12th Grade Written Assignment Requirements and Sample Essay
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12th Grade Spanish Ab initio external/internal assessmentsAssessment outline
Below is an image that illustrates the specific types of External and Internal assessment students will have towards the end of the year in Spanish ab initio for 12th grade.
Below is an image that illustrates the specific types of External and Internal assessment students will have towards the end of the year in Spanish ab initio for 12th grade.
External assessment details: Paper 1, Paper 2, and Written assignment
Paper 1: Receptive skills (reading comprehension)
Duration: 1 hour and 30 minutes
Weight: 30%
To answer the questions successfully, students will need to a variety of skills such as skimming, scanning, or reading for detail. The text handling exercises will require short answers such as:
Paper 2: Productive skills (writing)
Duration: 1 hour
Weighing: 25%
1. Externally set and assessed by the IBO.
2. It is divided into 2 sections.
4. All texts and questions are in Spanish, and all answers must be in Spanish.
5. No dictionaries or other materials may be used in the exam.
The list below shows the different topics for the texts in Section A and Section B that may be used.
Section A
Section B
Written assignment: Receptive and productive skills
Duration: 2 hours in a single session
Location: It is done in school but assessed externally by the IBO
Weighing: 20%
Main Goal: develop intercultural understanding through reflection on the differences and similarities between the student's own culture and the culture of Spanish speaking countries.
1. Culmination of an independent research on one topic.
2. General task:
3. Teacher helps in picking the topic and title.
4. Student driven with teacher guidance.
5. Students may begin as soon as they know their topic and title.
6. sources for the investigation: any source and any language may be used as a means for the investigation.
7. Written assignment must be the independent work of the student.
8. Written assignment must be handwritten in Spanish during class under teacher monitoring.
9.The topic must be from the themes studied in class:
a. individual and society
b. Leisure and work
c. Urban and rural environment (check syllabus).
10. The use of dictionaries and reference/resource materials are allowed during the writing session.
Specific requirements of the written assignment
Length
200 - 300 words (no more, no less).
Important: students who write less than 200 words ormore than 300 words will have 2 points deducted.
Sources
2 - 4 sources (preferably in Spanish). However, sources in any language may be used.
Important: the sources brought into the classroom for the writing assignment session must:
Note: Students may mark or annotate the sources during the writing assignment session.
Purpose of communication
Description, comparison/contrast, reflection.
Structure
The writing assignment needs to be structured as follows:
Note: all the writing piece has one title, no subtitles or subheadings, and has 5 paragraphs.
Paragraphs 3-5: Reflection part of the writing task
Each paragraph needs to answer a different reflection question about the topic the student is writing.
Following are the (3) reflection questions:
Formal guidelines
1. Students must submit the following:
3. Quotations that are not appropriately referenced will be considered plagiarism. (You don't want this!)
4. Source materials may be marked or annotated once the written assignment session starts.
Formal requirements by the IBO
External Assessment Criteria
Below are files that have information on the criteria used to assess Paper 2 and the Written assignment. It is important that students become familiar with these criterion so they know what is expected.
Criteria overview: Paper 2 and Written Assignment Download File
Criteria: Paper 2 - Productive skills - Section A (Criterion A: Language, Criterion B: Message, Criterion C: Format )Download File
Criteria: Paper 2 - Productive skills - Section B (Criterion A: Language)Download File
Criteria: Paper 2 - Productive skills - Section B (Criterion B: Message, Criterion C: Format)Download File
Criteria: Written assignment - Receptive and productive skills (Criterion A: Description, Criterion B: Comparison, Criterion C: Reflection)Download File
Criteria: Written a. - Recept. and P. skills (Criterion C: Reflection, Criterion D: Register, Criterion E: language, Criterion F: Formal requirements)Download File
Criteria: Written assignment - Receptive and productive skills (Criterion F: Formal requirements continued)Download File
Internal assessment details: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3The internal assessment is an individual oral task that is an integral part of the Spanish ab initio course, and it is mandatory for all students. It allows students to demonstrate orally the application of their skills and knowledge in Spanish. This assessment is made of 3 parts, it lasts a total of 7-10 minutes, and students have 15 minutes to prepare just before the oral exam takes place. The oral task is recorded and it is worth 25%.
