2kidsnoanswers

Our daughter would be able to take this option, and we are wondering how much it differs from an IB program in which all classes are taught in the student's home language (English, in our case) except for (obviously) their foreign language classes.

KSAMom

My daughter is doing a bilingual diploma by taking English A HL and Arabic A SL (both "Language & Literature" course options). She is a native English speaker, but has "near-native fluency" in Arabic. The students at her school are all native Arabic speakers, and Arabic A is a graduation requirement. So she didn't really have a choice. Obviously it has been a challenge (especially w/writing), and she's not doing as well in that course as in her others, but she thinks it's worth it.

The hardest thing is that my daughter is in the first exam cohort for the newly-revised language courses. So there's not a lot of information on the exams, especially for Arabic teachers & students.

I think the new requirements for the bilingual diploma are to either take two Language As, or to take a Group 3/4 course in a language other than language A. That sounds like it would be really tough unless the student was already at native fluency.

Hope this is helpful, good luck.

tiffaxx424

i'm doing the bilingual diploma - IB English A HL and IB Chinese A SL (both literature).
i think there are a couple of ways to do bilingual diploma - either taking 2 A Languages or one group3/4 in another language.

However I think that doing group 3/4 in a different language will be significantly harder than just taking a group A Language because if you aren't completely fluent in the language, you have to learn a whole new set of more "technical" terms (eg math terms)

I think you can also do your EE in another language and get the bilingual diploma? Maybe. You'll have to check on that.

KSAMom

"I think you can also do your EE in another language and get the bilingual diploma? Maybe. You'll have to check on that."

That option was phased out this year.

2kidsnoanswers

It sounds as if there are a number of takes on what is referred to as a bilingual IB program. It's interesting to hear the specifics of how it is done at your child's school. Anyone else want to chime in?

In our case, our child is enrolled at a bilingual K-12 school, so everybody is completely fluent in at least two languages. No child can enroll after kindergarten at the school unless they are already fluent, since 50-80% of their classes are taught in another language (such as math, science, history, etc). Once they reach high school age, only those completely fluent in both languages can go on to get a bilingual IB.

Kids who enroll in the high school and are not completely fluent in the second language can only opt for the English-only IB. Of course, even the English-only IB kids must take a foreign language class for at least a couple of years, just like any other high schooler. But all the classes they take for the IB, except for that one foreign language class, are taught in English...a completely different experience than for those who get the bilingual IB.

sirjosh

I wish, but my school doesn't offer it.

Fani95

I'm doing tri-lingual IB in a sense
Modern Greek A HL, German B HL (A is not offered at my school) and the rest of my classes in English.

Quixila

I would say go for it if you think it's worth it. From personal experience, the teachers hired for the classes that are not taught in the native language are not as good as those in the native language, though this may only apply to SL.

Forgot how to have fun while doing the Gifted IB.