English culture as an interdisciplinary learning tool creates a boundless English learning environment

C.C.C. Mong Wong Far Yok Memorial Primary SchoolThe trees are whirling, it is quiet and spacious, and the apricot altar has been cultivated for a long time. The school sponsoring group also upholds the spirit of "missionary service" and actively promotes whole-person education. Principal Zheng Jiabao understands that English is like a window that can expand people's horizons and open them up to the world. Therefore, perfect English learning has become an important part of the school's implementation of holistic education. The teaching team teaches students according to their aptitude. They not only design layered teaching, make good use of technology to promote e-learning, but also fully implement interdisciplinary collaboration to promote students' ability to comprehensively apply knowledge and establish a grand view of knowledge. They also use English as the main medium for interdisciplinary learning, so that students can be immersed in a strong English learning atmosphere and fall in love with English.

Carefully design school-based curriculum to establish pinyin foundation for junior primary schools

Principal Zheng emphasized: "Learning English is inseparable from listening, speaking, reading and writing. The English curriculum is also based on this. It uses the teaching of foreign English teachers, as well as electronic learning resources and interdisciplinary learning to create a comprehensive English learning environment, inducing students to be eager to learn English and learn English well." In the design of school-based English courses, the school is committed to taking care of the different needs of students, setting up different study groups to carefully care for students with different abilities. The English subject team will coordinate the learning themes and content in the classroom, establish a wide range of learning situations, and encourage students to conduct group discussions, role plays and project studies on the topics to further increase classroom interaction and induce students to engage in learning. At the same time, the English subject team has also designed "Little Steps" school-based curriculum for all levels. As a supplement and extended learning material for textbooks, it has set up consolidation, review and enrichment questions, and added short videos, so that students can continue self-study, review the past and learn new things, and those with outstanding abilities can strengthen their training, challenge more difficult English topics, and escape the limitations of textbooks.

To learn English well, self-confidence and a sufficient English vocabulary are indispensable key elements. The school launches a "Junior Primary School-Based Pinyin Course" in the first and second grades, and the teaching is led by foreign English teachers with rich teaching experience, allowing students to have an in-depth understanding of the relationship between letters and their sounds, thereby improving their oral English, spelling and word stringing skills, increasing their English vocabulary, and cultivating a sense of success and interest in reading. Director of the English Department Wen Peiling added: "The school has published the 'School-Based Pinyin Handbook' to encourage students to review the vocabulary they have learned when they go home, review their Pinyin knowledge with their parents, and lay a solid foundation in English." In order to further improve teaching and learning efficiency, the school plans to optimize the "Junior Primary School-Based Pinyin Course" and design a Pinyin pilot course for prospective Primary 1 students to start learning in advance.

Set up a "theme learning gallery" to learn anytime and anywhere

Adhering to the advantage of a spacious school building, the school uses facilities such as covered playgrounds, basketball courts, student recreational gardens, and small nurseries to create a broader learning scene for students in line with the traditional policy of entertaining and learning. The school has 17 special rooms, including 2 music rooms, 2 computer rooms, visual arts room, English activity room, comprehensive activity room, dance room, conference room, campus TV production center, creative studio, central library, etc. Principal Zheng continued: "The colorful 'themed learning gallery' extends from the first floor with the theme of 'Knowing Yourself' to the themes of 'I Love Hong Kong', 'Caring for the Motherland' and 'Looking at the World' on the second to fourth floors. The content is rich and educational, from easy to deep. When students walk through different floors, they feel like they are in different learning scenes, and they can subtly understand the vocabulary and knowledge of different themes."