Oral task
It is divided into the following 3 parts:
student preparation (15 minutes)
Part 1 specific details
For Part 1, students may:
Part 2 specific details
The student will be asked questions that will allow him or her to:
Part 3 specific details
Questions for the Written assignment:
These questions are open ended to give students a chance to speak about the Written assignment as broadly as possible.
Following is an example of questions that students might need to answer:
Paper 1: Receptive skills (reading comprehension)
Duration: 1 hour and 30 minutes
Weight: 30%
- Externally set and assessed by the IBO.
- The objective of this assessment is to test the ability of the students to read and understand several types of authentic texts.
- The text booklet has 4 texts, and there are 40 exercises about the texts.
- All three themes are represented: a. individual and society b. Leisure and work c. Urban and rural environment (check syllabus)
- All texts and questions are in Spanish, and all answers must be in Spanish.
- No dictionaries or other materials may be used in the exam.
To answer the questions successfully, students will need to a variety of skills such as skimming, scanning, or reading for detail. The text handling exercises will require short answers such as:
- true/false
- multiple choice
- short answer
- filling in a table/chart
- matching (synonyms, antonyms, summary sentences, ideas or sequences with pictures, etc.)
- Know the meaning of words from their contexts.
- Understand grammar and its use in context.
- Understand cohesive devices that give coherence to a text.
Paper 2: Productive skills (writing)
Duration: 1 hour
Weighing: 25%
1. Externally set and assessed by the IBO.
2. It is divided into 2 sections.
- Section A (short writing task of at least 50 words : pick 1 question out of 2.)
- Section B (Extended writing task of at least 100 words: pick 1 question out of 3.)
4. All texts and questions are in Spanish, and all answers must be in Spanish.
5. No dictionaries or other materials may be used in the exam.
The list below shows the different topics for the texts in Section A and Section B that may be used.
Section A
- Advertisement/flyer
- Blog
- Post on a social networking site
- Invitation
- List
- Menu
- Message/note
- Postcard
- Poster
Section B
- Article
- Blog
- Brochure
- Diary
- Post on a social networking site
- Essay
- Interview
- Letters: informal/formal
- Report
- Review
- Speech/presentation
Written assignment: Receptive and productive skills
Duration: 2 hours in a single session
Location: It is done in school but assessed externally by the IBO
Weighing: 20%
Main Goal: develop intercultural understanding through reflection on the differences and similarities between the student's own culture and the culture of Spanish speaking countries.
1. Culmination of an independent research on one topic.
2. General task:
- to describe a topic. (Paragraph 1)
- compare/contrast the topic with respect to the student's culture and the Spanish culture of the country the student chose. (Paragraph 2)
- reflect on these similarities and differences of the two country cultures by answering 3 guiding questions.(Paragraphs 3 - 5)
3. Teacher helps in picking the topic and title.
4. Student driven with teacher guidance.
5. Students may begin as soon as they know their topic and title.
6. sources for the investigation: any source and any language may be used as a means for the investigation.
7. Written assignment must be the independent work of the student.
8. Written assignment must be handwritten in Spanish during class under teacher monitoring.
9.The topic must be from the themes studied in class:
a. individual and society
b. Leisure and work
c. Urban and rural environment (check syllabus).
10. The use of dictionaries and reference/resource materials are allowed during the writing session.
Specific requirements of the written assignment
Length
200 - 300 words (no more, no less).
Important: students who write less than 200 words ormore than 300 words will have 2 points deducted.
Sources
2 - 4 sources (preferably in Spanish). However, sources in any language may be used.
Important: the sources brought into the classroom for the writing assignment session must:
- Clean
- Unmarked
Note: Students may mark or annotate the sources during the writing assignment session.
Purpose of communication
Description, comparison/contrast, reflection.
Structure
The writing assignment needs to be structured as follows:
- Title
- Paragraph #1: description
- Paragraph#2: comparison
- Paragraph # 3-5: three reflections (one paragraph per question.
