Learn and use diverse experiences to build interest and confidence in English

Carmel Leung Sing Tak SchoolSince its establishment, it has been committed to providing high-quality education, emphasizing a caring culture, and taking good care of students' growth. Principal Li Xiaojuan believes: "The most important thing in learning English is to have confidence and not be afraid of mistakes. Children need encouragement and opportunities to speak English boldly." In terms of English teaching, the school attaches great importance to care and encouragement, provides students with a large number of development opportunities and rich activities, and adopts a multi-sensory learning approach to equip children to meet future needs. Students enjoy going to school and do not resist English. They grow up with encouragement and learn the spirit of never giving up and being willing to seek knowledge.

"6I" school-based English courses lay a solid foundation for multi-sensory learning

The school adopts "6I" as its English teaching planning policy, organically integrating the key points of Chinese teaching and learning tasks. The first two "I"s are "Incontext & Independent Learning Experience". The Space Town curriculum and Phonics exercises are provided at the junior primary level to lay the foundation for English spelling and pronunciation. Three foreign teachers will take classes with students, using a multi-sensory approach to allow students to fully immerse themselves in English learning. For example, in the theme "Grandma and the Birthday Cake", students not only learn vocabulary related to birthdays, but the foreign teacher also bakes cakes with the children to stimulate their interest in English and learn the genre of recipes in a relaxed context.

At the upper primary school level, a comprehensive English learning system is used to organically combine the four major areas of reading, writing, listening and speaking to strengthen students' confidence in English learning. The school adopts a scaffolding structure in teaching, corresponding to the genre, and gradually learns specific vocabulary and sentence structures, coupled with chapter understanding, to help students lay a solid foundation and complete learning tasks. With different learning stages, the school incorporates self-selected learning elements into the curriculum to promote personalized learning. For example, in the fourth grade Fun Fair theme, there is a QR code in the school booklet for students to scan to obtain multi-sensory information, and then write articles based on these information and recommend friends to participate. This not only takes into account the diversity of students' learning, but also makes learning more active.

Activities build English context and participation in competitions builds confidence

The main function of language is communication and social interaction, so the third "I" of "6I", "Interactive Learning Experience", is to lead students out of the classroom through in-school activities (the fourth level), create English scenes, and provide more opportunities for students to actually use English to communicate. The school believes that students' learning is not limited to the classroom, but also needs to cultivate their interest in reading. For example, the annual "Reading Fun Fun Fun" uses stories or cartoon characters as the theme and launches a variety of activities to help students understand the content and vocabulary of English stories and improve their reading and writing skills.

Three foreign teachers will also lead extracurricular activities and school team training, including top-notch English drama groups, hand puppet theater and the "Shiny Sharks Programme", which are linked to service learning. Every Tuesday and Friday, the school holds English Day, where foreign teachers, English ambassadors and members of "Shiny Sharks" play games with students. Through this series of activities, a happy English learning atmosphere has been created in the school, and the interaction between students also enables them to communicate naturally in English in a relaxed environment.

In addition, in order to help students build confidence in English, the fifth "I" of the "6Is" is to encourage students to participate in inter-school English competitions to show their talents. Over the years, students have achieved great results in "Kids4Kids My Story Creation". Last year, they won the "Overall Winner in School" award, and their works were selected into the Children's Association Foundation's outstanding collection; in the "Tell a Tale Children's Storytelling Competition 2022-2023", students also won the championship. By participating in competitions, students can apply what they have learned and gain self-confidence and a sense of accomplishment. At the same time, they can expand their horizons, observe the performance of students from other schools, and motivate themselves to keep working hard.

Extend learning and explore the world, use English effectively in overseas exchanges

In the last "I" of the "6I", the school extends learning to the international world and leads students to explore the world (International Exposure). The school actively arranges various exchange activities to give students the opportunity to meet children from different countries. Every year, the school organizes overseas exchange groups to places such as Singapore and South Korea, allowing students to confidently use English to communicate with locals in real-life situations. In addition, the school also implements the "Pen Pal" program to establish pen pal relationships with students in Poland and France and communicate through video conferencing. In the process, students not only have the opportunity to use English, but also learn about different cultures and explore the development of various places, thereby establishing a broad international perspective.

