Teaching strategies keep pace with the times to achieve continuous value-added in English

Newman Catholic College Implementing the spirit of the school motto of "Being Moral and Perfect", we are committed to providing holistic education and cultivating the balanced development of students' moral, intellectual, physical, social, aesthetic and spiritual education. Over the years, the school has cultivated many outstanding alumni, such as the former Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr. Cheung Kin-chung, and the current Executive Director of Cheung Kong Holdings and Chairman of Fortune REIT, Mr. Zhao Guoxiong. Under the leadership of Principal Ng Wa Piu Henry, the school keeps pace with the times and adheres to the concept of “going out and bringing in”. Through comprehensive curriculum planning, flexible teaching strategies and diversified English activities, we create a rich language environment and help every student achieve continuous value-added English proficiency.

Encourage classroom communication and interaction, learn English in daily life

Principal Ng Wa Piu Henry advocates strengthening student communication and interaction in English classes. The school spares no resources and hires a second foreign English teacher to collaborate with the English subject teacher to increase communication opportunities with students and promote the shift from teacher-led lectures to teacher-student interaction. In terms of classroom arrangements, English classes are taught in groups, and high schools have additional groups to ensure that every student can be taken care of and increase their opportunities to be exposed to English. In addition, the school is committed to extending English learning beyond the classroom and encourages students to make good use of their spare time to communicate with foreign teachers. The school has a dedicated English Corner as an exclusive interactive learning base. Under the guidance of foreign teachers, students can use English naturally in a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere through diverse activities such as table games, allowing language learning to be truly integrated into campus life.

English teaching keeps pace with the times and promotes teachers’ professional development

The school adheres to the concept of being new and advancing with the times, taking "going out and bringing in" as its core development strategy, and leads the English subject team to participate in the off-campus teacher development plan. The school has also taken the initiative to carry out in-depth cooperation with many institutions such as the University of Hong Kong, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Education University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University to design school-based English courses in innovative ways, such as designing courses with the theme of "making coffee", allowing students to learn daily English expressions in real scenes, improving learning interest and motivation. Last year, the school invited experts from the Education Bureau’s Foreign English Teacher Section (NET Section) to the school to hold joint lesson preparation workshops, focusing on improving classroom interaction strategies. At the same time, the teaching team also actively participated in various off-campus seminars, such as the Quality Assurance (QA) project hosted by the Education University of Hong Kong, to conduct further studies on the topic of "Taking Care of Learning Differences", and is committed to building a teaching team that pursues excellence and keeps pace with the times.

The school has been deeply involved in the field of English teaching for many years. With its excellent professional development results, the school was invited to participate in the filming of videos with the themes of "Promoting English Reading" and "English Values ​​Education". Principal Ng Wa Piu Henry personally shared the professional experience to promote the successful experience to the academic community. Through in-depth interaction with the outside world, the school's teaching team can not only keep up with the latest educational trends from the outside world, but also draw on diverse experiences to continuously optimize school-based strategies and strive for excellence. This spirit of pursuit of excellence is the same - as early as 2010, the head of the English Department, Mr. Lam Zhuolun, had won the "Chief Executive's Teaching Excellence Award".

International English courses pave the way to higher education

In order to improve students' English skills and prepare them for future competitiveness, the school offers IELTS English classes every year. This course is carefully prepared by a team of teachers and recruits about 20 students each year. It is taught by a full-time IELTS English course instructor specially hired by the school to focus on strengthening the training of IELTS English-related knowledge and skills. The school not only attaches great importance to course teaching, but also encourages students to take the IELTS English test and establishes a reward mechanism to encourage students to actively take the test, laying a solid foundation for their future university interviews. It also allows students who are interested in studying abroad to obtain international English proficiency certification and enhance their competitiveness.

Integrating technology into English to improve learning and teaching effectiveness

The school actively promotes the in-depth integration of technology with English learning and reading to encourage students to develop independent learning habits and make teaching more efficient. By setting up a campus knowledge management system and setting up an online platform for each subject, teachers can continuously publish learning materials and set up online tests. This can not only help students review their past knowledge and learn new things, but also help teachers accurately grasp the learning situation so that they can adjust teaching content according to problems.

In addition, the school subscribes to the "Jin Yue Ge" e-book platform and the South China Morning Post (SCMP), allowing students to dabble in reading materials in different fields and keep up with current events. They can enjoy personalized reading anytime and anywhere, gradually develop reading habits, and develop the ability to learn independently. Next, the English Department will also develop a learning platform with artificial intelligence elements to use technological innovation to stimulate students' interest in English learning, promote independent learning, and deepen knowledge connotation.

Cross-disciplinarity complements each other, English as a carrier of knowledge

The school actively promotes interdisciplinary learning and encourages various subject groups to collaborate in designing courses so that English becomes the key for students to explore knowledge. For example, the English and History subjects have integrated their curricula, using "World War II" as the study theme. Through English film appreciation and historical document reading, students can acquire historical knowledge and use English flexibly in contexts from multiple perspectives. In addition, the school attaches great importance to all-round learning experience and regularly organizes cross-disciplinary inspection activities with the participation of all levels. The school, together with the Geography and Civics subjects, takes students to Central and Wan Chai for field studies, aiming to allow students to get out of the classroom, deepen their subject knowledge in real situations, and simultaneously improve their comprehensive English application skills.

"One Lifetime Experience" Program Overseas exchanges to explore the world

In order to help students take a broader view of the world, the school has a "Lifetime Experience" program for Form 4 to lead students to participate in overseas exchange activities. Taking last year's study tour to Singapore as an example, the course adopts an interdisciplinary study model, integrating topics from science subjects (refinery industry) and geography subjects (wetland conservation), with school-based designed English teaching materials and tasks, allowing students to transform classroom knowledge into practical abilities in an immersive foreign context. Looking forward to this year, the school will take students to Malaysia and Brunei to deeply experience the local urban landscape where the old and the new blend and the social atmosphere of multi-ethnic integration; at the same time, it will guide students to explore the inheritance and influence of Chinese culture overseas, organically integrate values ​​education into English cross-cultural experience, and cultivate a new generation with a world view and cultural literacy.

Diverse English practice opportunities: apply what you have learned to show your confidence

The school carefully plans a full range of English activities and is committed to building a stage for students to showcase their talents. The school has "English Friday" (English morning meeting), where teachers guide students to serve as English anchors and share in English around interdisciplinary themes such as National Day and Science Week to practice public speaking skills. At the same time, the school actively organizes students to participate in inter-school recitation competitions, so that students can appreciate the beauty of literature during recitation and build their confidence in using English. In addition, the school also cooperates with external organizations. Last year, the school arranged for students to participate in the South China Morning Post's "English Anchor Experience". This year, it also led students to TVB City to personally visit the "Shaw Award" winners, so that they can use English in real media and academic situations to show their learning achievements.

Integrate values ​​​​education and improve English use ability

The school has participated in the Education Bureau's "Sayings of Wisdom" values ​​education activity for four consecutive years, linking English and values ​​education, encouraging students to share English proverbs that nourish the soul, and cultivate correct values, good attitudes and behaviors. Every year, the school also arranges values ​​display activities, produces large posters and posts them in the auditorium, and selects three student representatives from each class in Form 1 to Form 5 to conduct on-site sharing in English, allowing students to deepen their understanding of values ​​and attitudes through English expression, and achieve dual improvements in the establishment of values ​​and language use.