<p>I just started IB this year (woop woop!) and our IB Coordinator is asking us to come up with a list of ideas for our extended essays. I take English HL, Visual arts HL, Biology SL, History HL, and French SL (at my school, you don't take an IB Math course until senior year for some reason).</p>
<p>I really want to do my EE in French, but some of the 2013 IB graduates say that we should only do our EE's in HL subjects. </p>
<p>However, I am one of the best French students in my class (and according to my French teacher, one of the best she's ever taught). My French teacher is a native of France and is also a well-experienced French teacher, having taught the language for over 30 years. I also read some French literature from time to time (outside of class assignments).</p>
<p>Still, my French class is SL and I know it will be hard writing 12-16 pages in a language completely foreign to me, HL or SL. </p>
<p>Do you think I could still consider writing my EE in French?</p>
<p>How good do you think you are at writing in French?</p>
<p>I suppose you might not know, considering you just started, but your teacher should assign you essays during the year, to prepare you for your exams, and these are really the best way to assess yourself. My teacher actually encouraged me to consider French because he felt like my essays were extremely well-written, and that I expressed my ideas well, despite writing in my second language. IB does understand to an extent that your grammar might not be 100% perfect, they mostly focus on your ideas, but if you make a glaring error that is a hindrance to communication, you’ll get points off. If you think that between your teacher helping you and your own writing skills, you can communicate well, then I think you should go for it!</p>
<p>I will say this, however. There are kids this year in my class who are changing their EE subjects, and it’s SUCH a pain. They have to find new mentors (all the good ones are taken ^.^), they have to throw away the work they did in their other subject, and start from scratch. So if you’re not sure that you can do a French EE, save yourself some trouble and do it in another subject.</p>
<p>I will add that I finally decided to do a History EE, but the fact that I’m in History HL and French SL had no bearing on that decision, I promise :)</p>
<p>I think the HL/SL thing is not really relevant for Languages (Group 1 and 2) because the Languages are not subjects that have a specific set of material to learn. It’s more flexible and the HL/SL split is more differentiated through more time or less time spent on the material itself.
French SL and HL aren’t really too different. If you’re at a level where you can write a 4000 word essay in french (you seem like a good student!), I would say it’s a fine idea to do your EE in French.</p>