Break the traditional model of learning English and encourage students to speak English naturally

When I was learning English as a child, I usually did the textbook exercises and recited them with the teacher. Although I passed the exam, I was speechless whenever I met foreigners. In fact, the biggest purpose of learning a language is to communicate with others. Chan's Creative School (H.K. Island) Understanding this, in addition to the rare hiring of four foreign English teachers, we also provide students with a more natural English-speaking learning environment through small group teaching.

Gathering students from many countries and immersing themselves in an international context

As a local primary school, the school has students from different countries or regions, including the Philippines, Thailand, Japan, France and other places. Principal Zheng Huiqi said: "We firmly believe that not only English, but any language should be learned through actual natural contexts, not just exercises and drills in textbooks." In fact, the school not only has an English room and orders English newspapers for students to read, but also introduces the Oxford RWI curriculum from the UK and integrates it into the regular curriculum for grades one to three, so that students can improve their reading, writing and conversation skills and creative inspiration. The 4 foreign English teachers and the diversified small class English teaching model can further enhance students' interest in learning English independently.

Efficient small class teaching strategy to improve teacher-student, student-student interaction

Facing the learning diversity of multi-national students, the school takes advantage of multiculturalism and applies strategies such as "small class placement" and small group teaching to achieve mutual learning effectiveness through language and cultural integration and improve students' English proficiency. In the English class, students will be divided into different groups and led by 2 foreign English teachers and 1 local teacher. This not only helps to take care of learning needs in detail, but also greatly enhances the flexibility and interactivity of the class. Principal Zheng said with a smile, "Students from different countries can give small class teaching more advantages. For example, when talking about festivals in various countries, they will not only interact and share in real time, but also automatically go online to explore more knowledge and increase their interest in independent learning."

In addition, the teaching team can pay attention to students' learning status at any time during group classes and make immediate adjustments. Moreover, by applying the "70/30" classroom ratio, the teaching team not only teaches the curriculum framework, but also provides extended teaching based on knowledge points that students are interested in, thereby broadening their knowledge. The interactive classroom allows students to easily experience the fun of learning English, and gradually cultivate self-learning attitudes such as the courage to ask questions and learn with peers, laying a solid foundation for future learning.

Integrate subject learning into an all-weather English learning environment

The school emphasizes that English learning lies in immersing yourself in a natural learning environment. It not only creates an English learning environment in the English classroom, but also cooperates with other subjects to bring the English context into it. Vice Principal Chen Huiyi gave an example: "When learning Ukulele (Hawaiian guitar), we will choose many English songs and even tracks in other languages. When students play, they will be exposed to English unknowingly and even search for explanations of these lyrics." In addition, a large number of English elements are also integrated into IT and programming classes, especially programming teaching materials suitable for primary one and primary two levels. Its characteristic is that students can learn programming skills in the form of puzzles, and at the same time understand different English vocabulary, new words, etc., and deepen their language and subject learning.

Not only that, the school is in line with world development trends and uses different innovative technologies in teaching. In the visual arts class, teachers will use virtual reality (VR) devices to lead students to "visit" museums around the world, allowing students to learn in a culturally full English context, and then appreciate the close relationship between English and daily life, which can inspire their learning motivation.

Introducing drama debate courses to develop multi-perspective thinking

In terms of curriculum planning, drama and debate elements are added to the curriculum. Drama courses will be promoted for grades one to three, and debate courses will be promoted for grades four to six. Vice President Chen said that drama courses can help cultivate students' expressive skills: "Drama is a process of deduction and an important place for them to use the sentence patterns and vocabulary they learn every day. Students with strong abilities can try to speak longer sentences or use their own creativity; on the contrary, students with lower abilities can slow down and express themselves." Keep up slowly and accumulate each progress to become your own knowledge and abilities. "At the same time, students can greatly improve their self-confidence during rehearsals and performances, overcome the fear of facing the crowd, and learn to appreciate, encourage and support each other. Regardless of success or failure, it is an accumulation of experience.

At the upper primary school stage, as students grow up and begin to develop their personal thinking and ideas, debate training can help them export their thinking, allowing them to express their opinions and improve their language skills in the process of organizing arguments and arguments. Principal Zheng believes that debates focus on both positive and negative thinking, which can cultivate students' multi-perspective thinking skills: "In a debate competition, whether you are pro or con, you need to consider the opponent's arguments. This is an important process of using multi-perspective thinking. Therefore, we hope that students can not only learn to think from multiple perspectives when learning debates, but also transform their multi-perspective thinking patterns into positive thinking to achieve the ultimate goal of 'positive development'."

Pay attention to the golden period of learning and expand the language environment

The school understands that children's growth period is like a sponge, able to continuously absorb all aspects of knowledge, which can be called the "golden learning period". Therefore, it has implemented a series of targeted teaching measures to enrich students' personal growth. Vice Principal Chen said: "We established a Spanish course for junior primary schools with one lesson per week two years ago, and will gradually roll it out to all levels of the school in phases. This innovation aims to expand students' learning areas and prepare them for learning a fourth language." Moreover, the school is also starting to prepare more programs. In addition to the current English and Spanish, the diversified language courses will also add German courses in the future, and will also offer Korean and Japanese courses taught by students’ parents to further expand students’ language environment, use language to bring people closer to each other, and equip themselves to face globalization.

Comprehensive support for primary one freshmen, encouraging home-school cooperation

The COVID-19 epidemic in the past three years has had a huge impact on local school children. It is particularly important for schools to adapt to transition to primary school and even school. To this end, the school has organized a series of adaptation activities as early as August during the summer vacation. Principal Zheng said: "Different from the general adaptation classes that allow students entering primary school to understand school life early, our school's adaptation classes invite parents to attend and participate. The purpose is to hope that when students go home to share after class, parents can also respond and understand their children's new life in elementary school. Moreover, we have already prepared for students before they enter school. Parents of students are provided with a set of teaching materials including English, music and other comprehensive subjects so that they can understand the course content before enrolling and reduce the worries of students and parents. "In late September after the start of the school year, the school will hold parent class observation activities to gain an in-depth understanding of their children's new campus life and at the same time understand the teaching methods.

At the same time, the school also pays great attention to the classroom adaptation of primary school freshmen. Three foreign English teachers will be responsible for their study and life in the first three months, such as conducting communication activities and daily interactions before the daily morning meeting, increasing the opportunities for daily contact with English and foreign English teachers. Vice Principal Chen said with a smile, "Some Primary One students have become closer because they often communicate with foreign teachers. Therefore, even if they encounter problems at school, they will consult the foreign teachers first instead of the local class teacher."