Create real context, grasp teaching trends, and adapt English learning to daily life

Kiangsu-Chekiang College Adhering to the spirit of the school motto of "tidy and serious", with "honest moral character" and "pure learning style" as the school's goals, the school-based curriculum design is balanced and comprehensive, and the English teaching elements are diverse, encouraging students to try to use English to communicate outside the classroom. Thanks to the school’s comprehensive planning and overall coordination of all aspects, the school’s English department has maintained positive value-added over the years. Principal Fong Chung Lun believes that "the most effective way is to allow students to learn English subtly in their daily lives at the junior high school stage."

Leverage the advantages of "one school, two systems" to build diversified development options

The school leverages the advantages of "one school, two systems". Students from the International Department and Direct Support Department share the same campus, effectively creating a multicultural learning atmosphere and a unique English context. Students from the International Department, whose main communication language is English, can meet and communicate with students from the Direct Support Department during their spare time, so that students can get used to using English in daily life. The school will also arrange for junior high school students to participate in special classes in the International Department to promote "peer learning" between local students and foreign students.

In addition, the school provides a dual-track curriculum. After completing the Secondary 3 (Year 9) course, students in the direct support department can choose to study the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) or the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE) founded by the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. They can also choose to study the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (IBDP) or the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE) after completing the Secondary 4 (Year 10) course. Students have more diversified choices, and with the school's appropriate support and guidance, they can move towards success.

"One Art for Life" Policy: Learn and use English flexibly

The school is committed to implementing the policy of "One Art for Life" and has more than 40 extracurricular activities for students to choose from, such as basketball teams and badminton teams. By participating in extracurricular activities, students build friendships with like-minded classmates and improve their English skills through collaboration and discussion in activities. Through active learning and application, they can improve their listening, speaking, reading and writing skills and enhance their confidence in using English. Ms. Cable, a foreign English teacher, said: "Students will inevitably feel embarrassed when they speak English in the "center of the spotlight" in class, which makes them afraid to speak English boldly. However, through activities, allowing students to communicate in English naturally will help encourage students to speak more English."

Practice the policy of teaching students in accordance with their aptitude and adjust teaching content in a timely manner

The school adopts a teaching policy of teaching students in accordance with their aptitude. It not only has English teaching classes and Chinese teaching classes, but also adjusts the school-based curriculum content of some subjects in junior high schools according to the students' learning progress to achieve learning excellence and matching teaching. At the same time, the school will follow up on students' academic performance and their learning progress, and then provide timely support and guidance based on students' learning needs. For high school students, the school insists on investing resources to help them achieve ideal results in the Hong Kong Diploma Examination. For example: according to their learning differences, arrange appropriate after-school tutoring for them to support students in coping with the upcoming HKDSE, achieve ideal results, and enroll in their favorite university in the future.

Overseas exchange groups are launched to enhance learning interest through drama

In order to create a natural and interesting English learning atmosphere, the school actively organizes various types of overseas exchange groups, such as arranging students to travel to Southeast Asian countries during Easter, and to the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and other countries during the summer vacation, so that students can naturally apply English in daily communication in a natural context. In addition, the English subject group will hold inter-class English drama activities. Under the guidance of teachers, students will write their own scripts based on specific themes and scenes and perform them to train their writing skills. They will also develop listening and conversational skills through performances, allowing them to learn to collaborate and communicate with others, and immerse themselves in the immersive English atmosphere on the stage.

Principal Fong Chung Lun pointed out: "The activity can not only strengthen the team spirit among students, but also make Chinese language learning more life-like, allowing students to demonstrate their language skills on the stage. For the audience in the audience, they can also learn from observation." The English drama activity has been launched for many years and has always been very popular among students. Some students even started looking forward to it as early as the beginning of the semester, which shows that this activity can effectively stimulate students' interest in learning English.

Comprehensive learning planning, beyond the classroom framework

The school understands that English learning is not limited to the classroom, so it advocates all-round learning and organizes more than 100 outings for students of all levels every year to conduct inquiry-based learning. Every year, the International Department holds a "Discover Week" to organize students to go abroad to participate in learning activities; the Direct Support Department organizes multiple "Discovery Study Days" to enable students to apply knowledge, including English, in daily life through off-campus study. For example, visit a wax museum to meet Chinese and foreign celebrities, understand global development trends, and broaden your international horizons. The school also arranges for students to collect information and write reports after the visit, deepening their knowledge through inquiry; and feeling the fun of learning English from the experience.

Not only that, the school also launched an "English Week" to encourage students to communicate with teachers in English that day, providing them with ample opportunities to apply English. At the same time, through diversified activities, such as book sharing, visiting tourists, etc., we encourage them to listen and speak more, increase their English vocabulary, and become familiar with English conversation situations.

Principal Fong Chung Lun added: "We actively promote cross-disciplinary collaborative teaching among different subject groups and organize different types of learning activities through the 'Inquiry Learning Day'. For example, the English subject and the economics subject cooperate to allow students to understand the professional terms in the economic field." The school also integrates English elements into STEAM learning and uses technology textbooks for English teaching. By using English as a bridge, students can broaden their horizons and grasp the development trends of global technology.

Cultivate reading habits and build self-study ability

Reading is an important way to learn language and absorb knowledge. Therefore, the school is committed to promoting reading programs to cultivate students' reading habits and deepen their cultural literacy. The school's library has a rich collection, including countless English books, covering a wide and diverse range of subjects, providing excellent conditions for students to read English books. At the same time, in order to encourage students to read more English books, the school specially organizes "Harry Potter Week" to broaden students' exposure to English books in an interesting way and improve their personal abilities in vocabulary, reading and writing. English teachers will also arrange designated reading materials for students every week to coordinate with morning reading time, so that students can absorb English knowledge from reading during the most energetic time in the morning. This year, the school has launched a new initiative, the "Knowledge and Listening Electronic Library", where students can select English books of interest from a large number of resources on the online platform, using e-learning to arouse students' interest in reading and cultivate the spirit of independent learning.

Support learning needs and master the English teaching model

Students have different needs in the learning process. For example, freshmen or mainland students need to adapt to middle school life; high school students have to face the Diploma of Secondary Education Examination, etc. To this end, the school provides comprehensive and appropriate learning support. Principal Fong Chung Lun pointed out: "The biggest difference between primary school and secondary school is the learning model. The learning model in primary school is more teacher-led; while in secondary school, we hope to guide students to learn independently." Every year, the school will recruit students for admission. A comprehensive bridging course is provided for new students to help them adapt to the learning mode and life of secondary schools as quickly as possible. For students from the mainland who come to Hong Kong, the school understands that language is one of the difficulties they face when studying in Hong Kong, so it specially arranges school development officers to provide them with support and master English learning skills.