Ample opportunities for students to use English in a meaningful context.
1. Enrich English language environment
Creating a rich and authentic language environment is the ultimate mission of the English department. Our English room is always a popular place for students to not only have their English lessons, but also to chill, relax and chat with our NETs, Mr Lo, Mr Ruben and Mr James. Our NETs develop English language programmes with students regularly in the Campus TV room. A variety of banners and posters are put up inside and outside the classrooms to further arouse the students' interest in English.
2. School-based writing workshop
To introduce a variety of writing strategies to students and develop the fundamental skills across different contexts.
Apart from the normal practice of writing, we inject the writing practice into the curriculum so as to polish writing skills of students. Furthermore, we introduce process writing which is an iterative process of drafting and revising drafts in response to feedback. In process writing, students produce multiple drafts and revise their drafts in light of comments from their teachers. Teacher marks the penultimate draft for grammatical accuracy and students produce the final draft. During these procedures, students can reflect their ideas and amend their writing which enhance their abilities in critical thinking.
3. English activities
To provide a platform to develop different abilities of students in English.
Different aspects of training and competitions are organized every year, such as: Speech Festival, Inter-school Writing Competition, Rugby English Active Learning Programme and English Drama and English Ambassadors Training, etc. We consistently look for opportunities to unlock the potentials of students.
4. School-based Reading and Phonics Curriculum for P.1-6
To give all P.1-6 students a good understanding of English, our NET teacher, Mr Lo, Mr Ruben and Mr James provide a comprehensive reading and phonics programme. Lessons are full of fun and interactive activities with specific focus on developing the students’ speaking skills. Students in P1-P3 are regularly and systematically exposed to High Frequency Words which promotes reading comprehension enabling them to become faster and more fluent readers. To better suit the needs of our students, a lot of big books and small books are used for supported reading in order to introduce different text types as well as topics related to STEM to students.
5. English Day and English Ambassadors
English Day is on every Wednesdays. It is golden opportunity for students to practise their English. Starting from the early morning, NETs and English Ambassadors greet them at the school gate. In the assembly, representatives from different classes do the presentation in front of the whole school. In the recesses and lunch break, English Ambassadors carry out the activities to interact with schoolmates. Students are encouraged to speak in English and play games in the English room. Last but not least, the NETs open the English room during lunch breaks. Students can play English/phonics games, watch cartoons and listen to English songs.
6. English Fun Day
English Fun Day is another popular event of the year. It focuses on the five Core Catholic Values. Students can play different kinds of booth games and participate in the Inter-school writing competition and spelling competition on the day.