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2 Chi Tak’s NET Resource Teacher of Literacy 1999 New Zealand Government’s Literacy Taskforce Literacy Facilitator for Canterbury and Westland N.E.T in Hong Kong School-based Curriculum Development

3 Background of the students Low socio-economic status Over 80% of the students are new immigrants. The students’ performance in the Hong Kong Attainment Test is very poor. Some students are in the lower quartile. There is wide student diversity. Many students are transitory.

4 In our school joined the “School-based Curriculum Development ” with the Curriculum Development Institute. joined the Native English Teacher (NET) Scheme.

5 Module Development Learning and teaching activities Learning and teaching materials A variety of approaches Diversity – widen experiences Integration of like modules and language focuses. Airport Trip Letters to New Zealand Making Sandwiches Cookery programmes Peak Trip Cotton reel Bulldozers Birthday parties Festivals Shared / Guided Reading

6 Learning activities Outings to Hong Kong International Airport Writing letters to New Zealand Students Outing to The Peak An English Day Camp Making Sandwiches & having a Birthday party Cookery programmes Making Cotton Reel Bulldozers

7 The Airport Trip Planning the module Unit Two (pg.6 “On Target with English” Book 5C ) “At the Airport” tells the story of Mrs. Lee and Grandma who are going to Los Angeles to see Aunt Judy and Uncle Mike. It tells how Grandma has bought Aunt Judy plenty of T-shirts, several scarves and some tea and dried mushrooms. Over several pages, the textbook outlines the process of going through the airport and covers the vocabulary associated with travel by plane.

8 Planning the Module In a series of co-planning meetings in December 2003 and January 2004, the P5 English staff decided that it would be a meaningful to take the P5 class to Hong Kong International airport. Discussing vocabulary, such as suitcases, boarding cards, name tags, trolleys, passports, and departure times, would have more meaning if the students could experience them first hand in the environment of the airport. We took three P5 classes to the airport last year.

9 Our Objectives To provide an authentic environment for the P5 students to: practice speaking English and develop their confidence in the use of the language. learn about the workings of a modern airport gain an appreciation of the place of Hong Kong in the global network have an experience which will contribute to their life-long learning.

10 Language Focuses Simple interview techniques using a prescribed and practised set of sentences. (This was for interviewing travellers. There were four relatively simple questions that were practised by all students prior to the trip). Listening and responding (particularly during the interview). Practise interview techniques/Learn the Questions Inform the students about other Countries and world cities e.g.England, London, France, Paris Vocabulary items associated with airports (these matched the unit). Reading to gain information. Writing to record information and to correspond. (Letters were written to the bus company thanking the owner for giving discounted fares and to the school principal thanking her for letting the classes go on the trip).

11 Making Friends with New Zealand Students Letters to Hoon Hay school in Christchurch in New Zealand. To provide an authentic environment for the P5 students to: practise Writing letters to pen-friends develop their confidence in writing.

12 Make Friends with New Zealand Students We did not try to make these letters word perfect as re-writing would have killed the enthusiasm. We downloaded pictures and told students about Hoon Hay School and N.Z. schools. They were fascinated and excited. Students were very happy to get letters and presents from their friends. They keep on writing letters to their friends and they are getting replies.

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14 Pathway of English Curriculum Development : Primary 1 (1 teacher) Primary 1, 2, 3 & 5 (4 teachers) my experience: Primary 1 and Primary 2 (about 1.5 years) At the beginning, I didn’t know what to do, I felt pressured, nervous and worried As there was only one class, I was the only teacher taking part in the development work This meant I had no-one to share with and to exchange ideas with, or to use as a model. In , I felt lonely.

15 What have I done ? 1 st step: Reallocate the English lessons 7 lessons per week in P.1-P.3 1 lesson for Dictation I lesson for Reading small readers 5 lessons for general use ( included ETV, Listening) Extra lessons(Extra curricular activity): 1 lesson per 2 weeks for teaching big books with the NET teacher

16 2 nd step: Analyze the text book and find out the language focuses, functions and plan activities 3r d step: Select the language focuses which I want to teach 4th step: Rearrange the units, design learning tasks to match the corresponding modules. 5 th step: Prepare a scheme of work ( Based on the textbook analysis ) 6 th step: Design the learning tasks using wither a contextual theme or a linguistic theme (e.g. a visit to the botanical garden) 7 th step: Find other related teaching resources to enrich the content of the text book,e.g. small readers, big books and phonics

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20 Explore new ideas in dictation and exam paper Different testing focus in dictation, spelling, recite the vocabulary, distinguish between different sounds(phonics) Different forms of dictation: Matching, fill in the blanks, jumbled words, listening to songs and filling in the blanks.( refer to the samples) Use authentic situations to link up the different parts of the exam paper. The design of the exam paper will be linked to the tasks the students did before. ( refer to the samples of the exam paper)

21 Changes in the students attitudes during this English Curriculum Tailoring Project They become more interested in learning English They enjoyed the activities and I had good responses during the English lessons Most of them have progressed in the attainment test (from P.1 to P2)

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