IB Diploma Programme Language B – The Individual Oral Revision Notes

For full explanations and worked examples, use the individual oral study guide. These notes condense it for the last weeks before your oral.

They cover the individual oral of IB Diploma Programme Language B, at SL and HL. They follow the IB Language B subject brief for first assessment 2020, which remains the examined course until the new syllabus is first assessed in May 2029, so they apply to the 2026, 2027 and 2028 sessions. Examples draw on the themes identities, experiences and sharing the planet. Test yourself with the practice questions. Course links: Language B hub · printable checklist.

Key facts from the brief

Fact	Detail
Type of assessment	Internal
Weighting	25% of the final grade
Marks	30
SL stimulus	A visual image clearly relevant to one (or more) of the themes
HL stimulus	An excerpt from one of the two literary works studied
HL literary works	Two, originally written in the target language
Skills shown	Receptive, productive and interactive
Not in the brief	Timings, stages, rules on notes, assessment criteria: get these from your teacher

The five themes and their possible questions

The stimulus links to a prescribed theme. The brief’s possible questions make ready-made lenses.

Theme	Possible questions (from the brief)
Identities	What constitutes an identity? How do language and culture contribute to form our identity?
Experiences	How does our past shape our present and our future? How and why do different cultures mark important moments in life?
Human ingenuity	What can we learn about a culture through its artistic expression? How do the media change the way we relate to each other?
Social organization	What is the individual’s role in the community? What role do rules and regulations play in the formation of a society?
Sharing the planet	What environmental and social issues present challenges to the world, and how can these challenges be overcome? What challenges and benefits does globalization bring?

Method: reading the stimulus

SL — visual image

1. Literal   who / where / what, in 2-3 sentences
2. Theme     which theme + topic, and WHICH details show it
3. Lens      one possible question -> your main idea
4. Culture   one specific target-language culture example

HL — literary extract

1. Where     what comes just before and after (1-2 sentences)
2. What      the key action, change or conflict
3. How       2-3 features, each: quotation -> effect
4. Why       link to the whole work and a theme

Method: the five-move presentation

1. Frame      stimulus + main idea in one sentence
2. Describe   brief (SL) / place in the work (HL)
3. Interpret  two points tied to the theme or possible question
4. Connect    culture example (SL) / wider work (HL)
5. Close      a tension or question that opens discussion

Description is the shortest move. Interpretation and connection take most of your time.

Method: extending an answer in conversation

Answer   -> give a clear position ("Yes, mostly…")
Reason   -> because…
Example  -> a specific case: a text, a place, your own life
(Qualify)-> "but it depends on…" / "on the other hand…"

Phrase bank

Fill in the right-hand column in your target language and learn it.

Function	English model	Your target language
Frame	“This image shows… and I think it raises the question of…”
Signpost	“First… What interests me most is… This connects to…”
Interpret	“This suggests that…”, “The contrast between… and… shows…”
Compare cultures	“In [place/text] I studied, by contrast…”
Hedge	“In some families…”, “It depends on…”
Agree in part	“That’s true up to a point, but…”
Disagree politely	“I see it differently, because…”
Clarify	“Do you mean…?”, “Could you say that another way?”
Paraphrase a missing word	“the thing you use to…”, “a kind of…”
Buy time	“That’s a good question. Let me think…”
Close	“So the image leaves me asking whether…”

Worked reminders

SL image (identities). A girl follows a grandmother’s recipe on a video call; it is night where she is and day on screen. Weak frame: “There is a girl and a laptop and some flour.” Strong frame: “This image shows a family recipe passed on across two countries, and I think it asks how language and culture shape who we are.”

HL extract (experiences). A character keeps putting off a reply to a letter from home. Weak: “Then she puts the letter under the dictionary and says she will answer tomorrow.” Strong: “The repeated ‘tomorrow’ shows her avoiding home, and that delay is the first sign of the distance that grows through the work.”

Conversation (sharing the planet). “Can one person make a difference to pollution?” Weak: “No.” Strong: “Alone, not much, because much pollution comes from industry. But one person can start a group. For example, a street clean-up often begins with a few neighbours, and others join when they see it working.”

Must-know distinctions

• SL vs HL stimulus. SL: a visual image. HL: an excerpt from one of your two literary works. Do not prepare an image routine for HL or a plot summary for SL.
• Theme vs topic vs possible question. The five themes are prescribed. The topics under each are optional recommended. The possible questions are prompts, useful as lenses.
• Describing vs interpreting. Description says what is there. Interpretation says what it means and why it matters for the theme.
• Answering vs extending. An answer replies. An extended answer gives a reason and an example.
• Paraphrasing vs switching language. Paraphrase keeps you in the target language; switching breaks the interaction.
• Specific vs general cultural comment. “In the region the text describes…” beats “everyone in country X…”.
• Key-word notes vs a script. Key words support natural speech; a script sounds read and fails when you lose your place.

Final-week routine

• Daily one-minute frames. Take one new image or passage each day and say your frame sentence aloud in the target language within a minute.
• Two-question drill. Ask a friend to put two unexpected questions to you; answer each with answer, reason and example.
• Missing-word practice. Pick five theme words you know you forget and practise paraphrasing each one.
• HL: reread your marked passages in both works and say one feature and one theme link for each.
• Check the rules. Confirm timings, stages and any rules on notes with your teacher.

Quick self-test

1. What percentage of the final grade is the individual oral worth?
2. How many marks is the oral out of?
3. Is the oral internally or externally assessed?
4. What is the stimulus at SL?
5. What is the stimulus at HL?
6. How many literary works do HL students study, and in what language were they first written?
7. Name the three kinds of skill through which the brief says communication is evidenced.
8. Give one possible question the brief lists for identities.
9. In the five-move plan, which move should be the shortest?
10. What three parts make an extended answer in conversation?
11. You forget the word for “recycling bin”. What should you do?
12. Which details of the oral must you get from your teacher, because the brief does not give them?

Answers

1. 25%.
2. 30 marks.
3. Internally.
4. A visual image clearly relevant to one (or more) of the themes of the course.
5. An excerpt from one of the two literary works studied.
6. Two, originally written in the target language.
7. Receptive, productive and interactive.
8. “What constitutes an identity?” or “How do language and culture contribute to form our identity?”
9. Describe.
10. Answer, reason, example (with an optional qualification).
11. Paraphrase in the target language, e.g. “the container where you put bottles and paper to be used again”.
12. The timings, the stages, the rules on notes and the assessment criteria.

Where marks are usually lost

• Spending most of the presentation listing what is in the image.
• At HL, retelling the plot of the extract instead of analysing how it is written.
• Naming a theme without pointing to the details that make the stimulus relevant.
• Giving a general cultural comment (“in my target-language country people care about nature”) with no specific example.
• Reciting a memorised speech that does not fit the stimulus in front of you.
• Answering questions with one word, or with “I don’t know”, and stopping.
• Switching to your own language instead of paraphrasing a missing word.
• Using written-essay phrasing read aloud, so the register sounds unnatural.
• At HL, preparing one literary work thoroughly and the other only lightly.
• Preparing with timings or rules from another source instead of your teacher’s.

Where next

• Individual oral study guide
• Individual oral practice questions
• Theme notes: Identities, Experiences, Sharing the planet
• Assessment revision notes and exam preparation guide

Official syllabus

International Baccalaureate Organization, Diploma Programme Subject Brief, Language B, first assessment 2020 (2018). Facts about the oral and the possible questions come from its assessment model and content outline; all model sentences are original.