The English Section is greatly indebted to the members of the Working Groups for their support in the development and tryout of the language enhancement measures

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Acknowledgements

This CD-ROM and VCD are part of the fourth volume of a teaching resource package series, Strategies and Activities to Maximize Pleasurable Learning Experiences, produced by the English Section, Education Department, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, in support of the implementation of the CDC Syllabus for English Language (Primary 1 - 6) 1997.

Many people have offered advice and given help in the preparation of this CD-ROM and VCD. The English Section is greatly indebted to the members of the Working Groups for their support in the development and tryout of the language enhancement measures. Our deepest appreciation goes to the heads, project teachers and pupils of CUHKFAA Thomas Cheung Primary School and TWGHs Kwan Kai Ming Primary School in Phase I Tryout of the language enhancement measures, as well as LST Lau Tak Primary School AM, Tin Shui Wai Methodist Primary School and Wai Chow Public School (Sheung Shui) PM in Phase II Tryout. Special thanks go to Mrs. Tse Tso Yuk-wah and Ms Mandy Evans who ran workshops for the project teachers.

We also wish to thank Pearson Education China Limited for granting the permission to use the storybooks "The Gingerbread Man", "The Little Red Hen", "It's Pink, I Think", "I Love My Family", "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" and "The Farmer and the Beet" published by Addison-Wesley Publishing Company; the Wendy Pye Team for granting the permission to use the storybook "Where is My Dad?" from the "The Magic Box, Red Box", first published by Applecross Limited as Sunshine Series, and the storybook

"Ice Cream" published by Wendy Pye Publishing, in both their written and electronic forms as part of the resource package.

We apologize for any errors or omissions in the above acknowledgements.

If the copyright holders contact the English Section of the Education Department, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, correct acknowledgements and necessary arrangements will be made.

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Report on Language Enhancement Measures for Young Children

(Phase I Tryout)

Background

This initial study is conducted in response to an ECR6 recommendation for helping young children who cannot cope with learning English and to prevent their developing a sense of failure.

2.

An ad hoc working group made up of school heads and teachers, a senior lecturer from the HKIEd, an educational psychologist from the Services Division and subject specialists from the English Section of CDI, was formed in May 1998 to take on the task.

Aim

3.

To develop and promote effective strategies and activities in the teaching of English to young children in order to enhance their skills and interest in learning English and to prevent their developing a sense of failure at an early stage of schooling.

Tryout

4.

After a review of the literature, some discussions with the

professionals and an analysis of children's performance, two sets of language enhancement measures for preventive and intervention purposes were designed. They were developed on the learning principle that young children do not respond to language as a formal system but as a means for communication, enjoyment and fun.

5.

The measures were tried out in two primary schools between June and December 1998. A total of 144 children from four classes of P1 to P3 and four English remedial groups were involved.

Findings

6.

Learners' improvements were noted in the following five areas:

(A) Attitudes towards learning English

The learners had a more positive attitude towards learning English after the Tryout. They reported that they felt happy when they read, wrote, spoke, and

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listened to English. They particularly liked singing songs and playing games in the target language.

(B) Book concepts, reading strategies, and print and word awareness At the end of the Tryout, more learners were able to

o hold books correctly, o turn pages in sequence,

o identify the title and author of books, and o use page numbers.

There were also improvements in the use of reading strategies, with more learners being able to

o use picture clues to get the story line, o make predictions,

o use pictures to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words,

o use personal experience and prior knowledge to construct meaning,

o use letter-sound knowledge, and o self-correct while reading aloud.

Improvements were also observed in the learners' print and word awareness.

After the Tryout, more learners were able to

o use appropriate directionality when reading English, o understand the concept of letter, word and sentence, o associate sounds with letters, and

o recognize the functions of punctuation.

(C) Phonological awareness

On the whole, the learners' phonological awareness was raised. This was shown by their better performance to relate letters to sounds at the end of the Tryout. Specifically, more learners were able to pronounce accurately all the five target vowel sounds and eight out of the ten target consonant sounds.

(D) Oral language behaviours

The learners made marked improvements in using gestures, tone, stress and rhythm when reading a story aloud. There was also an increase in the

number of learners who were able to follow simple instructions in English after the Tryout.

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(E) Learning strategies

The learners interviewed reported that they had learned some useful strategies after the Tryout. Instead of learning words by copying them many times, they had learned how to break words into small parts and relate sounds to spelling. Instead of relying on the written form only, they could also name an object in English after handling the real objects or models.

7.

Teachers' feedback showed that the language enhancement measures were useful.

(A) Effectiveness of activities

Upon completion of the Tryout, teachers rated most of the activities as very effective or effective. A few activities (e.g. singing songs) were given a lower rating by one teacher but her learners actually said they liked them when they were interviewed.

(B) Recommendations to other teachers

The teachers reported unanimously that they would recommend most of the teaching activities to other teachers of English.

