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Making a Case for IB Spanish

Alexandra Ortiz


¿Qué onda, microonda? 


For Class IV discipuli, I understand the stress over planning for your future (including future courses) here at TBLS. For Class III discipuli, I understand the pressure involved in choosing the elective that works best for you. In order to assist you in understanding your options for an elective, I want to explain to you some of the benefits of the elective I chose - IB Spanish. My class is comprised of both SL and HL students, who will take different exams at the end of senior year. As my first year of IB Spanish comes to a close, I still have one question: Why are there only 14 people in this edifying class? 


I chose Spanish as my elective because I understood the global significance of being able to understand and communicate effectively with others. There are roughly 53 million people who are Spanish speakers in the United States alone, which is greater than the amount in Spain according to a 2015 report by Instituto Cervantes. Given the sky-high number of people who speak Spanish, it’s not surprising that learning Spanish will help upgrade your resume. Wouldn’t you like to be able to communicate with potential clients? As a client, wouldn’t you like to be able to communicate with a service provider? On a more personal level, I’m sure that you would love to be able to communicate with a potential friend who primarily speaks Spanish.


Good thing your Latin class may have given you a head start! Learning Spanish can help you to understand Latin, and vice versa. In fact, according to the Manual de etimologías grecolatinas (3. ed.), nearly 75% of modern Spanish vocabulary is Latin-derived. This makes sense, as Spanish is considered a Romance language, a group of languages that evolved from Latin. It stands to reason that learning Spanish will help in picking up Latin words as well. 


This is not to say that the other electives aren’t important, or that they aren’t also interesting to consider. Regardless, I implore you to keep in mind the benefits of learning Spanish when selecting your best-fit elective. 


Un saludo,


Alexandra O.



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