the course)