Continuing to explore IB Diploma students’ studying experiences, this week we put the IB Diploma subject: English B under the IB Spotlight. This course is designed to provide students with the necessary skills and intercultural understanding to enable them to communicate successfully in an environment where English is spoken.
To learn more about what the subject is really like to study, we spoke to Giang Tran, a Year 12 student at AIS who shared her thoughts. She spoke about her memorable accomplishments, gave advice on how to master the course, and how the subject supports her future ambitions.
Whilst studying English B, I have been starting my second-language acquisition journey. In this course, I can develop the ability to communicate in the English language through the study of language, themes, and texts, and in doing so, I also can develop conceptual understandings of how language works. At AIS, my typical day of studying English starts mostly in the morning. After being refreshed by a night of sleep, I start my class from 8am to 9:10am every Wednesday, Thursday, and 10am to 11:20am every Friday. In class, every lesson is taught by Ms Hutting.
For students, we usually improve our language skills by doing exercises in a textbook or from collecting information from a reliable news source. In addition to that, we can study remotely with each other via VersoApp, which is provided by AIS. This app is very helpful in maintaining relationships between students and teachers, engaging students with relevant material, motivating them to learn, checking on their wellbeing, and providing personalized feedback. Thanks to the knowledge that Ms Hutting provides us in class, I am now confident enough to use English fluently much like a native speaker. I am also gaining a lot of knowledge in and outside of the school. It makes me feel proud of myself.
One of the most memorable accomplishments is that I have been nominated by Ms Hutting for a school writing project, and therefore secured a place in the blog project. It is similar to writing a blog for viewers who are new to international schools.
Learning English B for the IB Diploma is quite different from IGCSE due to two significant reasons. First of all, the IB Diploma program is much harder than IGCSE because the scope is wider. Secondly, the amount of coursework is heavier and more time-consuming. To master the IB course, I strongly recommend that reading the textbook carefully will help IB learners a lot, because everything they need to achieve a high score exam is in there. Furthermore, students should try to look up lots of news from the New York Times, BBC, CNN, etc. By reading and collecting worldwide events from those reliable sources, it will help to pass the course’s oral exam, which is a 15-minute speaking test in Year 13.
My future ambitions are to become a diplomat, a member of the UN, or even part of UNICEF, who can change the world, influence people to do the right things, protect children, and save the environment. As part of these roles, it is important to communicate with foreign governments, and understand more about other nation’s history and economics. In order to do that, I have to practise my English skills as well as conduct interesting conversations with foreigners. By talking with them, we can discuss what is happening on Earth right now and its effects such as climate change.
Giang Tran
Year 12 Student at AIS
To find out more about studying IB English B – Language Acquisition at AIS, or about the IB Diploma in general, check out AIS’s complete comprehensive curriculum guide, which includes IB Programme FAQs, 10 reasons why you should study IB, and an IB Diploma Handbook: https://www.aisvietnam.com/curriculum/ib-diploma/