Combining learning areas and applying knowledge

The school is committed to combining English teaching with topical study, and implements the interdisciplinary "Carmel New Generation" comprehensive curriculum, allowing students to complete learning tasks on topics such as environmental protection, traditional festivals, and world issues, and learn related vocabulary and expressions. In addition, the school adds life education elements to English learning to cultivate students to establish correct values. For example, in the first-grade "I am a Carmelite" topic, students learn to sing the English version of the school song, subtly understanding the positive characteristics of the "Carmelites" mentioned in the school song, and happily carry out values ​​education. By combining English with different learning areas, English teaching and learning can be connected with life, society and the world, allowing students to apply the English knowledge they have learned in various topics, consolidate understanding and ingrain what they have learned in their hearts.

"TARGET" learning strategy to take care of learning diversity

Principal Li pointed out that although there are differences in English proficiency among students, no matter what the level, the school always adheres to the attitude of "no one can be left behind" and carefully designs the "TARGET" teaching strategy. First, design interesting learning tasks (Tasks) and provide them with a diverse selection of learning materials, such as videos, reports and pictures, so that students can make their own choices (Authority).

The school will recognize the progress and achievements of students and set up incentives to encourage them. During the learning tasks, the teacher uses appropriate group cooperation activities (Grouping) to improve students' collaboration abilities. In terms of primary school evaluation (Evaluation), a comprehensive report was used last semester to evaluate daily learning performance and display comprehensive abilities to replace traditional test papers, reducing the pressure on students and allowing parents to understand their English learning status within three months of entering primary school.

In terms of schoolwork, some assignments allow students to customize the completion time (Time), and they only need to submit it before the deadline set by the teacher. This allows children to measure the completion time by themselves and cultivate their self-care ability. The "TARGET" policy promotes students' learning diversity, stimulates their interest in learning, and emphasizes encouragement of children to promote their continuous progress.

Introduce e-learning platform to promote students’ independent learning

In order to promote students' independent learning, the school has also introduced e-learning platforms such as i-Learner and Highlight Library, allowing students to continue learning outside class through reading and games. At the same time, the school has also launched the "Rainbow Reading Scheme" to test students' English proficiency through an online platform. Different colors represent different levels, making it easier for students to choose reading materials based on the corresponding color labels on English books and taking care of their learning differences. Those who make progress in each school year will be promoted to help them establish learning goals and learn English more actively.

Pay attention to connection and work together with home and school to adapt to primary school English courses

In order to help students better adapt to English learning in primary school, the school attaches special importance to the connection with Primary One. Since June and July, the school has arranged English learning courses for prospective primary school students, and will start bridging courses including English before the start of school in August to help them master the necessary foundation of primary school English. In addition, the school is also committed to establishing a good home-school cooperative relationship so that students and parents can gradually understand and adapt to primary school life, especially to prepare for English learning. For example, at the parent evening held in September, parents can learn about the English e-learning platform and what they need to pay attention to when learning English, so as to help their children learn English after class; in October, parent class observation activities are launched to allow parents to understand the learning situation of their children in Primary One, including their adaptability to English courses.

New school building and new facilities to support English learning

In the future, the school will be moved to Anderson Road and is expected to be completed and opened in the fourth quarter of 2025. The new school building covers an area of ​​6,260 square meters, with unique features on each floor to provide students with a rich learning environment. In terms of English teaching, the English activity center in the new school building will be combined with the library and equipped with more facilities to promote English reading activities in the school and promote an atmosphere for English reading and learning. In addition, the new school building has three platform gardens and underground flower gardens, providing teachers and students with more resting space to gather together, and also providing a larger space and platform for English activities.