8.

Tryout schools reflect confidence in using the language enhancement measures to improve their students' learning.

(A) One of the teachers commented that teachers in her school were

more confident with the use of shared reading and phonics after the Tryout. They had successfully applied for a grant from the Quality Education Fund to employ native English speaking teachers to run an English enrichment programme during the 1999-2000 school year.

(B) The other school commenced a programme on shared reading with the

Tryout classes immediately after the Tryout in the school year 1998-99 and has continued until the present time.

The way forward

9.

The findings of the Tryout are positive and encouraging. After the necessary modifications have been made, schools would be invited to take part in the second phase of the Tryout so that eventually more learners, teachers and schools would benefit from the language enhancement measures developed.

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English Section Education Department January 2000

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Ad Hoc Working Group on the Development of Language Enhancement Measures for Young Children

(Phase I Tryout) Membership list Chairperson

Ms CHAN Wai-ming

Principal Curriculum Development Officer (English) English Section, Curriculum Development Institute Education Department

Secretary

Mrs. Rosana CHONG CHEUNG Wai-mun Curriculum Development Officer (English)

English Section, Curriculum Development Institute Education Department

Members

Ms Mary CHEUNG Headmistress

TWGHs Kwan Kai Ming Primary School

Mrs. Jasmine LAI

(from 5 May 1998 to 4 May 1999)

Specialist (Educational Psychology/Professional Support) Services Division

Education Department

Ms LAU Oi-man Teacher

CUHKFAA Thomas Cheung Primary School

Mr. LEUNG Moon-wing Headmaster

CUHKFAA Thomas Cheung Primary School

Mrs. Selina LO (from 5 May 1999)

Ms NG Fung-ling Teacher

TWGHs Kwan Kai Ming Primary School

Mrs. TSE TSO Yuk-wah Senior Lecturer

Department of English

The Hong Kong Institute of Education

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Ad Hoc Working Group on the Development of Language Enhancement Measures for Young Children

(Phase II Tryout) Membership list Chairperson

Ms CHAN Wai-ming

Chief Curriculum Development Officer (English) English Section

Education Department Secretary

Mrs. Rosana CHONG CHEUNG Wai-mun Curriculum Development Officer (English) English Section

Education Department Members

Ms FUNG Sau-tak Teacher

Lok Sin Tong Lau Tak Primary School AM

Mr. HUNG Kui-ling Headmaster

Lok Sin Tong Lau Tak Primary School AM

Ms LAM Cho-wai, Emily Teacher

Tin Shui Wai Methodist Primary School

Mr. LEUNG Hing-wun Headmaster

Wai Chow Public School (Sheung Shui) PM

Ms LEUNG Yin-mei, Winnie Teacher

Wai Chow Public School (Sheung Shui) PM

Mrs. Selina LO

Mr. SO Ping-fai Headmaster

Tin Shui Wai Methodist Primary School

Mrs. TSE TSO Yuk-wah Senior Lecturer

Department of English

The Hong Kong Institute of Education

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Language Learning Activities

Web Site URL

A Base for English Word

Games http://www.edgamesandart.com

Between the Lions

home page http://pbs.org/wgbh/lions/

Children's BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc Cross Words and Other

Word Games http://syndicate.com/crossword.html FunBrain.com Grammar

Gorillas http://www.funbrain.com

KidsCom: Hangman http://www.kidscom.com/orakac/games/hangman/hangmanright.html Kids Domain Online

Games http://www.kidsdomain.com/games/index.html

PrimaryGames.com

Language Art Games http://www.primarygames.com/reading.htm Seussville Games http://www.randomhouse.com/seussville/games Web Word Find Puzzles http://www.eduplace.com/kids/games/wwf/index.html

Wordland http://www.etymologic.com/

Shared Reading

Candlelight Stories Kids Zone http://www.candlelightstories.com/morekids.asp Children's storybooks online http://www.magickeys.com/books/index.html Children's media - Scholastic http://www.scholastic.com

CNN Interactive Learning Resources http://literacynet.org/cnnsf

Funny Poetry for Children http://www.meadowbrookpress.com/Poetry/index.cfm Language Arts - Yahooligans http://www.yahooligans.com/School_Bell/Language_Arts/

Poetry for Children http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/poechild.htm Semantic Rhyming Dictionary http://www.link.cs.cmu.edu/dougb/rhyme-doc.html Sunshine Online (shared reading) http://www.literacyhour.co.uk

Phonological Awareness

BBC Education - Words and

Pictures http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/wordsandpictures/phonics.html

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Consonant Sound Phonics

Index http://www.tampareads.com/phonics/whereis/index.htm

Phonics in Whole Language

Classroom (ERIC) http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed372375.html

School Express http://www.schoolexpress.com

S.C.O.R.E. Language Arts -

Phonic Links http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/Phonics_Link/phonics.html Teach Reading with Phonics http://www.yesphonics.com