Create an English environment, cultivate creative thinking, keep pace with the times, and become leaders of the new generation

Kwok Tak Seng Catholic Secondary School is an English secondary school popular with parents in the district. Since English is the main language of instruction, the school already has a rich English environment. Principal Hon Sze Ping Steven said: "English is a world language, and we hope students can master it well. But in addition to developing students' English skills, what is more important is the cultivation of creative thinking." To this end, the school not only provides sufficient teacher resources and supporting facilities to support student development, but also allows students to use English for higher-level learning in activities and courses, cultivating them to become future leaders with an international perspective, keeping pace with the times, and innovative thinking.

Provide an all-English teaching environment and design school-based "INNO-Master" courses

Principal Hon Sze Ping StevenWe are well aware that the world is developing rapidly and new technologies are constantly emerging. Students need to master more than just the knowledge in books. He said, "Students are excellent in thinking, versatile, and have high overall abilities, so we need to give them more room for development and unleash their potential." To this end, the school provides an all-English teaching environment in the curriculum to cultivate creative thinking and problem-solving abilities.

Among them, the "INNO-Master" course arranged for junior high school students is a representative example. In this class, students have many opportunities to use English to make group reports and solve practical problems, overcome difficulties through teamwork, and use their creativity to design products to help people in need in society and practice the core values ​​of Catholicism. The gifted education part of "INNO-Master" pays special attention to the future development of students, hoping that they can use English in the field of innovation and technology in a comprehensive English context and cultivate them to become the pillars of the i-generation.

Diversified and characteristic English activities to comprehensively deepen English application ability

The annual English musical is one of the school's special activities. Due to its large scale, many students have the opportunity to participate and benefit a lot. For example, if the performance is an award-winning Broadway play, students need to figure out the excellent script of the work before writing the script, learn its highlights and the use of English words and sentence patterns to make the sentences more beautiful. Actors need to learn to interpret the intonations and emotions of others, and speak English dialogues skillfully through repeated practice.

English musicals also encourage individual creation, allowing students to express their creativity and develop creative thinking. The students in charge of subtitles need to translate the dialogues themselves. In this way, students will have a deeper understanding of the use of English during the preparation tasks on and behind the scenes, which will help them improve their English learning. In order to support English musicals, the school has specially allocated resources to use an entire floor of the Jubilee campus for musical rehearsals and to integrate drama and musical theater-related content into teaching. At the same time, the school also arranges for students to participate in open drama festival competitions to improve their language skills and knowledge, and to absorb more knowledge from themselves and their opponents.

In addition, the school also attaches great importance to the development of the English debate team and leads students to participate in competitions. While training English expression skills, it is more important to cultivate students' ability to think about problems from multiple perspectives and promote the growth of their logical and creative thinking.

English allows you to look at the world, inspire thinking and promote communication

In addition to classroom teaching, the school also extends learning to the global level, allowing students to look at the world and broaden their horizons. Last year, the school’s gifted education team resumed overseas exchange tours to encourage students to use their creativity and imagination to plan exchange destinations and arrange itineraries. Earlier, the school organized an English study tour to take students to Ireland, using the local natural English environment to help students understand the local culture and build an international perspective.

In addition, the teachers also led two teams of representative students to the United States to participate in the finals of the Odyssey of the Mind Hong Kong Regional Tournament, and participated in the International Underwater Robot Competition (MATE ROV Competition) as representatives of the port area. Principal Hon Sze Ping Steven said: "I am very happy to give students the opportunity to learn on such a platform. These two competitions are not only the use of English, but also allow students to use English for high-level thinking, learning and communication." Taking the International Underwater Robot Competition as an example, students need to compete with elite teams from all over the world, get inspiration from the design plans of other teams, and use English naturally in an academic atmosphere to consult scientists and NASA scholars. Principal Hon Sze Ping Steven believes that this depth of learning cannot be achieved in books.

Students participating in the Creative Thinking Finals also said that they need to communicate in English during the competition process and in daily life in the United States. The teacher encourages students to take photos with foreign friends and communicate proactively and boldly, which will undoubtedly consolidate their English foundation and oral skills. Some students believed that this experience allowed them to gain a deeper understanding of the local culture and customs, understand the cultural differences between Hong Kong and the United States, and share Hong Kong's characteristics with the locals through the bridge of English.

Make good use of resources to optimize teaching and provide a platform to leverage your strengths

Hardware and supporting facilities are an indispensable part of education. The school makes good use of resources provided by the school and donors to provide strong support for students. For example, the school makes extensive use of electronic teaching, and all classrooms are equipped with the latest interactive electronic blackboards and tablet computers to assist teaching. The school also makes good use of artificial intelligence platforms to improve learning efficiency. For example, it uses artificial intelligence language platforms to help high school students practice English writing and conversation skills, and uses big data to help students understand their learning progress so that they can take their English learning to the next level.

In addition, with the support of donors, the school established the Jubilee Campus on campus to coordinate with the gifted education program and include a robotics team laboratory and a scientific invention laboratory as a base for forward-looking technological solutions, allowing students to develop creative thinking in an English context. The school also fully funds students and teachers to participate in creative thinking competitions, providing a larger stage to showcase creativity and benefit from English, cultural knowledge and international perspective. Principal Hon Sze Ping Steven said: "I am very grateful to the Kwok Foundation and the Kwok Desheng Foundation, as well as Mr. Kwok Bing Lian and Mrs. Kwok for providing us with a large number of resources over the years and sparing no effort to help students develop."

The teaching team works hand in hand and hires 3 foreign English teachers

In English teaching and learning, teachers play an irreplaceable role. In order to help students learn English better, teachers have put in a lot of effort, such as in-depth research on suitable artificial intelligence platforms to improve students' learning effects; and carefully designing the content on the platform to allow students to improve on their knowledge. The entire teaching team works hand in hand, not only hoping that students will learn English well, but also hope that they can keep up with social development trends and know how to control and make good use of technology.

In addition, the school hired three foreign English teachers from Singapore, the Philippines and South Africa to work with the English teaching team to support students. They organize interesting English courses and teaching activities to enhance interaction with students. Since the three foreign teachers are from different countries, they can have cultural exchanges with their classmates, helping students establish an international perspective and understand global developments and perspectives.

Gradually transition to English teaching and gradually adapt to the English environment

Although students admitted to English middle schools have a certain foundation in English, Principal Hon Sze Ping Steven understands that most of the new students in Form One are not from English primary schools. Therefore, in the Secondary One stage, the school will spend half a year gradually helping students adjust so that they can gradually become accustomed to using English. In addition to basic bridging courses, the school also provides after-school support and offers additional courses before exams to teach students how to answer questions. Through the half-year transition measures and the English teaching method, students can be immersed in the English environment and gradually adapt to English learning through listening and practical application.