Language B · Individual Oral Internal assessment · oral
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Prepare a top-mark Language B oral.

A step-by-step preparation frame for the IB Language B Individual Oral. Plan your stimulus — an SL visual or an HL literary extract — describe AND interpret it, link it to the target-language culture and theme, and rehearse the presentation, follow-up discussion and general conversation — with the three assessment criteria and the supervised oral method built in.

The planning sections are free — unlock every remaining section of this tool for a one-time £9.99, or get the 🎒 Diploma Pass — every subject for a one-time £24.99. No subscription.

📄 Official IB subject brief (ibo.org ↗) — your teacher or IB coordinator can share the full subject guide.

How it's marked. Across three criteria: A Language /12; B Message /12; C Interactive skills /6 (total 30). You get about 15 minutes of supervised preparation, then the oral: SL works from a visual stimulus, HL from a ~300-word literary extract — a presentation (~3–4 min), a follow-up discussion, then a general conversation.
The rule that defines a strong oral: Go beyond describing the image — interpret it, and link it explicitly to the culture and the theme — then sustain a spontaneous, two-way conversation across all three parts, never answering in one-liners.
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IB Language B Individual Oral help, examiner-written

The IB Language B Individual Oral (IO) is a supervised oral internal assessment: you get about 15 minutes of supervised preparation, then you deliver the oral. At SL the stimulus is a visual stimulus — a photograph or image clearly linked to one of the five prescribed themes and to the culture(s) of the language you study; at HL it is an extract of about 300 words from one of the two literary works you have studied. This examiner-written preparation frame walks you through the method step by step — identify your stimulus and its theme, move from literal description to interpretation, link the stimulus explicitly to the target-language culture, then structure the presentation and rehearse the follow-up discussion and the general conversation. Your preparation notes export to DOCX or PDF so you can revise from them. The planning sections are free to use; the later sections are a one-time unlock. Sign in to save your work and sync it across devices.

How the Individual Oral is marked

The IO is marked across three criteria: A — Language (the range, accuracy and fluency of your target-language speech); B — Message (how clearly and relevantly you present and develop ideas, describing AND interpreting the stimulus and linking it to the theme and the culture); and C — Interactive skills (how well you sustain a spontaneous, fluent two-way conversation), for a total of 30 marks. Top-band orals go beyond describing the image or retelling the extract: they interpret it, anchor it in the target-language culture, and keep the conversation flowing with developed, initiative-taking answers rather than one-liners.

The three-part structure & the five prescribed themes

Every Language B oral has the same three parts: a presentation of roughly 3–4 minutes on your stimulus, a follow-up discussion on the stimulus, and a general conversation that extends to at least one other prescribed theme (the whole oral lasts about 12–15 minutes). The five prescribed themes are Identities, Experiences, Human ingenuity, Social organization and Sharing the planet — your stimulus belongs to one of them, and the conversation broadens to at least one more. Prepare a clear arc for the presentation (description → interpretation → cultural and thematic significance), anticipate the examiner's likely questions, and ready opinions, examples and vocabulary for the wider themes.

Free to start · examiner-written

The Language B Individual Oral tool is free to start: the planning sections are free, and the later sections are a one-time unlock per tool. You sign in to save your work to your own account and sync it across devices. The frame and its guidance are written by experienced IB educators.