English Panel Annual Report (2001-2002)

Ju Ching Chu Secondary School (Kwai Chung)

English Panel Annual Report (2002-2003)

Panel Chairman: Mr. Leung Kin Tim

Junior Forms Panel Chairman: Mr. Kung Ngan Ho

I. Mission

It is our conviction that every student can learn, progress and succeed. We are committed to providing opportunities for all students to boost their language proficiency and develop a sense of success in learning. We put sustained efforts to make learning more integrated, more relevant and more enjoyable. We are working hard to ensure that our students not only master the basics but also perform at higher levels.

II. Overview

1. It has been a rewarding year that has included consistent improvement in teaching and learning. Reform efforts remain intact and have been continuously strengthened. The task-based approach has been introduced in the curriculum of the junior level, with provision of meaningful tasks for purposeful use of the language. We have gone full steam ahead with the S1 Curriculum Tailoring Scheme. Language arts and fun elements have been incorporated into the curriculum, making it more pleasurable and stimulating. Rigorous coursework has been demanded in S4 and S5. The extended 8th periods allowed S5 students to have more time to practise language skills. Students of S6 and S7 have greatly benefited from the eClass Scheme and practice sessions. To cultivate good reading habits, both the Class-based Extensive Reading Scheme and School-based Extensive Reading Scheme have been implemented.

1. Students’ learning difficulties have been well attended. A variety of support and enrichment programmes have been in place to cater for students’ needs. Remedial teaching in S1-S3 and split-class teaching arrangements have been put into practice to take care of lower achievers. Lunch forums and after-school oral practice sessions have been held regularly to improve students' speaking skills. A variety of learning classes have been arranged after school and in the summer holiday. Home listening and writing programmes have been successfully carried out to improve students' listening and writing performance.

1. Additional support is given with the implementation of the Self-Enhancing English Scheme and the NET Scheme. The SEES helps students to set targets for learning English. Students of S3-S7 have been provided with abundant learning resources. Their learning progress has been duly recorded on a form. Awards have been given to outstanding participants. With the NET Scheme, students have enjoyed numerous opportunities to communicate with Mr. Donald Latter, who is eager to offer help. The activities organized by the English Corner can stimulate students’ interest in learning English.

1. The quality of our teaching and learning was reviewed by the Quality Assurance Inspection in October. We were thrilled to see its report, which approved of our efforts to help students. A full report of the review is available on the department’s website (http://www.jcckc.net/english/Quality Assurance Inspection Report.doc). Consistent improvement in academic standards has been endorsed by the School Estimates Report of the Education & Manpower Bureau, showing that for the past three years (2000-02) we gained positive value-added to both CE and AS Level English. Of the scores (ranging from –10 to +10), we attained an average of +4.4 in the CE level and +2.53 in the AS level, indicating our students’ high performance.

1. Our department’s website has gained wide acceptance. More than twenty-eight thousand visits have been recorded since its inception in March 2001. It has been put on the Hong Kong Education City’s recommended list of English learning websites. Mr. Sam Lo’s HKCEE webpage has also got the honour.

1. Much of the success is due to the drive and commitment towards excellence in teaching by our panel teachers. It also attests that we have a team of high performing, knowledgeable and dedicated English teachers. Although we have made tremendous gains and improvements, we will continue to step up our reform efforts. We will build on our strengths and success by improving our students' overall performance.

III. Evaluation

A. Programme plans

The past school year was again a productive one. Significant advances were made in relation to improving the quality of teaching and learning. The following highlights some of the goals conveyed in the 2002-03 programme plans and the results gained.

S1 Curriculum Tailoring Scheme

Period: Whole year
Teacher-in-charge: Kung Ngan Ho
Attainments: Two sets of tailor-made course materials have been produced: one for academically low achievers and the other for normal classes. A survey conducted by the school has revealed that English comes in second among S1 students’ favourite subjects.
Suggestions: 1. Some tasks/exercises for normal classes should be more challenging while those for weak classes could be easier.
2. Some outings should be organized for S1 students so that they can use English in an interesting way.
3. The course materials should be revised by late July.

