Create a Got TALENT stage to cultivate English confidence and let children shine

Fung Kai Innovative School Believe that every child is a star, this year we will provide high-quality holistic education with the theme of "Together We CAN Be Stars". Principal Liu Liqing believes: "Learning English requires input first, and the process requires reading and a meaningful, interactive and interesting context before there is output." Therefore, the school attaches great importance to practice in English teaching, provides rich resources and situations, gives students a variety of experience opportunities, and creates a platform for them to exert and apply what they have learned, cultivating generations of supernovas.

"Input" English knowledge through reading, new technology enhances reading interest

Principal Liu believes that the "input" of English learning comes from reading. Through interesting stories, exposure to various language structures, vocabulary and expressions is crucial to the understanding and use of language. Earlier, the school cooperated with the Department of Psychology of the Education University of Hong Kong and borrowed a "social robot" with AI interactive functions. This robot can not only tell stories to students, but also conduct reading assessments, detect and correct their reading pronunciation. With its cute appearance and movements, this robot has become a reading partner for students, helping them increase their interest in learning through reading in an interesting way.

In addition, starting from the first grade, foreign teachers will conduct the international standard reading assessment system (PM Benchmark) for each student to evaluate their English reading ability and carry out a series of English reading activities, such as "Big Book Shared Reading". At the end of the semester, the school will evaluate students' progress again, continue to follow up on their learning progress, and gradually improve their English proficiency. In the second grade, the school launched "Guided Reading", which divides students into groups according to their reading ability and English level, and teaches them how to answer questions to help them connect to upper-grade English courses more effectively.

Innovative English learning activities to create an immersive English atmosphere

The school actively organizes a series of rich and exciting English activities as an interesting "input" of English knowledge. For example, the school purchased the copyright of the movie and uses the Disney series of movies as an entry point at the beginning of each year to allow students to learn the character traits and experiences of the story characters through watching the movies. It combines English teaching and values ​​education to cultivate students' 24 character strengths. In addition, the school will also hold regular English activities to build the English context in the school through life-like situations, including setting up English Day every Wednesday. On that day, Starry Cafe will provide students’ favorite snacks or drinks, and foreign teachers will guide students to try to buy food in English. Diversified activities not only create a strong English learning atmosphere, but also stimulate students' learning motivation, become more interested in English, continue to absorb new knowledge, and pursue progress.

Create a platform to display learning results and use yourself to build English confidence

In addition to learning different English knowledge in the classroom, students also need practical opportunities to demonstrate their learning achievements. The school provides a variety of opportunities for students to develop and express themselves. Earlier, scholars from San Francisco State University visited, and the school arranged for students who served as "English Leaders" to introduce the school in English. Guests even described the performance of these students as "amazing" and spoke highly of it. The students were able to communicate with American scholars fluently and confidently, which reflected their excellent cross-cultural communication abilities.

Principal Liu said that for primary school students, it is difficult to communicate fluently in English. Their performance does not entirely rely on familiarity with speech scripts, but mostly comes from improvisation. These learning opportunities allow students to understand that English is not only an important communication tool in life, but also enables them to have sufficient ability, experience and confidence to use English to communicate with others and enhance their personal competitiveness when entering high school, university, or even interviews.

In addition, the school has a "Got Talent Show", which is dedicated to helping every student shine and get opportunities to develop in their respective areas of expertise. The theme of this year's event is English, giving students the opportunity to practice and demonstrate their English skills. Before showing off, they need "Practice Makes Perfect" to enhance their self-confidence through continuous practice, seize their own opportunities, and bloom their stars.

See the world and use English effectively to equip yourself to achieve more possibilities

Learning is not limited to the classroom. In the process of nurturing students, it is particularly important to broaden their horizons. Therefore, in terms of English teaching, the school organizes overseas study tours every year to allow students to naturally improve their listening and conversational skills in a foreign environment. Starting this year, the school has started cooperation and exchanges with the International College Hong Kong ("ICHK"), arranging sixth-grade students to go to ICHK for experiential learning to experience the life of an international school and STEAM teaching activities. Middle school students from ICHK will also come to the school to attend classes with their classmates and jointly organize activities to enhance language and cultural exchanges and broaden their knowledge.

Through overseas exchanges and study in international schools, students can apply the knowledge they learn in English classes and practice it in real life situations, gradually becoming familiar with the application of English. At the same time, these diversified learning experiences help them look at the world, establish an international perspective, and realize the importance of English as an international language. This will then become a driving force for them to learn English well, equip themselves early for the future, and achieve more development possibilities.

Introducing AI writing system to deepen English writing skills

In order to improve learning efficiency, the school has always kept pace with the times, grasped the development trends of innovative technologies, and widely used electronic learning tools. In addition to the introduction of "social robots", the school also introduced an AI writing system last year. Students only need to input English writing content, and the system can automatically generate four-frame comics. In the process, it not only inspires students' creative thinking and imagination, but also helps them carefully and accurately apply the English knowledge they have learned to create works. Students not only master the key to describing details, strengthen their writing and expression skills, but also gain a sense of success from creation, which in turn stimulates their motivation to learn English.

Comprehensive bridging plan catering for learning diversity

Primary one freshmen come from different kindergartens, and their English proficiency is inevitably different. Principal Liu pointed out: "The PM Benchmark scores of first grade students are generally 1 to 2 points, but some students' scores can reach 7 to 8 points, which is equivalent to the level of second to third grade students." In view of this, the school has developed a comprehensive transition plan for prospective primary students when they sign up, including the design of diversified English transition courses covering Storytelling and Phonics, which teaches students English learning skills to help them adapt to their future primary school curriculum.

In July, the school will arrange a placement test to identify students who need additional learning support to ensure that each student can receive teaching suitable for their ability level and provide appropriate support and counseling in line with the school's student-centered teaching philosophy. Through a series of close connection arrangements, students can prepare for primary school studies early and lay a good foundation for learning. At the same time, the school will continue to follow up on their progress and needs to ensure that students’ English knowledge is fully “inputted” so that they can smoothly adapt to the English curriculum in primary schools, master the required knowledge and learning skills, and connect with STEAM book teaching in upper primary schools. Science and mathematics are also taught in English to facilitate the connection with secondary school curriculum.