IB (International Baccalaureate) is one of the curriculum international schools around the world follow. DP (Diploma Program) is a program for students age 16-18 to take before their university. Many IB schools offer Mandarin Chinese as a second language subject. The students will take a speaking paper/assessment before the end of the program, and we are going to share some tips to prepare for it in this article.
There are 3 levels in IB Mandarin as a second language: Ab Initio (for basic conversation learners) -> Standard Level (intermediate to advanced) -> Higher Level(Standard Level + some more advanced work). All of them require a speaking assessment as part of the grade results.
The oral assessment is usually an internal assessment, which means the school teacher will conduct the test in the school. S/he would record and grade it ,and then send the recording and grades to the IBO for checking and modifying.
The assessment is usually taken place in January - March, a couple of months before the external exam(reading/writing/listening) in May.
It weights 25% of the subject score. Also, since it is usually the first part of the grade the students would receive, the students desire a good grade badly. When students do it well in this part, they might feel more positive to get a 7 in the total grade.
The subject guide is like the Bible of all IB teachers. Teachers use it to plan the lessons, to design the assessments, and to grade students. By reading it, you would know how you are going to be assessed and graded. It's important to know these before the assessment.
You don't need to read the whole guide, but definitely read about these 3 aspects:
Make sure you are familiar with all the prescribed topics. For example, Health, Global Issue, Travel etc. Your school teacher might not have time to cover all topics in depth, so it's always good to check if you are familiar with all the topics.
You can find out what the prescribed topics are from this article.
How many minutes do you have to prepare? Can you take notes? Can you take notes in bullet points or whole sentences? - Check with your school teacher, or simply find the answers in the guide:
This is definitely the most important part. What's the standard? What will they look for in your answer? What aspects are assessed?
Examiners basically mark paper according to these criteria. So, make sure you demonstrate all of these. We only show the highest standard of each rubric in the graphics below:
You need to be at least fluent in this language to get a highest score. There are almost no shortcut except practicing a lot. But there are still some tips to prepare: