Forward-looking teaching strategies promote independent learning and create a new generation that is happy to learn and confident

TWGHs Tseng Hin Pei Primary School takes "SMILE" as the main axis of education and revolves around the five cores of "Self-directed Learning", "Moral Education", "Multiple Intelligence Development", "Learning with fun" and "Excellence". In the new year, the main focus is to "promote independent and effective learning to achieve students who are willing to learn and confident" and "promote positive character education to cultivate children who are physically, mentally and spiritually healthy and strive to become perfect". Principal Jian Junda hopes that by closely following SMILE's curriculum design, activity planning, etc., education can achieve the goal of "facing the world and cultivating talents."

Deepen the curriculum framework and extend all-round learning

Principal Jian hopes that students will not be limited to reading in the classroom during the learning process, but will have more interactive, practical and interdisciplinary experiences, so that they can thoroughly understand the knowledge they have learned and feel the joy of learning. Therefore, the school will continue to optimize regular courses and school-based courses to add richer and more diverse learning experiences. In regular courses, the school introduces classroom research and frameworks to strengthen the interaction between teachers and students. 70% of the time in class is spent on interaction, transforming passive listening into active participation by students.

In terms of school-based curriculum, the school organized different themed learning weeks and positive growth weeks and other activities. This year, we also added an Expo Week to take students to visit different places, and continue to hold various overseas exchanges to implement the concept of "based on traditional Chinese culture and cultivating talents for the world." In addition, the school also integrates SMILE's special courses with thematic learning weeks, allowing students to gain interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary practical opportunities while learning basic knowledge, extending to all-round learning.

Create a platform for development potential, cultivate interests and pursue excellence

The school actively creates a platform for students, implements the educational concept of "SMILE", encourages students to develop their potential and inspire multiple intelligences. For example, to develop sports teams, there are currently about ten school teams in men's and women's basketball, volleyball, small tennis, table tennis, badminton, track and field, swimming teams and martial arts to promote the all-round development of students.

In terms of music, the school has a choir, a percussion band and a wind band, with more than 200 students participating in just a few years. This year, the percussion band and wind band represented the school in external competitions for the first time and won the gold medal and fourth place respectively. Principal Kan added: "In addition to cultivating temperament and cultivating a healthy lifestyle, music and sports also embody the spirit of 'Pursuit of Excellence', 'Character Education' and 'Development of Multiple Intelligences' in 'SMILE'."

Added "Science+" to provide fun innovation and technology experience

The school continues to optimize STEAM education and provide more new and diverse innovation and technology experiences. In line with the policy of splitting general knowledge subjects into humanities and science subjects, the school has added "Science +" subjects in the new school year. This course uses experiential teaching and special projects (such as making water filters), allowing students to create hands-on creations and experience the fun of learning. At the same time, the course uses English textbooks and is taught in English. Foreign teachers participate in the design and teaching, helping students improve their English skills while learning STEAM, and paving the way for future learning in English mathematics and science.

School-based STEAM courses cover technology exploration (such as guiding reflection through movie clips), programming and solving life problems. To this end, the school actively participates in activities of external organizations, allowing students to use their knowledge to solve life and social problems, embodying the concept of "serving the society" of Tung Wah Group of Hospitals. In addition, the school has various STEAM-related activities, such as drone football team, AlphaAI and drone programming team, etc. Last year, the drone football school team won the International Youth Innovation and Technology Education Competition.

Promote English reading step by step with flexible strategies to cultivate interest in learning

The school promotes English reading step by step and adopts flexible teaching strategies to stimulate students' interest in English and promote independent learning. At the junior primary school level, through school-based picture book courses, the school arranges for foreign teachers to tell stories to cultivate students' interest in reading and encourage them to write their thoughts after reading. At the upper primary school level, the school carries out combined reading and writing training to gradually improve students' English reading and writing skills.

