Page 66 - 沙田蘇浙公學 40周年校慶特刊

English Language Education

Study in English is an integral part of the school curriculum, and the English Department is
striving hard to provide students with meaningful language learning experiences that will
allow them to face future challenges, and to meet societal demands brought about in this
st
rapidly changing 21 century world. English is a vehicle for lifelong learning, to best prepare
students for advanced studies and gainful employment.

Interactive learning and small-class learning are our beliefs to maximizing students’ exposure
to an authentic English learning environment. In our Junior Form Drama Curriculum,
students have two drama lessons every other week, so that they can boost their English
prowess through script-writing, acting and dramatic appreciation in English language plays.

In 2016, after completion of the school extension building, we have installed the English
rd
Corner on the 3 Floor of the new annex which is equipped with thousands of books including
fiction, drama, biography and a myriad of other genres to widen students’ reading interest.
Coupled with morning reading sessions, class library, School-based Assessment (SBA)
Reading Schemes and Literature Circles, we are able to meet and exceed the huge demands
for tutelage. Students may also practise self-learning with the skills books, exercises, games
and Science Research Associates (SRA) Reading Lab in the English Corner. The room also

YEARS OF EXCELLENCE serves as a place for oral discussion, debate preparation, free-lesson English tutorials and
teacher-student conferencing. Native-speaking English teachers (NETs) are present in the
room during lunch time to chat with students and to conduct oral practices.

40 Our department is made up of ten local teachers and two NETs. During formal and informal

meetings, we collaborate to work on various teaching materials and discuss methods of
teaching and assessment. We have designed Language Arts (LA) Portfolio packages for junior
forms, and school-based packages for electives of the senior forms. These include Learning
English through Short Stories, Learning English through Poems and Learning English through
Debating. Facilitated by the Language Learning Support Section of the Education Bureau,
we have developed a school-based narrative writing package for F.4. To bridge the junior
and senior curricula under the challenges of the New Senior Secondary Curriculum, we make
use of authentic materials from the South China Morning Post, and other news platforms and
academic websites to tailor-make junior form materials specifically for our students. Students
find this particularly useful, not at all remote or unfriendly.

The English Department is excited to promote e-Learning in our curriculum. We enhance
students’ learning experiences through effective use of information technology, to allow
better collaboration and interaction inside and outside of the classroom, to build more friendly
learning and reading networks, and to promote effective e-driven self-directed learning. We
have learning and assessment resources on both Moodle platform and Google Classroom.
Teachers regularly attend intra- and extra-institutional seminars to enhance their repertoire of
strategies in implementing e-Learning.

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