Can you help with the Individual Oral if my teacher hasn't given me the stimulus yet?

Yes. The IO uses unseen stimuli, so practice is built on the five prescribed themes using comparable images and extracts, plus rehearsal of the 4-minute presentation structure and the kinds of follow-up questions teachers ask.

What is the difference between French ab initio and Language B for tutoring purposes?

Ab initio work stays closer to the prescribed topics and controlled text types, with more grammar consolidation; Language B SL and HL demand longer written responses, unseen listening and, at HL, the two literary works. Sessions are set up for whichever course you are registered in.

My child understands French but freezes when speaking. Does this help?

Speaking time is the bulk of most sessions, at conversational pace, with the tutor asking follow-ups rather than accepting one-line answers. Corrections during free speech are limited to what blocks meaning so the flow isn't broken.

Do you mark practice Paper 1 and Paper 2 answers?

Written work can be read back through in a session and discussed against the published assessment criteria — language, message, conceptual understanding — with specific rewrites suggested. This is practice feedback, not official IB moderation.

IB French

AP / IB · World Languages

IB French follows the Language B (SL/HL) or ab initio syllabus, so the work is organised around the five prescribed themes — Identités, Expériences, Ingéniosité humaine, Organisation sociale, Partage de la planète — and assessed through Paper 1 (one written text type from a choice of three tasks), Paper 2 (listening and reading comprehension), and the Individual Oral. Sessions are conducted mainly in French, with English used to unpick a grammar point or an assessment criterion when that is faster. The focus is on producing French that meets the IB descriptors for language, message and conceptual understanding, rather than on general conversation practice.

Start a session on IB French

What this covers

Paper 1 text types: matching layout, register and closing conventions for a blog post, formal letter, discours, article, brochure, rapport or entrée de journal intime, and choosing the task you can actually develop
Conceptual understanding in practice — adjusting audience, context, purpose, meaning and variation, including consistent tutoiement/vouvoiement and appropriate connecteurs logiques
SL Individual Oral: describing a themed visual stimulus from a Francophone context, then linking it to the theme and sustaining the follow-up discussion
HL Individual Oral: presenting a 300–400 word extract from one of the two studied literary works, situating it in the work and discussing character, style and theme
Paper 2 listening strategy: handling Québécois, Belgian, Swiss and West African accents, note-taking during the single playback structure, and question types that require inference
Written accuracy under time pressure: past-tense narration (passé composé/imparfait/plus-que-parfait), subjunctive after opinion and emotion, and pronoun placement

Where learners get stuck

Treating the Paper 1 task as 'write about the topic' and ignoring text type conventions: Students transfer essay habits from other subjects. IB awards marks for conventions — a discours needs a spoken address and rhetorical questions, a rapport needs headings and recommendations — so a well-written piece in the wrong format loses marks in the message criterion.
Describing the Individual Oral stimulus photo instead of using it: The image feels like the task. Examiners expect the photo to be a springboard into the prescribed theme and a specific Francophone cultural context; candidates who narrate 'sur cette image, il y a...' for two minutes run out of content and never reach analysis.
Assuming HL oral preparation means summarising the plot of the two literary works: Literature study in IB French is about language and effect, not plot recall. The 4-minute presentation must be anchored in the given extract — who speaks, in what register, with what imagery — and then widened to the work as a whole.
Using written-French formality in speaking, or SMS-style informality in Paper 1: Classroom French is often learned in one register. Students say 'nous' and full ne...pas in a casual oral discussion, or write 'du coup' and 'ça' in a formal letter, and variation is an explicit part of the conceptual understanding descriptors.

What a session looks like

A typical session opens with a few minutes of unscripted French on a theme-related question to warm up, then moves to one focused piece of work: drafting or rebuilding a Paper 1 response against the conventions of a chosen text type, running a timed Individual Oral rehearsal with a stimulus or extract and unrehearsed follow-up questions, or working through a Paper 2 listening passage with note-taking checked against the transcript. Errors are corrected in the moment for meaning-blocking mistakes and collected for a short review at the end, with one or two grammar patterns retaught rather than a long list. Sessions end with a specific written or spoken task to complete before the next one.

Helpful to know first

Roughly two to five years of prior French, or current enrolment in IB French ab initio, Language B SL or HL
Comfort with present, passé composé, imparfait and futur, and willingness to speak in French for extended stretches
For HL, a copy of the two literary works being studied in your school's course

Questions

Can you help with the Individual Oral if my teacher hasn't given me the stimulus yet?: Yes. The IO uses unseen stimuli, so practice is built on the five prescribed themes using comparable images and extracts, plus rehearsal of the 4-minute presentation structure and the kinds of follow-up questions teachers ask.
What is the difference between French ab initio and Language B for tutoring purposes?: Ab initio work stays closer to the prescribed topics and controlled text types, with more grammar consolidation; Language B SL and HL demand longer written responses, unseen listening and, at HL, the two literary works. Sessions are set up for whichever course you are registered in.
My child understands French but freezes when speaking. Does this help?: Speaking time is the bulk of most sessions, at conversational pace, with the tutor asking follow-ups rather than accepting one-line answers. Corrections during free speech are limited to what blocks meaning so the flow isn't broken.
Do you mark practice Paper 1 and Paper 2 answers?: Written work can be read back through in a session and discussed against the published assessment criteria — language, message, conceptual understanding — with specific rewrites suggested. This is practice feedback, not official IB moderation.