Taking an Ab Initio language is hard, but it is extremely rewarding and refreshing during the DP. Learning Italian Ab Initio has helped me take my mind off the stress of other subjects and focus on my self-development.
Learning a new language, besides being useful in real life, opens up numerous opportunities, such as communicating with a larger range of people, understanding various films, and reading certain works in their original language!
However, despite the pleasure that learning a new language brings, it’s important to improve your language skills. At the end of the day, those are what will be tested in your final exams. This article summarizes all the tricks I’ve learned for Italian Ab Initio in DP1!
- Organize vocabulary based on units
We all know it’s essential to note down the new vocabulary you acquire while learning a language. However, I’ve found that taking notes alone is not helpful when revising for a test.
Usually, you have to prepare for specific topics your teacher tells you about beforehand. Instead of scrambling in your notebook and trying to find the relevant vocabulary, I suggest that after finishing a unit, take a few pages to note down all the things you’ve learned. These can include subtopics, vocabulary, some conjugations, and even grammar rules!
This way, you’ll save time while revising for exams, as all the information you’ll need will already be prepared and ready for revision.
- Have a separate notebook for conjugations
Knowing the basic conjugations of verbs you frequently use in writing or speaking is crucial. The sooner you start learning them, the more you’ll help yourself in the long run. As with vocabulary, it’s hard to search your notebook or use Google each time you struggle with conjugating a verb.
That’s why having a small notebook with conjugations is extremely helpful. It’s handy and can be carried around anywhere. It also makes you practice conjugations by hand, which helps you memorize them better.
Conjugating verbs doesn’t have to feel dreadful! There are numerous tools online with pre-made material that can help you.
I like using conjuguemos.com for practice. It has pre-made flashcards for all three groups of verbs and the main tenses. What I find the most helpful is the graded exercises they offer. They help you get accustomed to actually using those verbs in sentences.
Doing extra practice now, especially for an Ab Initio language, might sound tedious, but you’ll thank yourself when you do your orals and written assignments!
- Practice reading out loud
Before my first oral, I found I wasn’t worried about messing up the grammar rules or forgetting vocabulary. Instead, I found myself thinking about how ridiculous I would sound because I didn’t have a perfect accent.
If you think the same thing, I’m here to tell you there’s no need to have a perfect Italian accent, especially if you’ve only been learning the language for a few months! As long as you’re understandable, there’s no need to dwell on details.
However, practicing your speaking and hearing how you actually sound is still helpful. This can help you identify your mistakes easily and work towards improving them. In order to do this, I’ve been reading all the texts in my coursebook out loud. It doesn’t matter how long or short the text is; what matters is you’re working on your pronunciation.
If you don’t have any available texts, you can read some A1-A2 texts on lingua.com or even use previous IB sample texts! Although this might seem like a small step, it’ll make you more confident in your speaking and help develop your delivery!
- Keep track of text types.
Finally, the thing each Language Ab Initio student has to know is text types. In your writing assessments, you’ll be given a prompt and three possible text types you can choose. You can’t simply pick the one you know how to write, as it might not be suitable for the prompt.
Instead, you should consider which one makes the most sense to write about.
For instance, if the prompt tells you to write to your friend, it’s illogical to write a blog just because it’s the only text type you know how to write. Thus, as you go along with your studies, take note of the text types you go over. Memorize what elements it should have, how many paragraphs it should contain, etc.
This is a crucial task but is unfortunately not talked about enough. So, to set yourself up for success in your tests, start memorizing the text types as soon as possible!
Conclusion
There are numerous elements of learning Italian Ab Initio, but seeing yourself improve in the language is an incredible feeling. It’ll make you gain self-confidence, which is crucial in the IB. Maintaining your dedication to the subject and pushing through the challenges you may face is what counts in the end!