CURRICULUM ACROSS KEY STAGES

ONGOING RENEWAL OF THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM:

HOLISTIC PLANNING OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE CURRICULUM ACROSS KEY STAGES

English Language Education Section Curriculum Development Institute Education Bureau

28 June 2021

OBJECTIVES

Introduce major updates of the English Language Education Key Learning Area Curriculum Guide (P1-S6) (2017);

Enhance curriculum leaders’ capacity in undertaking holistic planning of the English Language curriculum at the primary level; and

Provide hands-on activities and suggestions to facilitate teachers’

knowledge in planning the school-based English Language curriculum

for Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.

PART 1: ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION AT THE PRE-PRIMARY, PRIMARY AND

SECONDARY LEVELS

SEVEN LEARNING GOALS OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION

https://www.edb.gov.hk/en/curriculum-

development/7-learning-goals/primary/index.html

https://www.edb.gov.hk/en/curriculum-development/7- learning-goals/secondary/index.html

PRE-PRIMARY LEVEL

 Have balanced development in the domains of ethics, intellect, physique, social skills and aesthetics;

 Develop interest in learning, have an inquisitive mind and eagerness to explore;

 Cultivate positive values and attitudes; and

 Have good living habits and develop a strong and healthy body.

Kindergarten Education Curriculum Guide (2017)

Major Updates of the ELE KLACG (P1-S6)

ELE KLACG (P1-S6)(2017)

Literacy Development

Reading across the Curriculum

Integrative Use of Generic Skills Values Education

e-Learning & Information Literacy

Learning and Teaching of Text Grammar

Extending from Assessment for Learning to Assessment as Learning

Catering for the Needs of SEN and Gifted Students in the Mainstream English Classroom

Enhancing the

implementation of READING Workshops

 Introducing features of different text types explicitly

 Exposing students to different types of texts to enrich their ideas and language used

 Ensuring progressive development of reading skills and strategies

 Providing opportunities for students to develop their creativity, critical thinking skills and application of skills

Connecting students’

READING and

WRITING experiences

CONNECTION BETWEEN READING AND WRITING

CONSIDERATION FOR TEACHERS IN PROMOTING RAC

collaborate with teachers of other KLAs to develop learning activities that provide students with opportunities to consolidate the knowledge and skills

acquired across KLAs

design reading activities that reinforce students’

ability to integrate the knowledge, skills and learning experiences gained in different KLAs identify reading materials

in both print and non-print forms that connect students’

learning experiences in different KLAs

develop reading skills and strategies necessary for understanding and analysing language use in English texts

VALUES EDUCATION

Promoting Values Education in Different Domains

Basic Law Education

Human Rights Education

Life Education

Constitution Education

Education for Sustainable Development

National Security Education Civic

Education

Moral and Ethical Education

Media Education

Perseverance

Respect for Others Responsibility

National Identity

Commitment Integrity

Care for Others Law-abidingness

Empathy

Nine Priority Values and Attitudes

Others

RESOURCES ON PROMOTING POSITIVE VALUES AND ATTITUDES:

ENGLISH SAYINGS OF WISDOM (SOW)

www.edb.gov.hk/sow

CONSIDERATION WHEN INCORPORATING VALUES EDUCATION INTO ENGLISH LANGUAGE CURRICULUM

School vision and mission

English KLA level

School development plan and major

concerns

School level

General English Reading Workshops

Enhancement programmes

Intervention programmes

Cross-KLA level

Reading across the Curriculum

Cross-curricular collaboration Life-wide learning

activities

…

…

• Noticing language patterns and how they are used

• Hypothesising about the ‘rule’

• Exposing to the specific language patterns in texts

• Restructuring the ‘rule’ and applying it in new contexts

TEACHING OF TEXT GRAMMAR

Teaching grammar through texts enables students to see how the choice of language items is affected by the context and how it shapes the tone, style and register of a text.

