While there is much freedom in the teaching of the IB Language A: Language and literature course, it’s not a free for all.  The IB does list specific requirements for both the study of literary works and the study of non-literary texts.  As always, the course guide has this information and should be your first port of call if you need clarification.  You can find this information on pages 20-21 of the guide.  In it, the IB provides specific information for both Standard Level and Higher Level.

Standard Level Requirements

Literary works:

• 2 time periods, 2 places (at least 2 continents), and 2 literary forms
• Minimum of 1 literary work for each area of exploration
• 1 work from the Prl in English, 1 work from the Prl of another language, and 2 works chosen freely

Non-literary texts:

• an equal or balanced amount of time is spent studying non-literary texts

Higher Level Requirements

Literary works:

• 3 time periods, 3 places (at least 2 continents), and 3 literary forms
• Minimum of 2 literary works for each area of exploration
• 2 works from the Prl in English, 2 works from the Prl of another language, and 2 works chosen freely

Non-literary texts:

• an equal or balanced amount of time is spent studying non-literary texts

To help keep you sorted, you may want to fill out a “course requirement tracker.”  If you do this, we also suggest you share this with your students and have them keep it in their learner portfolio.  You can fill it out at the start of the course and provide it to them.  Alternatively, you can update it as you go through the course together.  The tracker should help them remember what they have studied what can and can’t be used for assessment purposes too.  Many thanks to Damian Ballantine for sharing this with us and allowing us to modify it. 

Finally, this is a template.  Depending on how you organize your course, what you teach, and how you do things at your school and in your classroom, you may very likely need to modify what’s been provided.  Just make sure to adhere to the IB requirements listed above. 

Tracker Screenshot

Higher Level Course Requirment Tracker

Standard Level Course Requirment Tracker