IB says our son could do Bengali literature 'self-taught' for the Diploma. Anyone tried this?

moss_kettle_280228 Aug 2026

Elder one is in grade 10 and choosing Diploma subjects. School has no Bengali teacher, but the coordinator mentioned a self-taught option at standard level where the student studies the literature mostly on his own, with someone supervising. He reads Bengali slowly but properly, thanks to his thakuma, and wants to do it partly for her. I think it's either a lovely idea or a big trap in a heavy year. Has anyone's kid done a self-taught language? 🤷

1 comment

breezy_kite_678228 Aug 2026
No IB experience here at all, so only one angle. My partner teaches, and her view is that the self-study kids who manage are the ones with a fixed weekly slot and someone at home willing to argue about the books with them, not just check they've read them. If his thakuma can be that person, sounds less like a trap 🙂
- rose_window_970228 Aug 2026
  We keep circling a version of this with Tamil for our older one, though she is in CBSE and nowhere near an exam yet. Each time the problem is the same: the grandparent is enthusiastic at the start and the hard part comes in the second year, by which point it's the child doing it alone. Not a reason to say no. Just worth asking how much of that second year his thakuma can sit with him.