Language across the Curriculum

• To provide language support to facilitate student learning, PSHE teachers may consider the following suggestions:

- Identify the language demands in the teaching materials and consider students’ language abilities.

- Provide students who need more language support with extra assistance such as:

 Simplifying the subject matter and language and adjusting the teaching pace at the beginning of a school term to support students’ content learning and acquisition of subject-specific language knowledge and skills;

 Making use of visual aids such as graphic organisers to enhance students’ understanding of the materials; and

 Providing examples of using vocabulary in context, and scaffolding students’ mastery of subject-specific writing skills from vocabulary to sentence structures to text types.

- Promote RaC, in particular reading books and magazines with themes

related to PSHE subjects, to increase students’ exposure to the use of subject-specific vocabulary and text types.

- The Language across the Curriculum (LaC) approach, which integrates language learning and content learning, can be adopted in the PSHE KLA curriculum for students to explore knowledge and develop skills of the Chinese or English language in a comprehensive and integrative manner.

• PSHE teachers can collaborate with Chinese/English Language teachers to facilitate LaC through:

- Identifying the entry points, setting realistic goals and drawing up a plan or schedule of work to facilitate the transfer of Chinese/English language knowledge and skills;

- Developing learning, teaching and assessment materials and activities that connect students’ learning experiences;

- Identifying common topics in the PSHE and Chinese/English Language Education KLAs and preparing tasks in which students are required to read and discuss materials on these common topics, as well as designing extended learning activities on these common topics to broaden students’

learning experiences outside the classroom;

- Providing students with exposure to the text types typical of the PSHE KLA curriculum (e.g. expositions); and

- Teaching PSHE KLA-specific language functions (e.g. comparing and contrasting, giving explanations) explicitly to facilitate the completion of PSHE-related tasks.

• While Chinese/English Language teachers focus on helping students master the accurate use of the language (e.g. vocabulary and grammar) as well as recognising the importance of coherence, cohesion and appropriacy in texts, PSHE teachers can facilitate the transfer of the Chinese/English language knowledge and skills by emphasising the use of relevant language features for presenting the subject content and providing assignments or tasks for students to apply relevant language knowledge and skills to demonstrate their understanding of the PSHE KLA curriculum content.

• In some schools which adopt English as the medium of instruction for PSHE subjects, collaboration between the English Language subject panel and the PSHE subject panels has been strengthened when organising co-curricular activities, arranging cross-subject peer lesson observations, as well as designing learning and teaching materials with due consideration given to both language and subject knowledge. There has also been more collaboration between the PSHE KLA panel and the school library, such as conducting joint programmes to promote RaC.

Collaboration across KLAs helps promote Reading across the Curriculum (RaC) in General Studies. Taking the topic “Health and I” as an example, General Studies, language subjects and Music can jointly compile a set of reading materials related to the topic and make contributions to Reading across the Curriculum as suggested below:

• General Studies: Through browsing webpages, watching videos, reading brochures and posters, students learn appropriate methods of washing hands and using masks, and cultivate a habit of maintaining personal hygiene.

- Examples of reading materials: Educational Television Programme – “Be Clean, Children”, posters of “5 Steps for Proper Handwashing” and “Maintain Cough Manners”, videos of “Correct Handwashing Method” and “Wearing Masks” produced by Department of Health, and adapted contents of webpages of the Department of Health.

• Language subjects: Teachers guide students to read the relevant picture books and use different reading strategies, including reading aloud, making use of illustrations to infer the meanings of the texts and sequencing the contents. They also guide students to connect the learning contents with their personal habits in life to cultivate the proper attitudes and positive values.

- Examples of reading materials: Children's stories or picture books, articles of

“World Handwashing Day”.

• Music: By singing “Handwashing Song” and matching the lyrics with actions, students learn the steps of washing hands in an interesting way.

Source: Adapted from General Studies Curriculum Guide for Primary Schools (Primary 1 – Primary 6) (CDC, 2017a).

Teachers of the PSHE Panel of a secondary school plan and implement LaC at the junior secondary level to strengthen students’ answering skills in English which helps facilitate their learning at the senior secondary level. For details, please refer to Example 8

“Promoting Language across the Curriculum in the PSHE KLA: Sharing on an integrated curriculum at Secondary 1 - 3”.

A secondary school adopts the strategy of LaC in the Chinese History and History subjects in Secondary 1 to enhance students’ language proficiency in the aspects of vocabulary and text organisation, to reduce their frustration, and to increase their learning interest and sense of achievement. For details, please refer to Example 24 “Language across the Curriculum: Helping Secondary 1 students with weaker language ability to learn Chinese History” (Chinese version only).

To nurture students’ interest in learning History and develop relevant writing and communication skills for studying History, a secondary school organises a range of cross-curricular language activities to enable students to explore and understand History, experience the joy in learning History and strengthen their language proficiency. For

details, please refer to Example 25 “Language across the Curriculum: A letter to a historical figure” (Chinese version only).

With a view to improving students’ English language skills and familiarising them with the vocabulary and language patterns commonly used in History, Geography, Integrated Science and Computer and Information Technology, a secondary school has set up a LaC Committee to conduct curriculum mapping and identify target language forms and grammar items for LaC lessons. For details, please refer to Example 26 “Adopting a whole-school approach to promoting Language across the Curriculum at junior secondary level”.