Cambridge English B for the IB Diploma
Assessment sheet 2.2: Planning the interactive oral activity
This resource supports Unit 2.4 (The interactive oral activity) on pages 73–79 of the IB English
B coursebook.
What is the interactive oral activity (IOA)?
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During your study for IB English B, you will be required to take part in at least three IOAs, based on
the ‘core’ topics in the course:
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Communication and media
Global issues
Social relationships
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You will work in groups, with other students, but you will be given an individual mark for your own
performance. The best mark you achieve in the IOAs will be submitted to the IB, and account for
10% of your final mark for the English B course.
As the title of the activity suggests, there has to be dialogue and interaction with other students in the
group, and so you cannot work alone.
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There is no specified time limit for the IOA, and it is not recorded. At least one of the IOAs will need
to be based on a listening stimulus, such as a speech or the lyrics of a song.
The IOA can take many forms. Your teacher may provide the stimulus, such as one or more texts, and
ask you to participate in a formal debate, an interview or a discussion, using the texts as a starting
point. Alternatively, you may be asked to prepare your own IOA, with guidance from your teacher.
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This resource provides you with a suggested step-by-step approach to preparing and planning an IOA
with the other members of your group.
Planning your interactive oral activity
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Step 1: Finding ideas from your coursework.
Use the space below to generate ideas from particular texts or topics that you have enjoyed or found
especially interesting during your course. Make notes, and list any key points, to show your
knowledge and understanding of your chosen text(s) or topic.
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You can then use these notes as the starting point for planning your IOA.
What is your chosen topic or text?
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Make a list of key points here that show your knowledge and understanding of the text(s) or
topic you have chosen.
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What I learned from ____________________________________________________________
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Step 2: Choosing a format for your IOA
You have now made a list of what to include in your IOA. The next step is to decide on an appropriate
format for your activity. There are many different formats that you could choose from. For example:
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An interview (for example, with a character from a text you have studied).
An informal debate about a controversial issue.
A group discussion about a text or issue.
A role-play activity based on a text or other stimulus.
A chat/talk show.
A formal debate (for example, between ‘experts’ who support different sides on an issue)
A ‘pitch’ for an advertising campaign, where an idea is presented by one or two students,
followed by a discussion by the whole group.
Not all of these formats will be suitable for the subject you want to talk about. Can you think of other
formats, as well as those listed above, that would lend themselves well to the subject you want to
explore?
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Choose two or three formats, from your own ideas or from the list above. Use the space below to list
the reasons why they would be suitable for your chosen content.
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Format 1:
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This format would be suitable for the chosen subject because:
Format 2:
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This format would be suitable for the chosen subject because:
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Format 3:
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This format would be suitable for the chosen subject because:
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When you have considered the three possible formats, decide which one you wish to use for your
IOA. You may want to discuss this with your teacher before making a final decision.
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Step 3: Choosing the right language for your activity
You should make sure you know about the kinds of language that are used in the type of activity you
have chosen to do, whether it is an interview, a debate or a campaign ‘pitch’.
If you can, look at real-life examples of your chosen format before you start to plan your own. Make
notes of the kinds of language, key phrases and topic-specific terms that are used . Try to use these in
your own activity.
You could also use notes you have taken during class, and make use of words from the Word banks in
this book.
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Use the space below to make notes on the language and terms used in the kind of activity you want to
do. Consider the following:
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What kinds of language are used?
What are the key phrases?
Are there any topic-specific terms used?
Think about how you can use these in your own activity.
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The chosen format for your activity:
Kinds of language used:
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Key phrases used:
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Topic-specific terms:
Step 4: Writing a proposal
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Once you have decided on the format for your activity, and considered the kind of language you will
use, you may want to write a short proposal for your teacher. This is not a formal requirement, but it
may help you to ensure that your activity is relevant, and focuses on your coursework.
Your proposal will need to answer the following questions. Make some brief notes on each of these
questions, and you can then use these as the basis for drafting your proposal.
What coursework will you refer to in your IOA?
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What format will your activity take?
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What do you want to achieve in the activity?
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What will happen during the activity? Write a brief description.
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Use the space below to draft your proposal.
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Step 5: Writing an outline for your IOA
Once you have studied the coursework, chosen an appropriate format, and written a proposal, you will
be ready to write an outline of the structure for your activity. During your IOA you should not read
from notes on paper, or memorise a ‘script’. Writing an outline will help you to order and structure
ideas in your mind, and should include key words and phrases for you to remember and use.
