AP and IB: Where to Start?

Preparing students for AP and IB exams can feel like a marathon - and you, World Language teachers, are the ultimate coaches!

With pressure to cover complex material and hone time management skills while practicing speaking, reading and listening…it can be overwhelming to say the least. 

But don’t worry, This is School is here to help you win the race and cross the metaphorical finish line with success, celebration and, of course, a life-long love of languages.

This is School takes the stress out of exam prep while offering your students everything they need to ace their exams; from real-world videos featuring native speakers to curriculum guides that perfectly align with AP and IB standards, you know you can find the tools and resources you need - all in one place. 

On your marks, get set, go…

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🔖 Aligned and Accessible

First things first - your time is precious. After all, you’ve got languages to teach and students to inspire! You don’t need to be spending hours searching the internet for age and level appropriate videos and exercises (that will inevitably need amending and updating to fit your specific curriculum requirements…). So we’ve done the hard work for you.

Our Listening and Grammar sections can both be streamlined to show only IB relevant themes and topics, covering everything from Identities and Experiences to Scientific and Technical Innovation! By using these Curriculum Preferences, you can be sure that every activity and assignment you set will be relevant to your students’ final examination themes and topics. 

And what about AP? We have a handy textbook guide for you, stored within our Teacher Resources, which will show you how to align all content on This is School to the themes and topics on the AP exam, as well as helping students to practice the skills they’ll need in Listening, Grammar and Vocab. Not only will this save you time integrating our resources into your scheme of work, but it means you can get started with and feel the benefit of This is School’s content as soon as you’re logged in.

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When we surveyed teachers already part of the global This is School community, they reported an average department-wide saving of 19.5 hours per week on planning and grading. If you’re interested in exploring teacher success stories about using the platform, then you’ll want to head to our Case Studies page - once you’ve finished reading this, of course!

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👂🏽 Are You Listening?

This is School’s real-world videos featuring native speakers make all the difference when it comes to listening skills in your exam prep and finals - who better for your students to learn the target language from?

With over 12,500 videos to choose from across our core language subjects, you’ll never be short of choice. Better yet, our videos cover not just languages but locations too, meaning students are exposed to a range of accents to better hone their listening skills. This includes France, Canada, Senegal and Belgium for French; Mexico, Venezuela, Spain, and Colombia for Spanish; Germany and Austria for German; and Italy (specifically Sicily) for Italian!

As Language Teacher Mark Little shares, “It makes students question the concept of there being a 'right' way of speaking” and enhances exposure to language in a way rarely found in other tools, pushing them to gain a deeper understanding of linguistic nuance within their target language.

Whatever topic you’re covering, you’ll find a video for it, paired with four scaffolded and interactive exercises you can assign as independent work or progress through as a front of class resource. This helps students boost their confidence and build comprehension, and all your listening prep can be found in one place!

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🔊 Speak Up!

Sorry, what was that? This is School has a Speaking trainer tool? 

That’s right! Using our Speaking section, you can assign questions for your students to answer and record their response directly in the platform - choosing from our range of questions, inspired directly by our native speaker videos, or by setting your own - and grade them according to your selection of Grading Criteria. 

This is where you can also set the maximum length of student response, providing excellent practice for both AP and IB on having to speak within a timed limit on a particular question or topic! Many IB and AP teachers use this section as a practice before the exam, so that students can answer similar exam questions and get teacher feedback. It also allows you to assign speaking questions for homework, which is great for shy students or ones that are reluctant to speak up in class! 

If you’re looking for more inspiration on getting students speaking, make sure to explore our blog, including top tips from language teachers and successful semi-spontaneous speaking activities for your language lessons!

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⏳ On The Clock

Often we hear of students feeling prepared for their exams but then, bam! They realize they’re going to be timed - and suddenly they feel additional pressure, struggle to prioritize, and all of that preparation feels like a distant memory…

This is School includes timers across our scaffolded exercises, helping students work on time management for test taking as a skill in itself.

And if your students aren’t ready yet, you always have the option to remove the timer from your assignments to begin with, to build on their comprehension and confidence before introducing them to working within the time limits they will find in their AP and IB examinations.

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🔎 More To Explore

As a comprehensive, all-in-one platform to support you and your students in IB and AP exam preparation, there is plenty more to explore on This is School, including:

Writing - set your students writing tasks for them to complete in-platform, and grade against your chosen criteria, to set them up for success!

Teacher Tools - features inspired directly by our community including Co-Teaching and Gradebook View are designed to give you full visibility and access to everything you need, in one place, inherently designed to save you time to get back to doing what you love most (teaching!) 

Reading Comprehensions - wacky and engaging Reading Comprehensions can be found within our array of Teacher Resources, covering similar topics and themes to those found on AP and IB examinations, making them perfect classroom or homework practice tools!

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So, World Language Teachers, are you ready to take IB and AP learning to new levels?

Start your 14-day free trial today with This is School! ⭐