Immersive English environment, establish international perspective, cultivate top talents

HKBU Affiliated School Wong Kam Fai Secondary & Primary SchoolAs a direct subsidy "through-train" school, we have adhered to a consistent teaching model for 12 years, using English and Mandarin as the teaching languages, and combined with systematic courses to create an immersive English learning environment. The school makes good use of different media and creates opportunities to deepen students' abilities in the four major areas of listening, speaking, reading and writing, and even train other higher-order thinking to provide additional support for gifted students. Under the careful cultivation of the school, students can use English confidently and fluently, and then effectively master the knowledge of other subjects. They can shine in public examinations, successfully enter the university of their choice, and become top talents.

Courses are taught in English to cultivate bilingual professionals

The school has created an immersive English context for students starting from the primary school stage to encourage students to get used to using English as early as possible. Nearly 95% of the students in the primary school will continue to the secondary school. The school will admit about 40 new students outside the secondary school in the transfer section of the secondary school. In addition, 75% of the courses in the middle school are taught in English. In addition to Chinese and Chinese history, other subjects such as physical education, music and visual arts are taught in English. The humanities quality subjects in the junior high school can be taught in Chinese or English. Dr. @TERM2@@, the chief principal, said that the teaching team will encourage students to use English for communication outside of class. The school also admits some non-Chinese speaking students, as well as Chinese students who have returned from the United States or Canada and mainly use English. Therefore, there is a strong atmosphere for using English on campus, and a culture of English conversation among students has been developed. He said with a smile, "English is not used only in the English Zone. The whole school is an English Zone."

12-year progressive planning with excellent results in international trials

The school plans its curriculum carefully, and in order to strengthen the connection between the primary and secondary schools, it reclassified the 12-year teaching into three stages five or six years ago: Grades 1 to 4 (i.e., Primary 1 to Primary 4) belong to Junior School; Grades 5 to 8 (i.e., Primary 5 to Secondary 2) belong to Middle School; and Grades 9 to 12 (i.e., Primary 3 to 6) are classified as High School. Principal Chen pointed out: "All courses, including the English subject, have been systematically integrated to eliminate repetitive content and help improve students' weaker areas to complement each other in terms of curriculum coherence and consistency. For example, the school-based special course Novel Study in English Language has been extended from the original primary school level to the secondary school level of grades 7 to 8, which will help students use this medium for more effective and in-depth learning."

In addition to offering HKDSE courses, the school also offers international courses, allowing students to pass the British College Entrance Examination A-Level and enter their favorite overseas universities. The school specially designs English school-based courses for students in international classes. In the 11th grade, the International English Testing System (IELTS) is used as the framework, and 11th grade students are arranged to take the IELTS exam. With a perfect score of 9, the average score of students last year was as high as 7.8. The school is delighted that the students' performance is comparable to or even better than that of local university graduates. In addition, the school also encourages students to take various international benchmark assessments at different stages of learning, such as TOEFL, IELTS, etc., so that the school can understand students' English learning progress from different entry points and help them establish a solid foundation. Therefore, the English scores of junior high school students are also excellent. 10% of students achieved full scores in TOEFL Junior, and nearly 90% of students achieved "Within Top 10%" (within the top 10%).

At the same time, the school also cares about the needs of prospective 12th grade graduates, teaching them entrance interview skills in the classroom, helping them use English effectively and confidently to show their strengths, and systematically organizing their learning experiences and achievements in the past 6 or 12 years. The school also helps students equip themselves with workplace English in advance, so that they can successfully prepare for the employment stage after graduation and master relevant communication skills.

British literature combines innovative technology to deepen listening, speaking, reading and writing skills

In terms of English course design, Principal Liu Gigi of the Secondary School shared that the school’s English teaching philosophy revolves around the four major areas of listening, speaking, reading and writing. In order to strengthen the coherence between them, school-based special courses are designed and a large number of reading materials are added. In each semester of junior high school, in addition to teaching English textbook knowledge, teachers will lead students to read extracurricular readings to improve their reading and writing skills, and further guide students to appreciate classic literary novels and understand the author's deep feelings and expression techniques.

The school also attaches great importance to training students' conversational skills, adding a large number of discussion sessions in class to encourage them to express themselves in English. Principal Liao pointed out: "In addition to paper textbooks, through the use of information technology media to select learning materials, students will analyze, discuss and report after reading the materials, making the entire learning more three-dimensional." During the discussion, students can collect information online, learn to select key points through the input, integration and deepening of different data, and express their opinions in the report. Therefore, in addition to listening, speaking, reading and writing skills, students' information collection, screening and organizational skills will also be strengthened.

Two-time inter-school English debate champion helps develop higher-order thinking

In order to further improve their conversational skills, the school encourages students to participate in recitation competitions, debate competitions, etc. to practice their English skills in practice. The school's English debate team overcame all obstacles in this year's Sing Tao Hong Kong inter-school debate competition, winning the English category championship for two consecutive years and creating an impressive record of 11 undefeated games, making both teachers and students proud. Through English debate, students need to think about the debate topic from the pros and cons, which helps to train multiple perspectives and critical thinking. In addition to members of the debate team, the school hopes that other students can also receive training in higher-order thinking models, so elements such as debate and public speaking are introduced into daily classes and extracurricular activities, so that students can think about debate topics or social events from multiple perspectives, and accumulate enough vocabulary and language skills to organize ideas and then express them.