S1-2 MMLC Lessons

Period: Whole year
Teacher-in-charge: Kung Ngan Ho
Attainments: Teachers have made use of software and Internet resources to integrate IT into the S1 and S2 curriculums. They have also edited existing resources like MindGame to develop tailor-made materials for students. Students have had the chance to record their voices in order to improve pronunciation. Most students have found the MMLC lessons enjoyable.
Suggestions: 1. More pronunciation teaching and recordings should be arranged in the MMLC lessons.
2. Students should be awarded points for the Self-Enhancing English Scheme if they use the MMLC after school.
S5 Extended 8th Periods
Period: Whole year
Teachers-in-charge: Leung Kin Tim & Pun Ching To
Attainments: Students became more familiar with the exam formats and skills. They were motivated to get higher scores and there was an atmosphere of healthy competition among some students. Students showed steady improvement in reading and listening skills.
Suggestions: Weak students should be allowed to leave early. More time is needed to review the paper.
S5 Seminars on CE English Skills
Dates: September 6, 2002 & March 7, 2003
Teacher-in-charge: Leung Kin Tim
Attainments: S6 students shared their experience and feelings of their study life. Two past students were invited to convey the message that English is very important for work and study.
S5 Pre-Exam Oral Practice Classes
Period: June 2003
Teachers-in-charge: Leung Kin Tim & Pun Ching To
Attainments: 106 students attended the practice classes. They received advice from teachers and gained more confidence in speaking.
S6 English Morning Assembly
Period: March - May 2003
Teacher-in-charge: Leung Kin Tim
Attainments: Students were given opportunities to speak English in public. They made use of short plays, interviews and talks to share their ideas with their schoolmates.
S1-S3 School-based Extensive Reading Award Scheme
Period: Whole year
Teacher-in-charge: Kung Ngan Ho & Kok Lai Yuk
Attainments: 92 students went to Room 803 after school from September to March, completing about 400 work cards. One of them was awarded the gold prize, 2 the silver prize and 5 the bronze prize. But for the abrupt termination of the scheme through the outbreak of SARS, more students would have got the prizes.
S3-S7 Self-Enhancing English Scheme
Period: Whole year
Teacher-in-charge: Leung Kin Tim
Attainments: 1. News quizzes were held monthly from October to May;
2. Over 400 times of student participation in lunch forums were recorded over 14 cycles;
3. 64 awards were given, which included 1 gold prize, 2 silver prizes, 17 bronze prizes and 24 merit prizes.
Suggestions: The scheme should be extended to S1-S2 and all teachers should be involved. There should be more award learning activities arranged by the panel teachers of the form. The school should appropriate funds for this scheme.

B. Activities

The outbreak of SARS with subsequent suspension of classes and cutting short of school hours compelled us to call off some of our plans, of which the long awaited English Camp was regretfully cancelled. Despite some hiccups, English activities continued to flourish this past year. The activities offered our students a wide range of language arts experiences to meet their varied learning needs. They also enjoyed numerous opportunities to extend their learning with visits off the school campus. We also place great emphasis on projects that can develop the positive language learning attitudes of co-operation, problem-solving and creativity. The experiences students gain can widen their horizons, enhance their confidence and inspire them to greater efforts. Some of the major activities held this past year are listed below:

S1 Choral-Speaking Competition

Date: March 12, 2003
Teacher-in-charge: Helen Wong
Attainments: It has motivated students to participate and enjoy verse speaking in English. It has also brought to their attention the importance of pronunciation, rhythm and clarity in speaking English. The participants' great enthusiasm, good cooperation and teachers' thorough training were good indications of success.