The school builds an English context in a life-oriented way, including opening an English room during breaks to encourage students to communicate with foreign teachers. In addition, English conversation training is arranged for high school students, and paper-cutting activities by foreign teachers and English weeks are held, so that students can listen more and speak more independently through interesting interactions in a strong English learning atmosphere.

In addition, the school also launches extracurricular activities such as English dramas and puppet shows, and leads students to participate in off-campus competitions. In these activities, students can not only improve their English skills, but also experience the fun of learning English, and also get the opportunity to present their results on stage.

The English drama group participated in the 2425 Hong Kong Schools Drama Festival and won five awards, including Outstanding Director Award, Outstanding Stage Effects Award, Outstanding Actor Award, Outstanding Collaboration Award, and Outstanding Overall Performance Award.

Pay attention to positive character education and diversified practical values

The school promotes positive character education in a variety of ways. In terms of curriculum, there is a "Global Citizenship Course", which organizes different activities and arranges off-campus lectures; there is also a Tung Wah Group of Hospitals-based course, which focuses on the education of moral character and values.

In terms of activities, this year the school led students to participate in a number of competitions, such as the "Tung Wah Group of Hospitals Ho Chiu Kei Joint School Civic Education" video shooting competition. The students showed the theme of unity through a basketball game. The students conceived the script and filmed it together with the teacher. They finally won the championship, allowing them to appreciate the spirit of unity in the process.

In addition, the school gives full play to its advantages of being "based on Chinese culture" and promotes speeches under the national flag, inviting students to share under the national flag. This not only helps them absorb knowledge, but also practice universal values ​​such as filial piety and law-abiding in Chinese culture. Through public sharing, students gain a sense of accomplishment, develop self-confidence, and further develop positive character.

Encourage independent learning and promote positive development

In line with the concept of "SMILE"'s main axis "Pursuing Excellence", the school launched a school-wide award program "Project E", implemented in the innovative "eToken" form. Each student has an exclusive account, and those who excel in academic achievements, self-study activities, and positive character can be rewarded with "eTokens" to encourage students to learn independently and promote the development of positive character.

Principal Jian shared: "Students can use eTokens to redeem rewards, among which non-material rewards such as casual wear days and lunch with the principal are very popular. The plan also cooperates with sports-related e-sports activities during the post-examination activities, and students can redeem eTokens for opportunities to participate and watch." Through the school-wide "Project E" plan, the school creates a positive atmosphere so that students can gain a sense of happiness in learning and achieve the goal of being willing to learn and learning independently.

In addition, the school hopes that students can continue to pursue excellence and promote their all-round development. Therefore, before the exam, teachers will encourage students to review their past results and set goals, and cooperate with the "Job Diary" activity for senior students after the exam to help them "apply" for service positions they are interested in. During the process, they need to organize their resumes and prepare for "interviews" to understand their strengths and interests, improve their initiative and enthusiasm, and prepare for future promotions and even career planning.

Progressive transition from kindergarten to primary school to easily welcome the new stage of learning

In terms of transition from kindergarten to primary school, the school holds preparatory student experience activities in July and September every year to allow prospective primary school students to simulate primary school life and adapt to the routine of class in advance. In the first week after school starts, the school arranges a "Primary One English Day Camp", where foreign teachers and English teachers jointly design activities to allow students to experience the fun of campus life from the perspective of English learning. English-adapted teaching materials from Tung Wah Group of Colleges and Universities, such as reading pens, will also be used in the classroom to build students' interest in reading from an early age and cultivate self-study and lifelong learning abilities.

In addition, Primary One has set up a dual-class teacher system, and reserved time for school-based courses and tutorial classes at the beginning of the semester so that the class teacher can help new students adapt to the new environment in terms of study and self-care. In terms of assessment, only practical assessments and mock exams are arranged in the Primary One stage. Through progressive assessment, students’ learning needs can be understood and they can easily adapt to the new campus life.