Individual Oral Review

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Overview

The Individual Oral (IO) is a oral exam in which you have a conversation with a Spanish professor about a photo that eventually transitions to a general topic about life. You receive 15 minutes to prepare beforehand, and it lasts from 9-12 minutes. It is split up into three parts: Presentation, Conversation Pt.1, and Conversation Pt.2. More on those later!

The IB Themes

The IO utilizes the IB themes as the base of their conversations. Basically, within your presentation, you must say how the picture you are describing relates to one of these themes. There are five themes, shown in the picture/document below. Here's also a link to a pdf version: IB Themes

pictures of themes

Memorize these IB Themes and their recommended Topics.
They are a large component of your grade!

IO Format

Each of the three parts of the IO format can be split into further sections. They are organized chronologically and are as follows:

Presentation (2-3 minutes)
  1. Description of Photo
  2. Relate to First Theme (which is given)
  3. Talk about why it relates to first theme (in context of Latin American culture)
  4. Introduce Second Theme (you choose)
  5. Short sentence explaining why it relates to second Theme

We ONLY talk about photo.

Conversation Pt.1 (3-4 minutes)
  1. A conversation between Professor and Student: The Professor asks more general questions about Latin American Culture in the context of the Second Theme.
  2. Questions are "why" and "how", not "who/what" or "yes/no".

We now start transitioning AWAY from the original photo.

Conversation Pt.2 (4-5 minutes)
  1. A conversation between Professor and Student: Professor asks questions about your life and culture, which could include a possible comparison to Latin American culture.

There are NO MORE references to the photo.

TRANSITIONS!
Remember that you MUST transition between each part of the IO smoothly! This could be something as simple as using "also": "Yo también pienso que la foto relaciona a _____". Another example, using "besides", could be: "además de la primera tema, yo también pienso que...".

Preparation for the IO

Because you are not allowed to bring anything with you to the actual exam, you must memorize all the information you want. But what information should we memorize? Besides the IO format (above), we should memorize four different sections of information per IB theme to maximize our preparation: Aspects about Latin American culture, aspects about your life, complex verb phrases, and idiomatic expressions. This allows us to be prepared for all parts of the IO. Let's explore some examples.

  • Latin American aspects are topics relating to the IB theme within the realm of Latin American culture (i.e. climate change technology and a new electric Mexican vehicle).
  • Your life aspects are similar to above, but pertaining to your life, which allows for comparision and a good transition to the conversational piece.
  • Complex Verb phrases are those that involve numerous tenses and increase your score on grammar and knowledge.
  • idiomatic expressions (popular phrases that are within a single culture's langauge do so in a MUCH more effective manner.

    • Note: DO NOT PLAGARIZE THE LATIN AMERICAN ASPECT IDEAS. MAKE YOUR OWN.
    (it can still be around the same subjects for a few, like soccer, religion, holidays, etc, but this is intended to show what you should be thinking of).

  • Note: while my notes are in English, they were originally in Spanish. I strongly recommend doing so in Spanish; it makes it easier to memorize.

Identities

I chose Soccer and the importance of family.

Latin American Aspects
  • Soccer: Soccer is a huge part of Spanish culture. Talk about Nationalism, World Cups, community, etc...
  • Importance of Family: Families in Spain stop school and work in the middle of the day to have lunch together.
Your Life
  • SOCCER IS MY LIFE. I play every day and I love watching games, especially Spanish.
  • I also eat lunch and dinner with my family (when possible).
Complex Verb Phrases
  • Encantaría, no pienso que + subjuntivo, es importante que + subjuntivo, he jugado, entrenaba
Idiomatic Expressions
  • Estar muerto de cansancio, menos mal (thank goodness), desde el punto de vista de, se mire por donde se mire

Experiences

I chose Holidays, Religion, and Traditions.

Latin American Aspects
  • La fiesta de San Juan - June 24th, celebrates the prophet John the Baptist.
  • Los Santemines - the enclosure, it's a week-long celebration
  • Eat 12 grapes for new years
Your Life
  • Christmas: My family values it also because of religion.
  • I eat 12 chickpeas for the New Year!
Complex Verb Phrases
  • Amenizaba, idolotra, me comporte, se infiltró, lideró
Idiomatic Expressions
  • Para ser sincero, por todas partes, desde el punto de vista de, asimismo, fuera del país

Human Ingenuity

I chose Technology and Artistic Expression.

Latin American Aspects
  • Zacua Coupe - An electric car made in Mexico. It can reach a max speed of 96 km/hr.
  • Clic Ecuada - A program and innovation that helps classrooms by monitoring the emotions of students.
  • La Sagrada Familia Iglesia en Barcelona – created by Antoni Guadí, a beautiful architectural and religious creation.
Your Life
  • Electric Car - great for environemnt.
  • I go to a church and see beautiful architecure. It's incomparable to that in Spain, however.
Complex Verb Phrases
  • Me encantaría ser testigo , deseo que mi familia y yo vayamos, se pensaría que es imposible que…, para esculpir esto…, hay mucho grabados (engraving)
Idiomatic Expressions
  • Hacer un papel, sin fronteras, la cadena de televisión, el arte por el arte, ganar Madrid, los pros y los contras, hacer gala (show off), al aire libre (outdoors)

How We Share the Planet

I chose Climate Change.

Latin American Aspects
  • Climate Change: Costa Rica to make 96% energy sustainable.
  • Impact of Ecotourism: Countries like Mexico have lost more than 50% of their forests as a result of exports.
Your Life
  • Talk about your environmental class and desire to study it.
  • It's fascinating how Costa Rica is doing this -- you want to do the same.
Complex Verb Phrases
  • Es fascinante que costa rica asegure, trataría de convencer mi gobierno, me encantaría viajar, como un niño, me encantaba ver los animales, vuelen las aves
Idiomatic Expressions
  • Dar saltos, para todos los gustos, tener mala cara, el siguiente paso (next step), a lo largo de (along), dar la bienvenida (to welcome)

Social Organization

I chose Education/Community and the Working Force.

Latin American Aspects
  • Students return to house to have lunch with family in middle of day.
  • Many stores are family-owned and employ their own children rather than others to save money, especially with big corporations selling products for cheaper.
Your Life
  • My school does not have this family meal thing, but I wish we did!
  • I haven't worked yet, but I'm sad that many stores have to close due to these big companies!
Complex Verb Phrases
  • El trabajo de niños desanima , estoy alegre de que las tiendas pertenzcan a las familias, no pienso que las familias deban avergonzarse de (ashamed of), en el pasado siempre me esforzaba en, estuve alegre de que tuviera motivos para…
Idiomatic Expressions
  • por todas partes, desde el punto de vista de, de lutima generación, chuparse los dedos, al fin y al cabo, además de (apart from), al alcance de (within reach), hacersa la boca agua, estar harto de (to be fed up wth) hace un rato (a while ago), dar hambre/sed, darle asco (not to stand somthing)

Practice

Linked here are three documents: A template sheet, which provides a nice and clean structure for you to write out a practice IO based on how the format would be, an example, which I wrote during my preparation for a photo, and example practices, which is a pdf of 5 practice pictures to allow you to practice. I strongly suggest you 1) write these in Spanish, 2) use the template sheet, 3) actually say the speech, and 4) time yourself! This gives you the best practice for the IO.

IO Template
IO My Example
IO Example Pictures