FO675A/B - IB Mandarin Chinese HL

Fees: IB Exam Fee as appropriate

Learning Recommendations: Students should have strong study skills and expect to commit to an average of 30 minutes of homework per night. In addition, students must have a strong grasp of all simple and complex tense and a strong grasp of Chinese characters. Grammatical analysis and higher-level thinking skills are required. Students who wish to sit for the HL exam must have taken the FO674A/B - IB Mandarin Chinese SL course.

General Description: IB Mandarin Chinese HL is a continuation of IB Mandarin Chinese SL and prepares students for sitting for the Higher Level exam in May. The course places an emphasis on extended conversation, discussion, and literary texts. Students will gain fluency through researching, reading, writing essays, and discussing various themes and current topics. Within this thematic approach, critical thinking skills will be emphasized in a variety of written and oral assessments. It is expected that students will be able to utilize conversational Mandarin Chinese to function in the class without the use of English.

Content: This course follows the guidelines of the IB curriculum for students who speak Mandarin Chinese as a second language. Themes include:

  • Communication and media
  • Global questions
  • Social relationships
  • Science and Technology
  • Health
  • Cultural diversity

Strategies:

Students will learn through a combination of:

  • Thematic units covering culture, literature and current events
  • Essays
  • Live and taped oral presentations
  • Discussion and analysis of literature, media sources, art, and film
  • Interviews
  • Debates

Equipment to be provided by Student: Composition notebook and Chinese/English dictionary or electronic dictionary

Note: IB World Language (Language B) is designed as a language acquisition course. The IBO states that the “…Language B course should be a challenging educational experience for the student, offering not only the opportunity to learn an additional language, but also the means of learning, appreciating, and effectively interacting in a culture different from the student’s own.”