Whether this is your first year administering the IB Spanish IO (Individual Oral) or your tenth year, you may feel nervous and uncertain. That’s totally normal! There are a lot of moving parts with the IB Language B exam so I am sharing some of my tips and tricks for helping your students (and yourself!) to prepare.
1-Are your students prepared?
A huge part of success on the IB Spanish IO is preparation. Your students should feel 100% confident that they know exactly what to expect on the day of their IO.
The IO is broken down into 3 parts but really consists of 2 skills.
- Describing and Connecting with an Image (SL) or Fragment (HL)
- An interview with the teacher
Your students should feel totally comfortable with both parts of this assessment. Before the day of the exam, your students should have had plenty of opportunities to practice speaking about an image or fragment AND practice interview-style questions with you.
I know what you are thinking- there is not enough time!
You’re totally right. Time is tough to come by but we need to make it work where it counts. Should you practice a one-on-one IO-style presentation every week? NO
Should you do this at least ONCE before the actual test? ABSOLUTELY
Before the exam, it is imperative that your students know exactly what they have to do, and what timed speaking feels like in a one-on-one situation. The only way to practice this is to actually carve out 2-3 class days and sit down with each of your students. It’s time-consuming but it is 100% worth it.
What about the interview? That is a little easier to weave into your instruction. You can very simply design a Socratic Seminar for each unit you are studying. This is a PERFECT way to practice interview-style questions, promote authentic conversation and prepare students for spontaneous questioning. If you’d like to learn more about this, click here!
2-Are you prepared?
To minimize distractions and problems on the day of your IOs, you want to make sure you have your materials ready to go.
Make sure you have the appropriate number of images and fragments. If you need some help getting started with images for your first IB Spanish IO, check out this resource!
While your students are speaking, what will you be doing? I like to have a rubric in front of me, a space to take notes, and some follow-up questions ready to go. Of course, I like to think of unique questions for each student but sometimes you may not be able to think on the spot- for this reason, it’s great to have some premade questions ready to go. I have about 15 questions per theme in front of me so that I can use them when I need them. You can grab a copy of these here.
3-Keep good records
I have been so lucky to have great IB coordinators who work with me to design an IO day that works for me. I like to take about 10-15 minutes between each student to reflect and write my comments.
Once a student completes their IO I sit with the rubric, figure out where I think they stand and then make sure to write comments right then and there. I use a Google Sheet to keep all of my students names, number of their image or fragment, breakdown of score, and comments organized.
Pro tip-I re-use certain comments or sentences when I can. For example: student used a variety of relevant vocabulary or student utilized both basic and advanced grammar with ease. It helps me to have some stock comments that I can use as a base to build upon.
I also recommend doing this as you go because immediately after the IO is when you have the freshest memory of the conversation and your gut feelings. Sometimes you will need to go back and re-listen (especially if you have a large number of students) but right after the IO is a good time to sit for a few quiet moments and write down your initial reactions.
4-Remain calm
The IO is stressful for students and you! If this is your first time it can feel really overwhelming. Just take it one IO at a time and remember to be proud of your students! They have come so far and are showcasing all of their hardwork.
To help your students stay calm I recommend having a stress ball on hand. This will come in handy and will really help them have something to do with their hands while speaking.
Wishing you all the best on your IOs. Your students will do great and you should feel so proud of all of the hard work you all put in to get to this point!
