Yijiazi continues to pursue innovation and progress to create stronger English learning effectiveness

Founded in 1963, Confucian Tai Shing Ho Kwok Pui Chun College has always strived for progress, made flexible use of resources, continuously optimized hardware equipment and course design, and is committed to taking care of students' learning needs. English classes are set up at all levels to cooperate with performance assessment and assessment to stimulate students' enterprising spirit. Appropriate support and tutoring are provided after class to help them improve their English skills. Designated subjects for some classes in junior high school are taught in English to prepare students for transition to high school. Arrange a variety of extracurricular learning activities to encourage students to speak more English boldly and apply what they have learned. At the same time, through interdisciplinary collaboration in sports and arts subjects, students' motivation to learn English is enhanced and a perseverance attitude is cultivated, which helps them face academic challenges and equip themselves to meet the challenges of future work.

The college enrollment rate continues to increase, setting new goals for progress

Principal Chow Kai Tik Brian proposed three numbers of "40", "50" and "60" as the school's educational goals. "40" means that the college enrollment rate of school graduates in 2022/2023 will reach 40%. Especially this group of students were deeply affected by the epidemic in high school and need to adapt to different learning models, which makes this leap even more valuable. However, the school does not feel complacent and hopes that academic performance will steadily increase and push the college enrollment rate to 50%. Therefore, "50" is the short-term goal set by the school. Moreover, @TERM3@@ not only proposed this goal within the teaching team, but also announced it to all students at the opening ceremony of this school year to encourage teachers and students to work in a clear direction in the future. The last "60" refers to the 60th anniversary of the founding of the school. With the support of the Confucius Institute and the Education Bureau, the school's infrastructure has been improved. Students will soon wear new school uniforms and usher in various new atmospheres. Principal Chow Kai Tik Brian will lead the school in the next decade to continue to increase the college enrollment rate as its long-term goal.

Pay attention to curriculum connection and teach some subjects in junior high school in English

Establishing a solid language proficiency will help students successfully enter higher education in the future. The school actively promotes students' English learning and takes their learning needs into full consideration, starting from the middle school stage. The school offers bridging courses to secondary school during the summer vacation, allowing students to try learning other subjects in English. Since more than half of the elective subjects in high school need to be taken in English, in order to increase students' exposure to English and connect them to high school courses, appropriate teaching languages ​​will be used according to students' abilities in Form 1 to Form 3. Comprehensive science subjects (Secondary 3 is divided into physics, biology and chemistry) and geography in some classes will be taught entirely in English. In addition, some topics in computer science and mathematics are also taught in English.

Principal Chow Kai Tik Brian said: "The above subjects were selected because there are more professional vocabulary that need to be digested in the relevant courses, especially when taking the geography exam, there are more written parts. We hope to help students prepare for the transition as early as possible in junior high school. The school finds that students have the most difficulty adapting when they enter high school. The two most important business subjects are Economics and Business, and Introduction to Accounting and Finance (BAFS). Since there are no relevant courses at the junior high school level, it will be a little difficult for students to study in English in the fourth year of secondary school. Therefore, the school has incorporated English elements into the life and social studies in junior high schools, such as when teaching financial management topics. English terms such as GDP (Gross Domestic Product) can alleviate students’ worries when they encounter new subjects in the future and help them make a smooth transition.”

English class entry and exit mechanism, after-school support is effective

The school has specially set up English classes (elite classes) and non-English classes. English classes use English as the main teaching language, and the grammar and vocabulary taught will be more extensive and profound. The school will divide students into classes based on their scores in the Hong Kong Subject Test (Pre-S1) before entering Secondary 1 to take care of learning differences and teach students in accordance with their aptitude. At the same time, the English class has an entry and exit mechanism. Even if students are unable to enter secondary school due to poor English proficiency, the school will have supporting teaching strategies to help them improve their English proficiency. When they successfully enter the English class when they enter the second year of secondary school, the school will also take care of their adaptation and arrange for English teachers to provide after-school tutoring for three months to half a year. In addition, for students who need to transfer from English classes to non-English classes when they enter Secondary 2, the school will arrange for teachers to go with them to provide more support in English learning and help them re-enter English classes.

Principal Chow Kai Tik Brian shared that just because students know the entrance and exit mechanism of English classes, they can maintain a healthy competitive mentality. On the other hand, students can feel that the school cares and supports them. As long as they are willing to learn English well, the school will allocate resources to help them. "Our school's English subject team has a total of 14 teachers, more than any other subject. At the same time, the school intends to reduce the teaching time of some teachers to take special care of these students." In the classroom, teachers will also adopt different teaching strategies and assessment methods according to the individual differences of students, including discussions, oral reports, writing, and the use of audio-visual teaching materials to meet the learning needs of different students.

Organize joint school mock exams to experience more and achieve better results

The school takes into account students' listening, speaking, reading and writing skills in English. It provides English conversation classes, which are conducted in small groups to increase students' speaking opportunities and enhance classroom interaction between teachers and students, so as to avoid the situation where individual students do not have the opportunity to speak in class. In the fifth and sixth forms, the school also arranged for two foreign English teachers and two English subject directors to assist students in practicing group discussions. In order to further help students take the exam, the school also collaborates with four to five schools in different performance groups to conduct joint exercises to simulate the test-taking scenarios of the DSE English oral exam. When students face unfamiliar foreign students and compete with them on the same field, the authenticity and sense of immersion in the test will be greatly improved. By rehearsing various situations that may arise in the DSE open examination, students can be mentally prepared in advance. After the school's multi-pronged efforts, the school's DSE English speaking test results, pass rate and rate of passing 3 or above are quite high.

