High FUN School Learn English happily and efficiently

Buddhist Wing Yan School is committed to becoming a high "FUN" school, which includes the triple meaning of fun, effectiveness and learning atmosphere. Principal Sun Weiwen believes that by designing high "FUN" courses and activities, students can increase their interest in learning and help students achieve high "scores." At the same time, by organizing a variety of activities, students will become accustomed to using English and create a learning atmosphere. The "student-centered" educational policy has been repeatedly recognized by the outside world, and it has been selected as a caring campus for many years in a row. The school has implemented a number of optimization measures this school year, including extending drama teaching to English classes to take care of learning diversity; at the same time, it has flexibly canceled the first primary exam and integrated positive education into the English subject to help primary one students adapt to the new environment more easily.

Recruiting more foreign teachers and creating context through diverse activities

The rich English context is a major feature of the school. As soon as students step onto campus, they will take the initiative to communicate in English. Principal Sun emphasized: "We believe that to achieve good English results, the most important thing is for students to learn happily. The school employs three foreign English teachers. They chat with students every day in the morning, recess, and after school, and create an English-speaking environment in their spare time." During Halloween, the principal, foreign English teachers, and English teachers played the "Trick or Treat" game with students during recess to practice English responses.

In addition, the school has two school-wide English activity days every school year, each with a different theme. Considering that opportunities for overseas travel have been greatly reduced due to the epidemic, the English activity day in December is themed "Flycation (air travel without leaving the country)", aiming to allow students to understand the greetings and vocabulary of different countries and cultures. During the event, booths representing different countries were set up. Foreign English teachers led classes in the auditorium to strengthen students' speaking and listening skills; in class, reading and writing exercises were conducted, and short articles related to different countries were studied. Principal Sun said with a smile, "Studying while having fun is a characteristic of our school. Starting from this school year, the number of English department directors in the school has increased to three, and we can brainstorm more in designing activities, so that students can learn and apply English in a 'high FUN' environment."

Drama education invites experts to guide and develop theoretical foundations

In addition to extracurricular activities, three foreign English teachers also teach regular English courses. For example, in the first-grade English reading plan and writing training class (PLP-R/W), students will go to the English room twice a week to read stories, write, play and other activities under the leadership of foreign English teachers.

In this school year, the English subject has also made a new attempt to integrate drama into the curriculum, and has used it as a pilot for some levels. Teacher Chung Ka-hee, chairman of the English Department, said: "Every student has their own learning model, and drama education is a good entry point to take care of the uniqueness of students' learning." The school's English drama group has performed well in drama competitions in the past. Taking last year's Hong Kong School Drama Festival as an example, students overcame the difficulties of performing at home on Zoom and won the Outstanding Ensemble Performance Award and multiple Outstanding Actor Awards. The impressive results reflect the teachers' attentive guidance, and also encourage the school to promote drama into the classroom, allowing students with different personalities to take on the roles and bravely speak fluent English.

In order to perfectly implement drama teaching, the school invited Mr. Feng Shiquan, the founding artistic director of the theater company "A Thousand Years of Thoughts", to hold workshops for English teachers to assist in lesson preparation and lesson observation. The school will also use questionnaires and interviews to conduct in-depth research on the effectiveness of drama teaching and establish a theoretical basis to facilitate its gradual implementation to other levels or subjects in the future. The rigorous academic attitude shows that the school attaches great importance to teaching. Principal Sun said: "Many people think that acting in a play is drama teaching, but in fact many efficient teaching methods involve drama elements. I believe that with the help of expert consultants, teachers and students will be able to further broaden their horizons and improve learning and teaching effectiveness."

Pay attention to diversity and invest resources to support learning inside and outside the classroom

The school attaches great importance to taking care of learning diversity and makes good use of teaching manpower to enhance the care of students' learning process. For example, in the composition class, in addition to the subject teacher, teaching assistants and foreign English teachers will also enter the classroom to guide the students. In addition, for students with outstanding English performance, the school has an English drama group, and offers pinyin classes and Cambridge English courses to encourage them to further improve their English language and cultural attainments.

In order to keep up with the trend of electronic teaching, the teaching team often uses electronic teaching software Kahoot! and Quizlet to help students consolidate what they have learned. The school also cooperates with the online platform "Fun & Friends" to allow students to conduct extended learning for free. Teacher Liu Yani, chairperson of the English Department, pointed out: "The platform has a variety of extracurricular book types, including books related to STEM, character strengths and other elements. It also provides pinyin knowledge to facilitate students' after-class review and independent learning. Students are required to complete simple assessments on the platform. In addition to allowing them to understand their own performance, teachers can also use it to understand the learning effectiveness and difficulties faced by students, so as to accurately implement learning and teaching feedback."

Connecting students to the center and advocating positive education

In addition, in order to take care of the transition to high school, the teaching team has been deploying since November to design templates, briefings and questions for high school interviews, and arrange additional exercises after class to help upper primary school students equip their answering skills and improve their cognition. In terms of class planning, the English department also specially arranges two classes, where foreign English teachers conduct oral and guided English writing (Guided Writing) exercises to help students prepare their personal English self-introductions and express themselves confidently in interviews. In preparing for the "Hong Kong Academic Test before Secondary 1 Entrance", the English subject team pays more attention to teaching skills than intensive practice, focusing on teaching students to review questions and mark key words, so that they can answer questions more accurately.

Regarding the transition from kindergarten to primary school, students decided to cancel the first examination at the primary level this school year and replace it with other assessments. Principal Sun explained: "The most important thing to deal with when students enter primary school is adaptation. However, due to the epidemic, classes have been suspended many times in the past three years, and skills such as interpersonal relationships and communication may be lacking. If exams are required from the beginning, it will be difficult for students to adapt, so we give priority to helping new students transition and truly be student-centered." On the other hand, the school will also hold multiple parent workshops, conduct introductions to English subjects, prepare family education tips, and work together with home and school to help students gradually adapt to primary school life.

At the same time, the English subject also cooperates with positive education to help students establish positive values. For example, the characters introduced in English textbooks each have different character strengths. Each unit is designed with situations and questions to guide students to reflect. Another 24 English words for character strengths are posted on campus so that students can cultivate correct values ​​​​under the influence of their ears and eyes. Teacher Liu pointed out: "If they understand the 24 character strengths, know where their own strengths are, and appreciate the strengths of other students, they will adapt faster whether they are promoted to primary school or high school."

In line with school characteristics, interdisciplinary scientific English

In line with the new era of knowledge exchange, the school has incorporated interdisciplinary elements such as astronomy and environmental protection into English courses. Taking the space unit in sixth grade as an example, the textbook will introduce astronaut equipment, space stations, etc., and the teacher will also introduce astronomical English terms such as Solar System (solar system) and the Earth (earth). In conjunction with the mobile astrology hall, observatory and other astronomical equipment built on campus, students can not only study in books, but also carry out extended activities of stargazing, and learn English in a diverse context.

In addition, the English subject team is committed to cooperating with different units to encourage students to use English in daily life. Teacher Zhong explained: "The second-grade field trip is themed on society and occupation, and includes outdoor visits, occupational performances and other activities. These activities can extend the content of the English curriculum and practice 'out of the textbook' and learn in life." The school also designs activities for different festivals, such as the Vegetarian Day initiated by the Hong Kong Buddhist Federation. Students are encouraged to design recipes and learn about vegetarianism in English, implementing the school's philosophy of learning English well in a pleasant atmosphere.