Note: all the writing piece has one title, no subtitles or subheadings, and has 5 paragraphs.
Paragraphs 3-5: Reflection part of the writing task
Each paragraph needs to answer a different reflection question about the topic the student is writing.
Following are the (3) reflection questions:
- What part of your topic surprised you? (paragraph # 3)
- Why do you believe these cultural similarities or differences exist? (paragraph # 4)
- What might a person from a Spanish speaking culture find different about your topic in your own culture?(paragraph # 5)
Formal guidelines
1. Students must submit the following:
- a cover sheet completed by the students and signed by the student and the teacher. (Teacher provides this)
- a bibliography in standard format with references to all sources in all languages. (Library session to review how to write bibliographies)
3. Quotations that are not appropriately referenced will be considered plagiarism. (You don't want this!)
4. Source materials may be marked or annotated once the written assignment session starts.
Formal requirements by the IBO
- The written assignment must be written in Spanish.
- The cover sheet is completed and signed by the student and teacher.
- All extracts from the source/reference materials are referenced correctly.
- A bibliography in standard format is included with references to all sources
External Assessment Criteria
Below are files that have information on the criteria used to assess Paper 2 and the Written assignment. It is important that students become familiar with these criterion so they know what is expected.
Criteria overview: Paper 2 and Written Assignment Download File
Criteria: Paper 2 - Productive skills - Section A (Criterion A: Language, Criterion B: Message, Criterion C: Format )Download File
Criteria: Paper 2 - Productive skills - Section B (Criterion A: Language)Download File
Criteria: Paper 2 - Productive skills - Section B (Criterion B: Message, Criterion C: Format)Download File
Criteria: Written assignment - Receptive and productive skills (Criterion A: Description, Criterion B: Comparison, Criterion C: Reflection)Download File
Criteria: Written a. - Recept. and P. skills (Criterion C: Reflection, Criterion D: Register, Criterion E: language, Criterion F: Formal requirements)Download File
Criteria: Written assignment - Receptive and productive skills (Criterion F: Formal requirements continued)Download File
Internal assessment details: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3The internal assessment is an individual oral task that is an integral part of the Spanish ab initio course, and it is mandatory for all students. It allows students to demonstrate orally the application of their skills and knowledge in Spanish. This assessment is made of 3 parts, it lasts a total of 7-10 minutes, and students have 15 minutes to prepare just before the oral exam takes place. The oral task is recorded and it is worth 25%.
Oral task
It is divided into the following 3 parts:
student preparation (15 minutes)
- Part 1: The student's presentation of the visual stimulus (1-2 minutes)
- Part 2: The teacher's questions on the visual stimulus (2-3 minutes)
- Part 3: At least two questions from the Written assignment and a general conversation (4-5 minutes)
Part 1 specific details
- Preparation (15 minutes): students will pick from one of two previously unseen stimuli. These may be a picture, photograph, cartoon, etc. The content of the stimuli will be from any of the 3 themes found in the syllabus.
- Students may take notes for the interview to be used as a reference. However the student's presentation may notbe written in full or read. The notes are only a reference.
- Students will not have prior knowledge of the visual stimulus prior to the 15 minute preparation time.
- The use of dictionaries is not allowed.
- Once the recording begins, it may not be interrupted.
For Part 1, students may:
- Describe the scene or situation objectively
- Narrate a story about the scene
- Offer a personal interpretation of the scene
Part 2 specific details
The student will be asked questions that will allow him or her to:
- to further describe or comment on the visual stimulus
- to further discuss on the same topic areas as the stimulus
Part 3 specific details
- This part will begin the teacher asking 2 questions about the Written assignment
- Then the teacher will move on to a discussion with the student on at least any (2) topics found in the syllabus. The topics chosen will be different from the topics of the visual stimulus and the Written assignment.
Questions for the Written assignment:
These questions are open ended to give students a chance to speak about the Written assignment as broadly as possible.
Following is an example of questions that students might need to answer:
- What is your assignment about?
- Why did you choose this topic?
- What did you learn about your culture and the Spanish culture?
- How did this assignment change your perspective about the Spanish culture?