So much to do, so little time ...

Hello !

We have just returned from yet another invigorating and highly successful workshop event, this time in central Melbourne, Australia.  It is super exciting to see the passion, the dedication and the hunger for understanding of all the participants, and it is humbling to be able to provide them with guidance and support.

One of the key discussions in my particular workshop (Spanish Ab Initio) centered around the issue of time. 

Time. 

Aren't we all short of time, all the time ? This one commodity that, according to Roman author Seneca (yes, he of the letters), can never be gotten back once it's gone ... 

As far as the language Ab Initio course and the language B courses is concerned, a very valid point was made that the removal of the Written Assignment and the introduction of the Listening Comprehension component are not a straight swap when it comes to the time required to teach and prepare the students for the final assessment. 

Whilst the Written Assignment is (soon to be 'was') mainly produced outside the classroom, the development of auditive comprehension skills will require a much bigger time investment inside the classroom and, therefore, in the daily lesson plans of the teachers.

In addition, there will now also be greater emphasis on the conceptual understandings and on international-mindedness.  Concepts will need to be taught and explicitly addressed throughout our teaching.  Exposure to the cultures where the target languages are spoken needs to be at the center of what we do in our classrooms. 

This all takes time, and teachers will be hard-pressed to find ways to adjust their already-packed syllabus and lesson plans.

One interesting idea to consider is to start treating the language Ab Initio course and the language B SL courses as 'higher level' courses as far as their time requirement is concerned. 

As we all know, the IB recommends 240 hours of contact time for HL subjects and 150 hours of contact time for SL subjects. 

How easy or how difficult would it be for you, the teacher, to have a discussion with your school's administration and to request that our two courses be given the same time investment as HL courses ? 

In many schools there are combined HL and SL classes already - in many subjects.  If your language B class is a combined HL/SL class, do you have to tell the SL students at some point that they can miss class because you will be covering the HL literature ? If so, are you planning to have the SL students use this time to work on their listening skills ?

In other schools the timetable may differentiate between HL classes and SL classes by giving the HL classes a higher frequency in the students' schedule or by making the HL classes longer (in minutes) than the SL classes.  If so, can you discuss with your school's admin and ask that the Group 2 subjects be scheduled in the HL blocks ?

I'm struggling to think of other ways to 'create' more time for our Group 2 courses. 

Can you help with further suggestions ?

Something needs to be done ...