Exposing

Noticing and hypothesising

(Re)structuring

INTEGRATIVE USE OF GENERIC SKILLS

Two examples : Holistic thinking skills:

the use of critical thinking skills,

problem solving skills and creativity

Collaborative problem solving skills:

the use of collaboration skills,

communication skills and problem solving skills

To prepare students for more complicated tasks

PEDAGOGY TO ENHANCE LITERACY DEVELOPMENT

Interacting with Multimodal Texts

Producing Multimodal Texts

Access information from a variety of

sources

To develop learning, teaching and assessment activities for a unit of work:

Understand the ideas in the multimodal texts

Analyse and explore how messages are presented

Evaluate the messages and values embedded in the multimodal texts Express and create messages using different modes of communication

e-Learning refers to an open and flexible learning mode involving the use of the electronic media, including the use of digital resources and communication tools to achieve the learning objectives.

Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge

E-LEARNING AND INFORMATION LITERACY IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE CURRICULUM

Good multimedia and IT resources should:

 involve good models of English use;

 be based on sound pedagogical principles;

 be user-friendly, increase motivation and support learning;

 promote the integrated use of language skills; and

 encourage student input, allow them to work at their own

pace and provide feedback to them.

Purpose Key Assessor

Assessment for/as

Learning (AfL / AaL)

• Quality feedback for learners, which entails timely support and enrichment

• Information for teachers to review the learning objectives, lesson plans and teaching strategies

• Students’ self-monitoring &

self-correction or adjustment

Teacher / Students

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

STRATEGIES TO PROMOTE ASSESSMENT AS LEARNING

Introducing study skills to students

Guiding students to monitor their

own learning Making use of assessment rubrics to facilitate self-reflection

using different kinds of assessment graphics (e.g. 3-2-1 summariser, SWOT) guiding students to set own goals

modelling of learning strategies (e.g. note-taking skills) through

think-aloud

creating criteria of good practices with students

teaching enabling skills (e.g.

dictionary skills, research skills, phonics skills and vocabulary

building skills)

discussing sample student work and providing quality feedback to

students

guiding students to keep track of their own learning understanding

expected learning outcomes

providing opportunities

for students to practise the skills that need to be learned or

mastered

STRATEGIES TO CATER FOR LEARNER DIVERSITY

•understanding the

strengths/weaknessesand the learning backgroundof students

•understanding the learning interests, styles and needs of students

•designing open-ended tasks

Catering for diverse learning styles and abilities

•adopting flexible grouping/

mixed ability grouping

•grouping students according to the purposes and

requirements of tasks

•providing opportunities for students to share and discuss in groups

Facilitating peer learning

• using questioning

techniques to elicit students’

responses

• giving quality verbal and written feedback in lessons/

homework

• adopting various modes of assessment

Promoting assessment for/as

learning

•motivatingstudents’ interest

•facilitating understanding and providing support

•giving immediate feedback

•engaging students in active/self- directed learning to enhance learning autonomy and allow them to learn at their own pace

Effective use of e- learning repertoire

•providing timely support

•providing scaffolding for students to complete the task

•providing different modes of support in learning tasks (e.g.

visual cues for visual learners)

Providing support and scaffolding

•setting challenging yet

manageable tasksfor students

Giving challenges



Analyse school context

 Review and plan ELE curriculum/with other KLAs

 Form a professional team

 Deploy resources and support

 Implement curriculum

 Monitor and evaluate curriculum

PART 2: HOLISTIC PLANNING OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE CURRICULUM

Horizontal curriculum continuity (Breadth)

• Balanced coverage of language skills, generic skills and enabling skills at each level

Vertical curriculum continuity (Depth)

• Progressive development of language skills, generic skills and enabling skills across levels

• Learning and teaching objectives

• Learning and teaching materials

• Language structures

• Text types

• Reading and writing strategies

• Marking focuses/assessment criteria

• Providing scaffolding and appropriate challenge for students

• Setting reasonable goals and expected learning outcomes for learners of different abilities

Holistic curriculum planning

Level curriculum planning

Listening Skills

Speaking Skills

Reading Skills

Writing Skills

THE LEARNING PROGRESSION FRAMEWORK (LPF)

1. Bear and Deer’s Big Feast (a play)

2. Fast Food Shop (a conversation)

3. How Does your Salad

Grow (an information book) 4. Healthy Snacks (a leaflet)

PART 3 LITERACY SKILLS DEVELOPMENT AT KS1 (USING INFORMATION TEXTS)

materials

Learning objectives

1. A play

(GE Programme)

• To introduce the target vocabulary items about food

• To expose to the target language items, e.g.

