^_Mandarin

Exam board: International Baccalaureate (IB)

Specification: Language B (Standard Level Diploma)

Entry requirement: Grade 6 at GCSE Chinese

Why study Mandarin?

We are one of a select number of schools in the country that offers the IB Diploma in Mandarin, which is an exciting and rewarding opportunity to reach fluency in the language.

The course is worth approximately half the credits of a full A Level and is studied across two years, making it an excellent means of improving your Mandarin alongside your three A Level subjects. An IB Diploma in Mandarin will help your application to Oxbridge and Russell Group universities stand out from the crowd.

What will I study?

The course is builds upon the linguistic and cultural knowledge you have gained from studying GCSE Chinese and enables you to apply these language skills to talk about issues in the Chinese speaking world.

You will develop the ability to communicate in the target language through the study of language, themes and texts. In doing so, you also develop conceptual understandings of how language works. Communication is evidenced through receptive, productive and interactive skills across a range of contexts and purposes that are appropriate to the level of the course.

How will I study?

You will benefit from working in small groups, so you will have plenty of opportunities to practise and receive high quality personalised feedback.

The syllabus is organised into five prescribed themes: identities, experiences, human ingenuity, social organization and sharing the planet. Within each theme, you will:

· Acquire knowledge of vocabulary and grammar (the what of language), reinforced and extended by understanding audience, context, purpose, meaning and variation (the why and how of language)

· Develop a global mindset

· Be exposed to a variety of authentic text types

· Describe situations, narrate events, make comparisons, explain problems, and state and support their personal opinions on a variety of topics

· Produce a wide variety of oral and written texts for audiences, contexts and purposes associated with academic and personal interests

How will my work be assessed?

You will be assessed both externally and internally.

External assessment:

· Paper 1: productive skills—writing (a written response to a task)

· Paper 2: receptive skills—with separate sections for listening (demonstrating understanding of three audio passages) and reading (demonstrating understanding of three written passages)

Internal assessment:

· Individual oral assessment—productive and interactive skills (a presentation by the student and a follow-up discussion based on a visual stimulus linked to one of the prescribed themes of the course, and a general conversation with the teacher based on at least one additional theme of the course)