Interdisciplinary collaboration, multiple media, giving full play to English skills

The school is committed to providing a diversified platform for students to have the opportunity to develop their English skills. The annual winter concert and variety show spans two weeks and covers different performances and exhibitions. Among them, the English musical combines performing arts with English and is an interdisciplinary and cross-field work. Principal Liao said that when the play "Singing in the Rain" was performed at the Hong Kong City Hall last year, the response was very enthusiastic, and the foreign guests in attendance even praised the performance for its quality, which is comparable to that of the adult sector.

Extroverted students can express themselves through the performing arts, while for more introverted students, the school also provides different media for them to show off their talents, including organizing the A-writer’s Award in-school writing competition, which encourages students to write based on designated topics and gives them recognition. The school also collects Chinese and English compositions from daily schoolwork and compiles them into the annual publications "Wenju" and "Fusion", allowing all students in the school to learn from each other through writing. The publication "A-Journal" also allows students to independently plan topics, interview and write articles, which is used to summarize the major and minor events that happened in the school that year. Principal Liao pointed out: "The school softball team won the 11th championship because the students themselves wrote the articles and reports." "Fusion", a publication born from the cross-disciplinary collaboration between the English Department and the Visual Arts Department, collects students' English and artistic masterpieces. The introduction to the English works is written by students who are good at writing after interviews, combining visual arts projects with English.

In addition, overseas exchanges are an indispensable part of English learning, allowing students to get in touch with the outside world and apply what they have learned. As a member of the World Education Alliance, the school will organize exchange activities with schools in 11 other countries. At the same time, the school will also arrange for students to attend classes and exchanges at partner schools in the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. Local students will come to Hong Kong to attend classes and stay with their classmates. Students can further immerse themselves in an environment where English is actually used, and can also deepen their understanding of the cultural atmosphere and historical background of different countries.

Three levels of gifted education to enhance knowledge and insight

The school promotes a gifted education strategy with a three-tier structure model. The first level will penetrate into all levels of the school to cultivate students' higher-order thinking skills, creative thinking and other skills. The second level is for the school to arrange training courses for students with outstanding abilities. For students with potential in English, from training reports and public speaking to participation in debates and lobbying, it will gradually be extended from the individual level to the group level. As one of the "Gifted Education Satellite Centers" of the Hong Kong Academy for Gifted Education, the school makes flexible use of external resources to meet students' needs, and activates the third level of gifted education, arranging for them to participate in academy courses, university courses and different international competitions. In the past, students have won many awards in the World Scholar's Cup, including best debater. We hope that by getting to know people from different backgrounds and cultures, students will not only gain knowledge expansion, but also have good language learning and cultural insights.

In addition, the school will arrange skipping classes or grade skipping according to the needs of individual gifted students. The goal is to teach students in accordance with their aptitude and try to satisfy them in the pursuit of knowledge.

Grade 11: Deng Qiaoyan

In the past, I participated in the Model United Nations competition under gifted education and had the opportunity to act as a diplomat representative of different countries, including countries such as Zimbabwe that I usually don’t pay attention to, and fight for their interests on some issues. She said that during the competition, it is necessary to seek cooperation from representatives from different schools. "We will not rigidly assume that you are my enemy." Instead, we must find ways to seek common ground while reserving differences, test higher-order thinking, cultivate world vision, and expand our social circle.

Grade 9 classmate Pan Zheng

Under the arrangement of the school, I got the opportunity to serve as a master of ceremonies in an organization outside the school, which enhanced my English skills and gained a very pleasant experience. He said that after the teacher gave instructions, he would let him write the manuscript and train his writing skills. At the same time, hosting activities tests eloquence and on-the-spot adaptability, and requires different ways of expressing emotions according to the characteristics of the occasion. He gave an example: "Formal award ceremonies should be expressed in formal and serious ways, while in relaxed occasions, lively and extravagant methods should be used to help train us to express ourselves."

Dazzling public examination results, admitted to prestigious overseas schools

Language is an important learning tool. Good scores in English subjects often mean faster learning speed and deeper connotation in other subjects. It has become one of the keys to the school's outstanding public examination results. Principal Chan Wai Kai, MH said that last year the school had a DSE super second place student who scored 5** in 7 subjects. He joked that due to the school’s outstanding A-Level results, people always overlook that DSE’s performance is equally outstanding. The eight students with the best A-Level scores last year received a total of 32 A*s, including one top scorer who achieved 5A*s. The students’ English proficiency is high, and their IELTS scores naturally pass the basic language requirements of British higher education institutions. In addition, they have received on-campus training before university interviews, allowing many graduates to successfully study in the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States and Canada. Last year, a total of 30% went to British 5G universities to study. In addition, 5 students have become winners of the 2023/2024 Hong Kong Excellence Scholarship Scheme (HKSES). Two of them have gone to Oxford University to study, and 3 have been admitted to Imperial College. Some of them have been directly admitted to master's programs.

The spectrum of further studies is broad and students are expected to contribute to society

The school graduates have a broad spectrum of further studies. In terms of groups, engineering is the main focus, followed by science and technology, followed by medicine and business. There are also students who take electives such as law, music, architecture, design, etc., which is full of diversity. Every year, an average of more than 30% of graduates study abroad. The first destination is the United Kingdom, the second is Australia, followed by the United States and Canada. Students mastering good language skills will help develop their self-confidence, and they can naturally integrate into English-speaking countries for further studies.

Principal Chen added that students are full of confidence in their future. Doctors, lawyers, engineers, and teachers all hold different positions in society, with no distinction between high and low. There are also those who have the ambition to contribute to the country and choose to be scientists, writers, or even in aerospace technology, artificial intelligence and other industries. Last year, the school’s top DSE and A-level students chose to study quantum and theoretical physics at Oxford University and Imperial College London respectively. Principal Chan Wai Kai, MHWe hope that students can "serve society, serve the country, and even make small contributions to mankind."