Syllabus

Syllabus content

Themes
Prescribed themes
Five prescribed themes are common to the syllabuses of language B and language ab initio; the themes
provide relevant contexts for study at all levels of language acquisition in the DP, and opportunities for
students to communicate about matters of personal, local or national, and global interest.

The five prescribed themes are:

• identities
• experiences
• human ingenuity
• social organization
• sharing the planet.
The themes allow students to compare the target language and culture(s) to other languages and cultures
with which they are familiar. The themes also provide opportunities for students to make connections to
other disciplinary areas in the DP. Students and teachers of language B with experience of the Primary Years
Programme (PYP) or the MYP will recognize that the themes are inspired by the transdisciplinary themes
of the PYP and the global contexts of the MYP. In this way, the DP language B course can enhance the
continuity of the educational experience of long-standing IB students, while also being suitable for students
who are new to the IB.

Recommended topics
The five prescribed themes must all be addressed equally in the language B course; beyond that, teachers
are free to work with the themes in a way that best helps them to organize a course plan and build upon
students’ interests in the target language and its cultures, and that best helps students to meet the
expectations of the syllabus with regard to language and texts.

The following lists of recommended topics for each theme are appropriate for students to achieve the
aims and objectives of the course. The recommended topics are to be considered indicative content, not
prescribed content, for the language B course. The themes are prescribed, but the recommended topics
and possible questions for each theme are not prescribed.

18 Language B guide
 Syllabus content

Theme Guiding principle Optional recommended Possible questions

topics

Identities Explore the nature of the • Lifestyles • What constitutes an

self and what it is to be • Health and well- identity?
human. being • How do we express
• Beliefs and values our identity?
• Subcultures • What ideas and
images do we
• Language and
associate with a
identity
healthy lifestyle?
• How do language
and culture
contribute to form
our identity?

Experiences Explore and tell the stories • Leisure activities • How does travel
of the events, experiences • Holidays and travel broaden our
and journeys that shape horizons?
• Life stories
our lives. • How does our past
• Rites of passage
shape our present
• Customs and and our future?
traditions
• How and why do
• Migration different cultures
mark important
moments in life?
• How would
living in another
culture affect our
worldview?

Human Explore the ways in which • Entertainment • How do

ingenuity human creativity and • Artistic expressions developments
innovation affect our in science and
• Communication and
world. technology
media
influence our lives?
• Technology
• How do the arts help
• Scientific innovation us understand the
world?
• What can we learn
about a culture
through its artistic
expression?
• How do the media
change the way we
relate to each other?

Language B guide 19
Syllabus content

Theme Guiding principle Optional recommended Possible questions

topics

Social Explore the ways in • Social relationships • What is the

organization which groups of people • Community individual’s role in
organize themselves, or the community?
• Social engagement
are organized, through • What role do rules
common systems or • Education
and regulations play
interests. • The working world in the formation of a
• Law and order society?
• What role does
language play in a
society?
• What opportunities
and challenges does
the 21st-century
workplace bring?

Sharing the Explore the challenges • The environment • What environmental

planet and opportunities • Human rights and social issues
faced by individuals present challenges to
• Peace and conflict
and communities in the the world, and how
modern world. • Equality can these challenges
• Globalization be overcome?
• Ethics • What ethical issues
• Urban and rural arise from living in
environment the modern world,
and how do we
resolve them?
• What challenges
and benefits does
globalization bring?
• What challenges
and benefits result
from changes in
urban and rural
environments?

Texts
In theory, a text is anything from which information can be extracted, including the wide range of oral,
written and visual materials present in society. For example:

• single and multiple images, with or without written text

• non-literary and literary written texts and extracts
• broadcast media texts: films, radio and television programmes, and their scripts
• oral texts: presentations, debates, interviews, speeches, recorded conversations, and their transcripts
• electronic texts that share aspects of the above areas: text messaging, web pages and blogs, social
media and video-sharing websites.

20 Language B guide