International Baccalaureate Tutoring

This post is part two of the Language A English Language and Literature Individual Oral (IO).

The structure of your IO should be:

  • state the text
  • the general concerns of the text
  • put the extract into context in the text (where does it occur in the text).
  • Then talk about the extract
  • talk about the authors full body of work
  • Make sure to use formal language

Use literature terminology, here is a complete list of literary devices:

Need to know literary terms for IB English Literature students

Talk about how the authors form impacts the chosen text type and vice versa.

International Baccalaureate Tutoring

Talk about the effectiveness of the chosen form of the artist, the author could have choosen a different form, why did they choose that one?

You will talk for ten minutes about the two texts and the global issue, then afterward there is a five minute section in which your teacher will ask you questions. The questions that the teachers will ask you are to help you. The teacher should ask questions which will try to help you get points that you did not get during your ten minute talk. There is no way of knowing what your teacher will ask. Although many international schools have mock IOs to help the students prepare for the real one. So in this mock IO you may be able to get an idea of what type of questions the teacher is going to ask.

International Baccalaureate Tutoring Barcelona - Private Class - AE Teaching

Divide the commentary into 3 main parts (just like you would do in a written essay): An Introduction, the body and a conclusion.

  • The introduction should last one minute and the conclusion as well. This leaves you with ONLY 4 minutes to devote to each of the texts. There are many ways to organize the body on your oral (for example, body 1 = 4 min, body 2 = 4 min)

Please note that the commentary should be “balanced” which means that you must spend the same amount of time talking about the literary and the non-literary text. Never underestimate the importance of timing your IO. This is another reason why it will be important for you to memorize your IO.