Baltimore City College High School

Students with high level competence in a language are provided the opportunity to develop their language skills to the fullest potential. These students are encouraged to pursue a level IV or even V course placement in the IB Diploma Program. At the discretion of the language department, students may test to move between levels of the same language in order to prepare for the higher level oral and written assessments.

IB Middle Years modern foreign languages are focused on encouraging students to gain competence in a modern language other than their mother tongue, with the long-term goal of balanced bilingualism. It is also hoped that students will acquire a respect for an understanding of other cultures and cultures, and to provide a skills base to facilitate further language learning.

Throughout the MYP courses, five areas of interaction are emphasized: Approaches to Learning, Health and Social Education, Environment, Community and Service, and Homo Faber. Students are assessed according to the IB criteria for the standards within each subject group.

Students will develop the four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The emphasis in speaking will be on both group recitation and spontaneous and prepared individual oral presentations. Students will be expected to read texts, write paragraphs, and examine varied topics relating to family, culture, history, environment, and art.

In addition to completing all the basic grammar of the language, students will begin using the subjunctive in expressing wishes, desires and statements contrary to fact. Group discussions of controversial topics will prepare for writing a well organized essay or opinion paper in the language. More complex readings will be gradually introduced in preparation for the IB Diploma Language Program.

Students will master most of the basic grammar of the language and will be able to express themselves in all tenses. The course will include more excerpts and adaptations from literature. The course will focus on the ability to think critically in the language through assignments requiring reasoning and analysis.

IB Diploma Program Foreign Language Courses for Grades 11-12

The Diploma Program Language B program are pre-university courses with emphasis on language acquisition and use in a range of contexts and for different purposes. Two BCC options are available to accommodate students with different backgrounds.

The first year in the DP language program focuses emphasizes oral and written communication in the language and focuses on IB criteria for accurate language, cultural interaction and organized, effective presentation of ideas. Students must read articles about current issues in that culture, engage in debates about international situations and discussions. By the second and possibly third year of the DP language program, students must write a series of 250-1000 word essays in the language and read texts in various styles and genres.

Students in this course will refine their skills to encompass genuine proficiency, listening, reading and writing in all tenses. Students will write summaries of articles and stories and will continue their investigation of topics pertaining to culture, history and pertinent contemporary issues.