In addition, the English Learning Center is open every day. Two foreign English teachers are responsible for leading English activities during recess and lunch breaks, creating an atmosphere of relaxed English use in the school, encouraging students to talk with foreign teachers, and enhancing their English expression skills and self-confidence. The school will also train English Ambassadors, who are students with better English proficiency. Under the guidance of foreign teachers, they will be responsible for hosting English morning gatherings, campus TV programs and all ceremonial activities, as well as receiving foreign guests. Principal Chow Kai Tik Brian said that because they provide services to schools, they will be given priority when there are opportunities for overseas exchanges. They hope that English ambassadors will go to foreign countries to make full use of their English skills for communication, and believe that students can apply what they have learned in English to build their interest in learning and confidence in using English. When students have the opportunity to expand their knowledge in foreign countries, it will also greatly improve their personal self-confidence and learning initiative, and stimulate learning motivation. Personal positive traits and English ability complement each other.

Practice interdisciplinary collaboration, enhance motivation, and learn English well

In order to further improve academic performance and develop holistic education, the school has continued to upgrade campus equipment over the past few years, which is refreshing. The school has an English learning center, a 140-seat lecture theater and a campus television control room. After renovation, the library provides students with a more comfortable space for self-study and reading. The outdoor activity area was converted into an indoor sports field, allowing students to engage in sports activities all day long without being affected by the weather. The newly built indoor cycling room provides cycling equipment and training equipment. Students can use the real-time computer system to simulate training or competition with cyclists from all over the world. In the future, a gym will be completed on campus.

The school actively promotes the five aspects of moral, intellectual, physical, social and aesthetic education, and launches the "Art for Life" program, which requires all Form 1 and 2 students to participate in an extracurricular activity. The school will also provide different options as much as possible according to students' interests. Various teams have performed well in the past and have won many territory-wide awards in handball, volleyball and basketball. Take the handball team as an example. Under the professional training of physical education teacher Ye Huiming, who is also a member of the Hong Kong team, the team won the runner-up in the League A last year.

"No matter what talents students have, the school provides a platform for them to fully demonstrate their talents." Principal Chow Kai Tik Brian pointed out that the school will continue to promote the development of sports and arts in the future and use it as one of interdisciplinary collaborative learning, which is closely linked with the learning of other disciplines. Through physical arts, students can tap into their potential and build their self-confidence, which can help motivate them to bravely face learning challenges in English and other subjects. When students have outstanding achievements in sports and arts and need to represent the school in competitions or make public reports, they can realize the importance of English as a communication tool and actively equip themselves.

Promote the development of diverse sports and arts and apply English in all aspects

With the upcoming opening of Kai Tak Sports Park, the sports industry will attract more attention in the future. The cycling team is also one of the school's development priorities. The school has invited former Hong Kong cyclist Wong Kim Po, who is dubbed the "Asian Cycling God", as a coach to teach practical skills in indoor cycling and road cycling. Principal Chow Kai Tik Brian said: "Currently, more than a dozen potential students are being given professional training by Huang Jinbao, who helps students practice three days a week before competitions. In just one year since Huang Jinbao took over the cycling team, initial results have been achieved in different competitions last year. When students participate in off-campus competitions, they also have different opportunities to use English and communicate with foreign players."

Huang Huangbao has always wanted to promote cycling in school, and the school happens to have hardware equipment such as a bicycle room, which led to this long-term cooperative relationship. And he will stay at the school for at least 5 years to lead this class of students, hoping to train the next "Golden Treasure" or "Niuxia Driving Girl". But what is more important to the school is that both parties hope that students will learn positive values ​​such as perseverance and repeated defeats in the process, so that they can benefit from them throughout their lives. The school leads students to grow in moral education through sports activities, which is believed to be one of the keys to the overall improvement of students' performance in recent years. Moreover, students who excel in sports can also regard sports as a career and make career plans. As an alumnus, current Hong Kong Football Team goalkeeper Tse Kar-wing is one of the examples.

Establish a sense of belonging and encourage students to strive for self-improvement

Principal Chow Kai Tik Brian has served the school with three vice-principals for many years. He said that he and the other vice-principal arrived at the school at about the same time and have now entered their 16th year. One of the vice-principals has served for 30 years, spanning his entire career. The youngest vice-principal is a former student of the school and serves as an important role model for students at the school, striving to give back to his alma mater. In fact, there are five alumni in the entire teaching team, including the vice president, who hold important positions in the school, including the director of Chinese Studies, the director of Chinese History, etc. Former students have a sense of belonging to the school, and they can also infect students, encourage them to strive for the best, and continue the school's running spirit and teaching philosophy.

During the two years since he was promoted to principal, Principal Chow Kai Tik Brian made good use of the stakeholder questionnaire to ask parents "whether they would like their children to study in this school." The result was that more than 90% of the responses were positive, affirming the team's past work and the value of the school, and getting a bright report card. Principal Chow Kai Tik Brian I am very grateful for the parents’ support, and I can’t help but feel happy that the efforts of myself and the teaching team have been recognized. This year marks the important moment of the school's 60th anniversary. He shared that, as he mentioned to the students when he first took office, the school "is a school that is always making progress and will not be satisfied with the status quo." He hopes that students can also feel this never-ending spirit. "When students reflect on themselves every day, they will also feel that they are making progress. Today has not been in vain. No matter in any field, they should explain themselves and live every day to the best of their ability." This is also the source of his satisfaction as a principal.

The school understands the importance of language development to students, so it invests resources to give students learning opportunities, through sports, visual arts, etc., so that they can find their own interests and abilities, and have better development in the future.