Active tasks

InThinking Revision Sites

INTHINKING REVISION SITES

Own your learning

Why not also try our independent learning self-study & revision websites for students?

We currenly offer the following DP Sites: Biology, Chemistry, English A Lang & Lit, Maths A&A, Maths A&I, Physics, Spanish B

"The site is great for revising the basic understandings of each topic quickly. Especially since you are able to test yourself at the end of each page and easily see where yo need to improve."

"It is life saving... I am passing IB because of this site!"

Basic (limited access) subscriptions are FREE. Check them out at:

www.StudyIB.net

Head Injuries = Retirement (A Further Oral Activity Script)

  • /
  • The old course /
  • Assessment (2020 exams)/
  • Further oral activity/
  • FOA Samples/
  • Head Injuries = Retirement (A Further Oral Activity Script)

While Further Oral Activities are, to state the obvious, spoken, it does not mean they need to be extemporaneous. In fact, students can and should prepare in advance. Unlike the IOC, students get ample time to make sure they are successful on this component of the course.

There are a variety of ways for students to prepare for their FOA. They can: practice and conduct dry runs; time themselves; work out who is going to present what and when if in pairs or a group; confer with you about their work; extend their analysis of the text(s) they are investigating; prepare visual aids; and write a script for what they are going to say among other things.

It is this last point—creating a script—that can be contentious. There are few things worse than a student staring at his or her 8 point single-spaced typed paper trying to find their place instead of looking at and more importantly, talking to the audience. This is also true for memorized oral activities. It’s unnatural.

Whether you allow students to have a script, state they can only have notecards, push them to have a PowerPoint or Keynote, or do not want any of the above, it is up to you. While it’s great to hear what a FOA sounds like (see the J.F.K. example), it’s also helpful for students to look at a script so they can get a feel for the length and analysis required.

Contextual Information

The following is an example script from two students conducting their Further Oral Activity based on work produced in Part 2 of the course. It was part of a larger unit that investigated social justice and/or social awareness in the media, like a media awareness campaign about AIDS prevention.

Conducted as a fake press conference in which a NHL hockey player reveals his retirement, the player and his agent announce a campaign to reduce head injuries in sports. The students created a public service announcement (PSA), informational brochure, Reddit and Facebook page (among others). They analyzed these texts for their audience and purpose as well as stylistic and structural features.

Further Oral Activity Assessment Criteria

Assessment Criteria

Example Further Oral Activity Script

Example Student FOA Script

Teacher Comments

It's important to remember that these comments are based on the actual FOA and not on the script itself. Although students created a script, they conducted their FOA with bullet pointed note cards only.

Criterion A: Knowledge and understanding of the text(s) and subject matter or extract

To what extent does the activity show knowledge and understanding of the text(s) and subject chosen for the oral activity?

Has the student shown awareness and understanding of the meaning of the text(s) in relation to the subject?

9 out of 10 The students demonstrated excellent knowledge of media awareness campaigns, the purpose of their own campaign and their current issue (head injuries in sports). It was also well-contextualized and set up in the introduction (not seen in the script).

Criterion B: Understanding of how language is used

To what extent does the activity show understanding of the way language is used to create meaning?

Has the student shown an appreciation of how language and style is used to particular effect in the text?

7 out of 10 The students do name and discuss the effects of several different stylistic, structural and visual features. There is still room for more depth though. More discussion, especially about the effect on the viewer or audience is needed. It also takes too long to get to the analysis of the texts.They did provide more analysis in the actual oral activity than the script shows.

Criterion C: Organization

How well organized is the commentary?

How coherent is the structure?

5 out of 5 The students were extremely well-organized and coherent. Their format was creative and their argument was well-developed. It was excellent organization (although it is difficult to see this from just the script itself).

Criterion D: Language

How clear, varied and accurate is the language?

How appropriate is the choice of register and style? (“Register” refers, in this context, to the student’s use of elements such as vocabulary, tone, sentence structure and idiom appropriate to the further oral activity.)

5 out of 5 The students used the register of a sports press conference. It was fluid and professional. More importantly, the students spoke and did not read from a script. They used only bullet pointed note cards to assist them. It sounded, looked and felt like a real press conference in terms of their language.