Reading as a teacher: Optimizing libraries to promote interdisciplinary reading

The school understands that reading is the cornerstone of learning and therefore actively promotes a reading culture in the school. In recent years, the school has completed the optimization project of the library and added a marine-themed "themed book area" to enhance the pleasure of reading. Director of the English Department Wen Peiling said: "Two years ago, the school participated in the Education Bureau's "School-Based Support Program" to design cross-subject reading textbooks for upper primary school students. In the fourth to sixth grades, we designed cross-subject reading courses and learning activities based on the themes of "Water", "Light and Sound" and "Simple Machinery" in the general knowledge subjects. The fourth-grade students learned about the properties of water in the general knowledge class and read water-related books in the English class. Understand the water consumption situation of Africans and deepen their understanding of water. In addition, students make water filters under the guidance of general knowledge teachers, and then record the production process and feelings in English in the form of diaries, deepening the learning process and connecting the learning of different subjects. On the other hand, the English subject also promotes inter-disciplinary reading in primary schools and designs interesting activities to simultaneously cultivate students’ interest in learning English and enhance students’ English ability.”

At the same time, the school library will set up a "themed book month" every year and launch interdisciplinary reading activities, such as cooperating with the "English Reading Week" to exhibit and promote relevant books to promote a reading culture in the school. In the past "Themed Book Month", the school used "Hong Kong" as the theme and held "Themed Book Sharing", "School-wide Quiz Competition "Test You in Hong Kong"", "About Hong Kong - Read Aloud", "Wordwall Themed Learning Game", "Multiple Experience Activities - Past Hong Kong Games", etc. to create a strong reading culture throughout the school.

Interdisciplinary collaboration English as a learning tool

English is an important tool for learning and is closely related to different fields of study. The school is actively preparing for cross-subject learning. This year, the English department will cooperate with the theme of the thematic learning activity "China's Treasures from Ancient Times". After introducing the concept of graphic symmetry in the mathematics department, it will also introduce the origin of Chinese paper-cutting art. Then, through paper-cutting activities, students will learn paper-cutting terms and writing steps. Learning activities combine English subjects with Chinese culture, which not only helps improve students' English proficiency, but also builds students' identity as a national. Principal Zheng added: "In the future, the school will continue to use interdisciplinary learning as an important teaching strategy to increase students' opportunities for interdisciplinary learning experiences and comprehensive application of knowledge, and integrate the vertical and horizontal connections of various interdisciplinary learning activities. With 'Heaven, People, Things, and Me' as the main axis, we will set up core themes for all levels, thereby designing interdisciplinary learning activities that integrate 'learning content', 'general abilities' and 'positive values'."

Enriching English Activities: Learning English through Cooking and Fun

In order to increase students' interest in learning English and take care of learning diversity, the English Department organizes different English activities, such as "English Reading Week", "English Drama" and the addition of "English TV Station". Students also learn knowledge beyond textbooks through subject activities of "Theme Learning Day". The English Department produces English plays every year. In recent years, it has added elements of musicals, so that more students with different abilities can join in, develop their talents and enjoy the fun of performing. "English TV Channels" is divided into five channels with different themes - "Amazing World", "English Everywhere", "Now and Then", "Show and Tell" and "Special Programmes". In the short videos, teachers and students share their beloved pets, talk about old stories, learn interesting scientific knowledge and daily English expressions, allowing students to extend their English learning outside the classroom. This year, the English Department organized the "Student English Ambassadors" to help promote English activities. They also introduced interesting topics on the newly added "English TV" channel "Kids World". The first program will be based on the theme of making gourmet food, making "Christmas Deer Chocolate Marshmallows" on campus. The English subject will also strengthen cooking activities to allow students to learn English and improve their self-care ability through the process.

Make good use of electronic resources for learning and strengthen blended learning

Under the influence of the epidemic, the school has flexibly transformed its teaching model, deepened "Blended Learning" (Blended Learning), and made timely adjustments between online teaching and physical teaching to provide students with the best learning plan. At the beginning of the new school year, the English Department will produce review videos before each exam to support family education and reduce the pressure on parents. The English team also filmed a school-based short video based on the text to introduce the key terms in the text. The school has also introduced different e-learning platforms, such as "Highlights Library" that provides e-books, and "Quizizz" and "Wordwall" that allow students to practice what they have learned, so that students can review the past and learn new things anytime and anywhere outside of school. In the classroom, teachers incorporate electronic teaching according to actual needs and use platforms such as "Nearpod", "Mentimetre", "Kahoot!", and "Padlet" to enhance teaching and learning effectiveness.