Would you like…, I’d like…, and I’d like…

too, to make orders

• To introduce the features of menus

• To highlight the text features of dramas

2. Practice 1 (a role play)

• To practise the target vocabulary and language structure “Would you like … or …?” through role-play

• To conduct a role-play “At a fast food shop”

3. How Does Your Salad Grow (an information book)

• To read and understand the different parts of a plant and how the plants grow

• To read and find out how to make salad

• To write a recipe about making a sandwich

4. Healthy Snacks (a leaflet)

• To read and learn about healthy food items about snacks

• To read and understand why the food items are healthy

1 Matching game: Steps of making an order at a fast food shop

Engaging Students in Task-based Learning Activities to Practise the Target Vocabulary Items and Language Forms

 KS1 learners may not have enough experience in buying/ordering food at a restaurant.

 The matching game allows students to think about the steps of ordering food and the language/proper manner for buying things.

2 Briefing and revision on the food items

 Keeping the menu simple so that the role play is manageable to students.

 As the learning objective is on ordering food rather than doing Maths calculations or

reading numbers, the cost of the food was kept straightforward.

Practising the Target Vocabulary Items and Language Forms through Thinking and Doing

3. Demonstration of the role-play

 Giving explicit explanations through teacher’s demonstration

 Providing opportunities for students to use the vocabulary items and

language forms in familiar contexts

4. Conducting role-play in groups

 Allowing students to work in

pairs to take the role of cashier and customers so that they can support each other.

Pre-task: Sharing in pairs about their favourite food to practise the target language structure.

Pre-task: Revision on the vocabulary items about food

Guiding Students to Read a Leaflet on Healthy Snacks &

Connecting Students’ Learning Experiences in General Studies

 Activating students’ prior knowledge about their favourite snacks

 Students may not know the word “snack” and its difference from main meals. Explanations on the terms would be necessary.

Pre-task: Introducing healthy snacks and classifying the snacks

 Providing opportunities for students to use the vocabulary items and language forms in familiar contexts, e.g. “I’d like… They are…”

to describe the taste of food.

 Asking students to decide whether the snacks are healthy or not

Guiding Students to Read a Leaflet on Healthy Snacks &

Write about their Favourite Snacks

 Guiding students to read the Food Pyramid

 Drawing students’ attention to the good points of using diagrams to present

information

 Asking students to design their own snack pyramid by drawing and labelling the snacks

Task 1: Learning about the Food Pyramid and providing opportunities for students to

design their own “Snack Pyramid”

 Providing two examples for students to model on

 Helping students to generate writing ideas with the guiding questions

 Using a task specific assessment checklist to conduct peer assessment

Task 2: Writing a short description about their own favourite healthy snacks

 It is necessary to break down the steps and provide demonstrations before engaging students in task-based learning activities.

 It is good to connect students’ learning

experiences in different KLAs. Students’ prior knowledge in General Studies is helpful for them to understand the information in the leaflet

about the food pyramid.

 Opportunities are provided for students to name different kinds of snacks, locate information from the leaflet and identify the features of

information texts.

 Students gain ideas and vocabulary items from the leaflet to enrich their own writing, e.g.

nutrition value of healthy snacks, examples of snacks.

 Students tend to speak in Cantonese when they work in groups. Classroom routines should be established to reinforce the use of English in

Good Practices &

Points to Note

My favourite snack is low fat strawberry

yogurt. It provides vitamins and a little energy.

I eat it at home on Saturday three hours after lunch. It is very yummy!

My favourite snack is bread. It has (is) starchy. I eat it two hours after lunch.

The bread is very yummy!

Curriculum Mapping

Connecting Students’ Learning Experiences between English Language & General Studies

Content:

 Water rationing

 Uses of water

 Ways to conserve water

Text type:

 information

texts: expository

 Flowcharts Skills development:

 Problem-solving skills

Common teaching points:

English Language

General Studies

• Set focus questions to provide

students with a clear reading purpose

• Use paired texts to deepen students’

understanding of the issue and

develop different reading strategies, e.g. an expository text and a narrative text

Part 3: (KS2) Water Conservation

Learning the Use of Tenses through a Discovery Approach

• Reading an article on water rationing to understand how precious water is to human beings

• Connecting with the learning experience in General Studies

• Instructing students to use pens of different colours to underline the verbs in the simple past tense and present tense (colour-

coding)

• Guiding them to generalise the uses of the two tenses through noticing

• Asking students questions to help them generalise the uses of the tenses, e.g. Where can you find the words in blue? Why did

Focus Question 1: Is water important to us?