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Use the space below to draft an outline for your activity. You might use bullet points to help structure
your ideas.
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Cambridge English B for the IB Diploma
Worksheet 2.4: Is global warming real?
This worksheet supports Activity 2.8 in Chapter 2, on page 59 of the IB English B coursebook.
You have to convince a sceptical friend that global warming is real, and you have just 2 minutes to do
this!
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1 Read Text 2.4 (Is Global Warming Real?) on pages 58–59 of the coursebook.
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2 Use the space below to list key arguments from the text that support the theory of global
warming.
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3 Based on the arguments you have noted above, write a list of brief, key points in the space
below that you could use as the basis for your presentation.
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4 Now put the above points in a logical order, and produce an outline plan for your presentation,
using the following grid. Remember the following:
You only have 2 minutes, and so your points will need to be brief and clear!
You might want to add a visual element to your presentation, by using diagrams to illustrate
your points (such as the one on page 57 of the coursebook).
There is room on the grid for 6 main points. You may not need to use that many – or you may
need more!
You may find it helpful to add brief notes or key words/phrases for each pint
You could use your outline as notes for your 2-minute presentation.
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Presentation outline
Point 1
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Notes
Point 2
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Notes
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Point 3
Point 4
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Notes
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Notes
Point 5
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Notes
Point 6
Notes
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Worksheet 2.6: Marking up Text 2.6
This worksheet supports Text 2.6 and Activities 2.20 and 2.22 in Chapter 2, on pages
66–68 of the IB English B coursebook.
This worksheet provides you with a copy of Text 2.6 (Bhamia, Bangladesh).
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You can use this copy of the text to help you when attempting Activities 2.20 (page
66) and 2.22 (page 68), by highlighting or underlining the relevant words.
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For Activity 2.22, you could use different colours to highlight the adjectives, verbs
and nouns that encourage you to think about the reality of the threat from the effects
of global warming.
Verbs
Nouns
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Adjectives
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Here is a copy of the table for Activity 2.22, from page 68, to complete when you
have identified the relevant words in the text.
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Write your own short account to explain why we should be concerned about the
effects of global warming. Use words from your completed table above, and from
the Word bank on page 57 of the coursebook.
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Text 2.6
Global warming gains foothold in Bangladesh
BHAMIA, Bangladesh -- Global warming has a taste in this village. It is
the taste of salt.
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Only a few years ago, water from the local pond was fresh and sweet on
Samit Biswas’s tongue. It quenched his family’s thirst and cleansed their
bodies.
But drinking a cupful now leaves a briny flavor in his mouth. Tiny white
crystals sprout on Biswas’s skin after he bathes and in his clothes after his
wife washes them.
The change, international scientists say, is the result of intensified flooding
caused by shifting climate patterns. Warmer weather and rising oceans are
sending seawater surging up Bangladesh’s rivers in greater volume and
frequency than ever before, specialists say, overflowing and seeping into the
soil and the water supplies of thousands of people.
Their lives are being squeezed by distant lands they have seen only on
television -- the United States, China, and Russia at the top of the heap -whose carbon emissions are pushing temperatures and sea levels inexorably
upward. Earlier this month, a long-awaited report by the United Nations said
global warming fueled by human activity could raise temperatures by 8
degrees and the ocean’s surface by 23 inches by 2100.
In southwest Bangladesh, the bleak future forecast by the report is already
becoming a reality, bringing misery along with it.
Heavier-than-usual floods have wiped out homes and paddies. They have
increased the salinity of the water, which is contaminating wells, killing
trees, and slowly poisoning the mighty mangrove jungle that forms a natural
barrier against the Bay of Bengal.
If sea levels continue to rise at their present rate, by the time Biswas, 35,
retires from his job as a teacher, the only home he has known will be
swamped, overrun by the ocean with the force of an unstoppable army. That,
in turn, will trigger another kind of flood: millions of displaced residents
desperate for a place to live.
“It will be a disaster,” Biswas said.
Bangladesh, a densely crowded and painfully poor nation, contributes only a
minuscule amount to the greenhouse gases slowly smothering the planet.
But a combination of geography and demography puts it among the
countries that specialists predict will be hardest hit as the Earth heats up.
Source: Henry Chu, LA Times, 25 February 2007
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