Strong atmosphere, flexible policy, improve English ability from multiple angles

Carmel Bunnan Tong Memorial Secondary SchoolFocus on the personal development and growth of students, actively provide high-quality education, enable students to continue to improve in academics, skills, and attitudes, and cultivate them to become outstanding talents who are careful and discerning. Principal Chan Oi Chi advocates teaching students in accordance with their aptitude and attaches great importance to students' English ability development. By promoting diversified reading policies and making good use of information technology, we create a strong English learning atmosphere inside and outside the classroom, comprehensively improve students' listening, speaking, reading and writing skills, and help students achieve good results in public examinations and enter the bright future.

Invest a lot of resources to improve English skills

The school has always been committed to providing appropriate care for students learning English. In the classroom, the school implements a small-class teaching model in the English subject, subdividing each class of 4 students into 5 to 6 classes, allowing teachers to pay more focused attention to each student's learning situation and needs, and strengthening teacher-student teaching interaction. At the same time, the school also specially hired two foreign English teachers to teach students English conversation, train personal short speech and group discussion skills, and prepare for the TSA and Diploma of Secondary Education Examination in the future. In terms of high school examinations, the school allocates special funds every year to hire experienced tutors to hold top-notch supplementary classes to help high school students prepare for the Diploma Examination in a targeted manner to improve their public examination scores.

Principal Chan Oi Chi also understands the principle of "Language is something you use or lose", so he attaches great importance to constructing the English context in the school. The school’s two foreign English teachers are dedicated to teaching English conversation classes and organizing after-school English activities. The school also actively creates different opportunities to apply English in terms of facilities and facilities to encourage students to use English as a language of daily communication. For example, the school has set up a "My English Lab" with a small stage, classroom configuration, etc. for students to participate in English activities.

Diverse English activities provide practical experience

The school gives students a lot of opportunities to apply English. English Tuesday is specially set up. English morning meetings and a series of regular after-school English games are held every Tuesday to increase the interaction between students and two foreign teachers. Some students who are good at English will be selected as English Ambassadors, serving as leaders to assist foreign teachers in organizing English activities, and participate in the filming of the campus English TV program (English Paradise).

Principal Chan Oi Chi said: “The school will add a Pen "Friend" program arranges for foreign teachers to match participating students with British classmates to become pen pals. Students can learn more authentic English through correspondence, and at the same time learn about foreign cultures and establish an international perspective. In addition, after the epidemic has passed, the English department will once again cooperate with other related subjects to organize overseas English exchange groups. In addition to communicating with native English speakers, students can also learn about local customs, such as environment, society, economy, etc., and broaden their knowledge. "

In addition to on-campus activities, the school also encourages students to participate in various off-campus English activities and competitions. The school arranges students to participate in the Hong Kong Inter-school Speech Festival competitions every year. English teachers and foreign teachers are responsible for training. Among them, the poetry recitation and situational dialogue (Dramatic Duologue) competitions are the most popular. Principal Chan Oi Chi said that students have won first and second place in the above competitions over the years, and some students have also participated in English interviews with Radio Hong Kong, which is really encouraging. In the next few years, the school will gradually add elements of English speeches and debates to extracurricular activities to train students' confidence in speaking English on the stage, and at the same time further improve students' thinking and language skills.

Make good use of technology to cultivate independent learning ability

Information technology leads society to new developments. The school is committed to cultivating students' ability to apply technology in learning, and encourages teachers and students to make good use of electronic learning tools such as Padlet, Quizlet, and Quizzes to add interest to learning and thereby increase classroom engagement. At the same time, e-learning tools can help students develop independent learning abilities. Students can use electronic platforms to hand in homework after class, and teachers and peers can also provide instant feedback. This can not only improve learning efficiency, but also cultivate students' ability to self-evaluate and peer-evaluate.

The school will also cooperate with tertiary institutions next year to set up AI equipment in My English Lab to use big data to analyze students' pronunciation, speech and group discussion skills. Teachers and technology work together to achieve twice the result with half the effort in teaching and learning.

Immerse yourself in reading and broaden your horizons

Reading not only helps young people broaden their horizons and enhance their life experience, it is also an effective way to improve students' English abilities. The school invests a lot of resources and strives to create an immersive reading space. The library releases new books that are both informative and interesting every week, promotes reading based on trendy topics, and encourages students to expand their knowledge. The school also integrates English learning into subject reading plans through cross-disciplinary cooperation. Among them, the English e-book platform is specially matched with STEAM theme book selection to help students expand their English vocabulary. The reading plan for the secondary one comprehensive science subject is also matched with the purchase of a large number of English books on related topics to promote students to learn natural ecological knowledge and subject English vocabulary. The school properly plans an interdisciplinary reading plan and uses "learning from reading" to improve students' English proficiency.

Adhering to fine traditions and encouraging peers to work together

The school takes "Encouraging each other and spreading wings to soar" as this year's annual theme. It hopes that students can find peers, establish a learning community, and promote each other's progress through mutual encouragement and support among peers. Principal Chan Oi Chi said: "The spirit of independent learning does not mean learning alone, but can also be carried out in groups."

"Inheritance" has always been the traditional feature and core value of the school. Students also uphold this fine tradition and often organize review in the library as a learning base for "peer-to-peer encouragement". Principal Chan Oi Chi describes the library as a "learning center". Senior library leaders will spontaneously teach junior students in the library to study. Junior students can sort out different knowledge points with the help of senior classmates; senior students can also review the past and learn new things. Students across the school support and learn from each other, take the initiative to discuss different subject contents, promote learning exchanges, and create a campus atmosphere of "peers working together to encourage each other."

Diverse career planning activities provide comprehensive support services

The school implements comprehensive career planning education to help students gain clear self-understanding, career exploration, and career planning and management capabilities in middle school. By arranging various life-long learning experiences for students, such as participating in lectures on further studies at various colleges and universities, information days, course experience days, etc. The school also has life planning ambassadors to encourage student leaders to become stakeholders in life planning and assist the school in preparing and implementing diversified life planning activities.

In addition, the school guidance team pays close attention to the challenges and needs that students face as they grow. In addition to training young adult ambassadors, they serve as senior brothers and sisters to accompany Form One students to adapt to campus life and create a culture of care. The school runs morning gatherings in Form 1 and 2 classes to allow students to share their life experiences and deepen understanding and appreciation between teachers and students. At the same time, the tutoring team also organizes fluid painting experience courses to arouse students' new discovery and understanding of themselves through the expression of artistic creation.