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On the value of the Language A SSST course

11/17/2018

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An interesting posting was made in our Facebook group this weekend :

After a question was asked whether the Language B course can be self-taught, a response was posted along these lines :

"I was going to say something about how crazy it would be if students could self-teach Language B, but really why is it not crazy that the IB allows them to self-study Language A? Is it just a practical matter? I might be somewhat insulted if I were a Language A teacher." (author of this post known)

​Totally understood - why have a teacher if the students can self-teach a highly rigorous Literature course ?

​Here is my reflection on this :

The Language A SSST course exists in recognition that not all IB students have English as their mother tongue, heritage language or 'strongest' language. (Did you know that there are IB students doing English A Lit SSST ?)
The essence of the SSST course consists of two parts : school-supported and self-taught.
The idea is that students receive detailed and professional instruction about the study of Literature from their school (in a dedicated Language A SSST class or, also allowed until now, in a mainstream 'taught' Language A class (eg English A Lit)).
The "school support" consists of providing a Literature teacher (normally in the school's language of instruction), and a classroom, and a spot on the timetable, and resources, and a schedule for the SSST students to follow, etc...
The "self-taught" part of the course refers to the fact that the school may not have a teacher who can teach literature in every student's mother tongue, and therefore the school (or the parents, although personally I think the school should do this) must employ the support of a mother tongue tutor. The self-taught part of the course should never really be self-taught, it is better renamed 'mother tongue support'.
There is a problem in the name (School-Supported Self-Taught), not only because often it is abbreviated to simple "Self-Taught" (which it should never be - that is indeed an insult to all teachers of IB Literature), but also because it has allowed and continues to allow schools to simply tell their non-native English speakers to fill out the form, go self-study their mother tongue literature, and show up on exam day. If the school provides the "school-support" and the "self-taught" part is in reality a "tutor-support" part, then this course is just as challenging, valuable and meaningful as any other IB Literature course. And in that case, I think we can all agree that these students go through the same rigorous program as their English-speaking peers, and that the role of the teacher (and the tutor) is clearly emphasized.
We are working very, very hard to get some of these problems resolved ... we're in it for the long haul but we have the passion, the belief and the conviction that every IB student should be able to study their mother tongue / heritage literature in their own language.
Since I work very closely on this with the IB (with my limited influence ...), I welcome any views, opinions, thoughts and suggestions based on your personal experiences.
​
A million thanks ! ;-)
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    Authors

    We are practising Language Ab Initio, B and A teachers, examiners and workshop leaders for the International Baccalaureate.  We author and publish the “Language Ab Initio Student Workbook”, the various Language Portfolios (for Ab Initio, B and MYP) and the How to Ace Language Ab Initio and Language B series.  We are also a language acquisition and mother tongue consultants and tireless advocates for mother tongue entitlement in international education.  Beyond our lives as linguists, we travel the world, we publish novels, we practice photography, we play and coach football coach, we write and we read.  

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  • Home
  • IB Language
    • IBDP Ab Initio Student Workbook
    • English
    • French
    • German
    • Japanese
    • Mandarin
    • Spanish
    • IBDP Ab Initio Portfolio
    • IBDP How to Ace English
    • IBDP How to Ace Mandarin
    • IBDP How to Ace Spanish
    • IBDP Language B Portfolio
    • IB MYP Portfolio
    • How to order our resources
    • Pricelist
    • Customer feedback
  • IBDP Language A SSST
    • SSST logistical support
    • SSST tutor support >
      • Our SSST tutors
    • SSST paper/oral grading
    • SSST diagnostic
    • SSST selected online lessons
    • SSST and Language Policy
    • SSST Coordinator training
    • SSST Languages
    • SSST Fees and conditions
    • Free ! PRL Authors and Texts
  • MIH Services
    • Student travel >
      • Bangladesh
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    • Publications >
      • More than a Game
      • A Journey through North Korea
  • Free stuff
    • Teaching resources >
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        • Visual stimuli
    • Language and Literature match-ups
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  • Blog
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