Multi-sensory experience makes learning English colorful

@TERM0@@, located in Tuen Mun District, has been committed to improving students' interest in learning English and overall ability, investing abundant resources in hardware and software to create a comfortable and enjoyable learning environment for students. With the full support of Principal Xiuyi, Director of the English Department Meng Jianyou uses multi-sensory teaching methods to create an excellent English context for students, so that they can plant the seeds of love for English through rich and colorful activity experiences. In recent years, students' performance in English-related competitions has become more and more confident and outstanding.

Multi-sensory learning to improve English skills

The school emphasizes using different communication teaching methods to help students improve their English proficiency and connect it with real life, making English more practical and practical. The school holds various English competitions in all grades. For students who have just entered Form One, in order to help them make new friends and integrate into campus life as soon as possible, a self-introduction English writing competition is specially organized for them. Students who win the competition will get the opportunity to introduce themselves to their peers on the stage; other students listen in the audience. A series of activities cover the areas of English writing, listening and speaking, helping to improve students' English skills more comprehensively, and students of all levels can participate together.

In addition to different English competitions, the school also has a variety of English learning extension activities on weekdays. Adhering to the concept of teaching students in accordance with their aptitude, Director Meng Jianyou carefully prepared different sensory teaching materials for the English subject to meet students with different learning needs. Director Meng believes that most school layouts focus on visual effects and mainly use posters to convey knowledge. However, he believes that in addition to visual learning, there are also students who are good at absorbing knowledge through auditory methods, so listening and speaking elements are specially included in the campus layout. For example, some English materials are placed in the English room, which are real reports published by classmates in newspapers. Use the "dictation pen" to study. When students put the pen on the poster, they can hear the recorded introduction of their classmates.

Director Meng hopes that multi-sensory learning will not only stimulate students' visual perception, but also provide them with an additional level of exposure to English, so as to comprehensively train their reading, listening and speaking skills. The excellent works of the students were published in the newspaper, which benefited from the rich learning activities organized by the school to provide students with opportunities to fully express themselves. It was an encouragement to them and could enhance their self-confidence in learning English.

Create English context and apply English in interesting ways

Director Meng strives to create a more conducive learning environment. With the full support of the principal, he cooperated with each other in the arrangement of activities and equipment to improve students' interest and motivation in learning English. He created a new event series "English Wednesdays" to arrange a series of English activities. For example, different English activities are held in the English room and snack bar, with rich, colorful and interesting content, creating a relaxing and comfortable learning environment for students, so that they can be more engaged in learning. These activities integrate English elements into students' campus life. Through diversified activities such as simulating fast food restaurant ordering and basketball, students can have more channels to contact English and become familiar with an environment where English is the main language.

In addition, the school will also hold a "newspaper activity" on Wednesdays, and the environment is unique. The English room is carefully decorated and a telephone booth-style teaching aid is specially designed to make students feel like they are in a foreign country and give them a cross-cultural learning experience. The phone booth is not only beautiful in appearance, but also has practical uses. It is equipped with various board games, so that "newspapers" and "table games" complement each other, allowing students to learn through games. Students can play board games with teachers and practice English in different contexts through various mini-games and interactions. Director Meng said that this type of board game teaching aid was very popular among students last year and will continue to be promoted this year, hoping to ingrain this English board game culture into students' English learning.

On the one hand, Director Meng worked hard on the hardware equipment and carefully arranged the English room to create a colorful learning environment for students; on the other hand, he also emphasized the importance of "software". The school's English Speaking Day allows students to immerse themselves in a fun atmosphere, apply English in an interesting way, and have fun. Director Meng believes that many students today are more lively and active, and the promotion of reading programs is not enough to meet the needs of different students, so it is necessary to design diversified learning methods. As can be seen from the above, the school uses both software and hardware to provide students with more diverse ways to absorb knowledge in terms of activity arrangements and hardware facilities.

Integrate Chinese cultural elements to achieve interdisciplinary teaching

Interdisciplinary teaching can break the gap between subjects and enable students to apply knowledge flexibly. Another teaching feature of the school is to add Chinese cultural elements to extended activities, achieving parallel teaching of English and Chinese culture, and integrating teaching with other subjects. For example, in last year's themed scientific inquiry activity (Stem Week), Director Meng thought of adding Chinese elements in addition to scientific elements when making worksheets, so he added materials from the Chinese exploration mission, Chang'e 5, and integrated the knowledge of physical gravity and related English vocabulary with videos and reading materials to form a four-session class covering reading, writing, listening, speaking and reflection, achieving an interdisciplinary and multi-level teaching model.

At the same time, Director Meng also incorporated Chinese elements into other subjects. For sports-themed subjects, sports are one of China's strengths. He thought of adding science, chemistry and other elements to the "Green Olympics" held in China before, so as to teach students to express related concepts in English. In addition, Director Meng also selected a series of English books containing Chinese cultural elements for students to read in morning reading classes, and actively organized reading competitions. The content of the book covers topics such as the Great Wall of China and ancient Chinese history. After reading, students need to complete related worksheets. Finally, the scores on the six-lesson worksheets are calculated. The winner is the one who has the most accurate knowledge of the knowledge in the book, thereby making the morning reading class more interesting.

Gathering schools in the same district to share teaching resources

Principal Wong Sau Yi Director Ji Meng not only focuses on optimizing the English teaching strategies in the school, but also actively strengthens community participation, contributes to social education development, and is willing to share knowledge and experience in English teaching. The school will hold an open day at the end of the year to conduct English mock interviews for primary school students arriving at the school to prepare them for interviews for secondary school entrance. There will be a game booth on the open day to promote the multi-sensory experience that Director Meng is promoting in the school to other schools in the district, allowing them to experience the diverse experiences of the school's English department and enhance students' interest.

In addition, the school will also hold a joint-school English debate competition in March. Last year's competition was very popular among students, and the school arranged workshops for participating students to enhance their English speaking skills. Director Meng believes: "In addition to educating students in the school, the school's mission also includes sharing its diverse English learning experience to benefit more students, so as to help each other grow." In order to share relevant experience with schools across Hong Kong, Director Meng has appeared on the South China Morning Post three times to share his innovative thinking and experience in promoting English teaching in schools; he has shared important skills of DSE English subjects on Radio Hong Kong; Director Meng was also invited to speak at 12 At the Learning and Teaching Expo held in October, we shared our unique teaching methods with the whole territory and spared no effort in sharing teaching resources.

Go out of the classroom and explore the world to broaden students’ international horizons

In order to implement all-round English learning, the school organizes diversified exchange and visit activities on Saturdays and Sundays, allowing students to get out of the classroom and broaden their horizons. For example, students have the opportunity to visit and take classes at the South China Morning Post headquarters, experience being a young English reporter, and try writing and photographing scenery in English. Director Meng also guided students to participate in a competition co-organized by the Hong Kong Tourism Board and South China Morning Post. Two students performed outstandingly and ranked among the top five in the competition. Students have more time to participate in experiential activities, explore Hong Kong from the perspective of young journalists, and practice their English skills. In addition to local experience activities, the principal also fully supports the organization of overseas exchange groups, taking students to exchange experiences in English-speaking countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and Singapore to expand students' international horizons.