IB: Choosing Subjects

When Zaris and I first got our UWC offers, we sat down and talked about some of the subjects that we wanted to take. Languages B became a topic of conversation, because we found it difficult to decide between choosing a language we already knew so that we would score better, or a new language to challenge ourselves and make the most of out of our learning experience. My options were Spanish ab initio, French ab initio and Chinese ab initio (because my college doesn’t offer Chinese SL). Here are reasons why I had each of these languages in my options:

SPANISH

Mucho Besos! The original intention of YK sending us off to do IB was because the end goal was to send the both of us to further our tertiary education in the United States. Having a background in Spanish would make communication easier, seeing as many Americans can speak Spanish anyway. Besides, Spanish is a beautiful language: the way the people speak has a certain “sexy” feel about it.

FRENCH

Back in 2014 when Ikha and I traveled to Paris together, we decided to get some Ladureé as souvenirs to bring back home. While we were queueing, the lady in front of me ordered her macarons in fluent French, and it was the most fascinating thing. I could only watch in awe as they exchanged knowing looks and it seemed so natural as the words rolled off her tongue. When it was my turn, I attempted to channel the energy and poise of the person before me; “Bonjour!” I said, confidently. “Uh… Pink!” was all I could say after that. The lady looked at me for a moment, and then spoke to me in English. I COULD’VE SWORN SHE WAS STIFLING A LAUGH. Pretty sure she was thinking “Lol tourist”. After that incident, I told myself that I needed to learn how to speak French so I could order macarons in fluent French the next time round. 

Yes: learn a new language so I could order macarons fluently. 

I’ve made good progress in the recent years, I can now sacre bleu mademoiselle oui oui baguette Eiffel tower.

MANDARIN

I’ve learnt mandarin ever since I was in preschool, up ‘til Form 3. I remember back when I was 5 years old, my mandarin teacher told me she wanted to meet my parents because they were very concerned about my recent slump in grades for Mandarin. I was so afraid to tell my parents because the last thing I wanted to do was disappoint them. I remember holding on to the test paper with a huge 98 marked in red and showing it to my mom. The next morning my mom and my mandarin teacher ended up discussing ways to bump up my score and how to get me more focused on my skill in the language. Thinking back, I can't help but laugh at how terrified I was.

Taking Mandarin ab initio would mean that it’d be easier for me to pick up because it’s a language that’s familiar to me. I contemplated Mandarin for awhile, but I wasn’t sure if they would allow me to take the ab initio because I was already familiar with it.

We then discussed our expectations of what the social scene would look like in our own colleges. According to a blog that I’ve read, the writer mentioned that during the first week of school, the Chinese speaking kids would group up together and not mix with anyone else. Which was kinda worrying, because I wanted to get to know and make friends with everyone! (rarely ever you find me saying this, but it’s true) So Zaris and I joked about what I should do when I go there:

Zaris: Act like you can’t speak any Mandarin for the first year, and then in your second year, participate in Mandarin debate or something.

Since Zaris and I both are prospective engineering students, our major subjects are the same. I will be taking Math HL, Physics HL, Economics HL and English A SL.

I’ve had some major dilemma with choosing my 6^th subject. My choices are Biology SL or Art SL. Biology would be the most relevant subject to my course, since I’m taking Biomechanical Engineering; but I didn’t want my subjects to be too science based: Art might make a good choice because it shows a little bit more of my non-technical side, but ?????? Hopefully I will be able to make a decision after my first week at UWC.

I am super excited to fly off to the UK! It feels amazing knowing that I’ll be in a new place, with new people and a great opportunity to craft new experiences. I won’t deny that I am sometimes afraid of taking such a huge step, but I am ready to accept the challenge.