Incorporating Different Multi-modal Texts to Cater for Learner Diversity

Reading an

expository text on the water cycle

More able classes Less able classes

Listening to a song on the water cycle

• Guiding students to read the text/ listen to the song on the water cycle

• Helping students visualise the text by using a flowchart to illustrate the different

stages of the water cycle

• Understanding the

importance of conserving water

All classes

Conducting Shared Reading with Students on a Narrative Text

• Reading a story about the problems of water shortage (“A World without Water”)

• Explicit teaching of reading skills

 Making use of graphic organisers to help students organise

information in the book

 Summarising the uses of water from the story

 Students work in pairs to fill in the graphic organiser

Reading skills development:

 guessing the meaning of unknown words using contextual and pictorial clues

 locating specific information by identifying key words

 guessing the likely development of the topic by using personal experiences and knowledge of the world

Positive values and attitudes:

• Gratitude

• Cherishing water as a precious resource

Focus Question 2: What do we use water for?

Conducting a Speaking Activity in Groups to Generate More Ideas for the Writing Task

• Activities adapted from the resource kit from the Water Supplies Department

• Group activities on tips for saving water

• Each group works on a different activity

• Guiding students to discuss with the

group members and write the tip on the paper

• Students stick the paper in the

designated areas after writing the tip

• Allowing students to walk around the classroom to learn other water saving tips

Generic skills:

• Communication

• Collaboration

Writing the water saving tips on the activity sheet

Focus Question 3: How can we save water?

Connecting Students’ Reading and Writing Experiences

• Setting a context for the writing activity:

You were the boy in the story “A World Without Water”. You experienced and knew how life was like when there was no water. You were very sad and decided to do something.

How would you help to save the world?

 Responding to the experience of the characters in the story

 Writing the ending and

providing tips on ways to save water

 Providing opportunities for students to develop their

creativity and problem-solving skills

• Introducing the elements of a good story ending

• Brainstorming and

organising ideas using the mind map

Conducting Teacher, Peer and Parent Assessments

Peer assessment – “Two Stars and a Wish”

Finally, water came back because the old people saved water. Doraemon took the boy back to the real world. The boy was back to the real world.

He learnt how to save water.

The student was able to use the correct tense in the writing.

Students were able to apply different water saving tips appropriately.

So, we didn’t let the water run when we brushed the teeth and reused the water.

Suddenly, an angel appeared and helped me.

 Inviting General Studies teachers to assess the content of the writing Parent assessment

Teacher assessment

PROGRESSIVE DEVELOPMENT OF LITERACY SKILLS

KS1 KS2

Reading Skills - Exposure to both narrative and information texts

- Scanning for key words/specific information - Understanding book concepts

- Making predictions

- Understanding unfamiliar words using pictorial cues and contextual clues

- …

- Exposure to a variety of texts, e.g. through RaC - Summarising skill

- Understanding main ideas and supporting details - Making inferences

- Dictionary skills

- Follow ideas by recognising simple text structures and understanding the use of cohesive devices

- … Writing Skills - Writing simple descriptions

- Writing simple stories by providing basic information

- …

- Writing descriptions/recounts with more elaborations and share personal experiences

- Structure the text using paragraphs, including an introduction, body and/or conclusion

- … Teaching

Pedagogies

- Learning through doing, such as role-play, games, show and tell

- Breaking down the teaching steps - Teacher’s demonstration

- Engaging students in task-based learning activities to make the learning purposeful

- Providing opportunities for students to learn from peers, e.g. group discussion, sharing of good work - Learning through awareness raising activities - Introduction of more advanced studies skills, e.g.

PART 5: CONCLUSION AND EVALUATION

 Consider development focuses with respect to the school vision and mission, development plans, teachers’ experience and curriculum updates;

 Maintain horizontal and vertical continuity and progression in areas such as the development of language skills, generic skills and enabling skills across key stages;

 Collaborate with other KLAs to provide opportunities for students to enrich their knowledge and demonstrate their skills learned in different KLAs; and

 Keep abreast of the latest curriculum development and be receptive

to changes.