S2 Lunch at the Outback Steakhouse

Dates: March 6 & 13, 2003
Teachers-in-charge: Choi Wai Kam & Kung Ngan Ho
Attainments: Most students enjoyed ordering food and having interviews with the restaurant manager and the waitresses in English. They were also impressed by the tasty food, spotless kitchen and cozy atmosphere. After going through an interesting learning experience, students found it fairly easy to arrive at the end product, i.e. writing a restaurant review.
S2 English Quiz
Date: March 20, 2003
Teachers-in-charge: Choi Wai Kam
Attainments: S2 students' active participation and good responses were obvious. They had the chance to recall what they had learnt.

Suggestions: The quiz should be held in the first term because it could inspire students to put greater efforts in learning English.

S3 Halloween Display Competition

Date: October 29, 2002
Teacher-in-charge: Leung Wai Yee
Attainments: There was a beautiful array of Halloween items in the S3 classrooms. It aroused students' interest in learning popular English festivals.

S3 Interviewing Foreign Tourists

Dates: December 13 & 17, 2002
Teacher-in-charge: Leung Wai Yee & Hung Yuen Kay
Attainments: The S3 students have gained more confidence to speak English and got a sense of achievement in communicating with foreigners in English.
Suggestions: 1. Students should be allowed to stay at the destination longer so that they could have more time to speak to visitors.
2. The handouts prepared for students should be used as samples and students should feel free to ask any questions they like.

S4 Song Matching Competition

Date: May 22, 2003
Teacher-in-charge: Cheng Pik Man
Attainments: The competition received enthusiastic responses from S4 students. The scores were amazingly high.
Suggestions: The competition should be held in an English lesson so that the subject teacher could supervise the work more effectively.
S6 Mega Salesman Arena
Date: May 22, 2003
Teacher-in-charge: Choy Ka Wing
Attainments: There were many superb scripts with fertile imagination and remarkable gimmicks. The exaggerating expressions, subtle language and amusing performance captivated the audience.
Suggestions: The dialogues should be made brief and in conversational style.

IV. Web-based learning

A. English Department Website

The on-line learning development remains a key strategic initiative for the panel. The use of our department's website has increased substantially. The number of hits per day has doubled, and nearly quadrupled at some points with an average of 1,200 per month. This trend is expected to continue, as more useful learning resources will be available via our homepage. We have made a number of revisions to the webpages and there are plans for strengthening the audio components.

B. eClass

We pioneered the use of eClass to stimulate learning. eClass provides language-rich environments for students to brush up on their English beyond the confines of the classroom setting. eClasses have been put to active use in all S6-S7 classes and some S5 classes. A special eClass has been set up for conducting quizzes for all classes. Students' learning progress is systematically recorded. There is also a growing trend for teachers to assign tasks via eClass during holidays. Hundreds of questions have been created and stored at the question bank for further use.

V. Public Examination Results

AS-level Use of English

Pass rate: 86.7%

Given that over half of our S7 graduates got grade E in HKCEE English Language, the pass rate is more than encouraging. Use of English is again one of the best subjects in this year's AL-Level exams in our school. The good results bore testimony to our UE teachers' hard work and dedication. The failures came mostly from Syllabus A students. They were not only weak in listening and speaking skills, but also devoid of confidence and stamina.

HKCEE

Pass rate: 53.3%

Despite the worst intakes in S1 with the lowest proficiency in English, our S5 students fared steadily and performed reasonably well in this year's HKCEE English Language papers. Indeed, English is one of the top five HKCEE subjects in our school this year. Two students attained grade A and six students got grade B. Our S5 English teachers' great effort is commendable. They worked wonders and helped some low-achievers get passed.

VII. Areas for improvement

While citing progress made, we also want to acknowledge that there is room for improvement.

1. Our students' learning progress is hampered by their passive attitude as well as poor confidence. Weak foundation is often cited as the root cause. But actually, students fail to see there is a genuine need for language proficiency in work and study.

Remedies: Self-Enhancing English Scheme, pleasurable learning

1. Communication is often impeded by our students' narrow range of vocabulary and inaccurate pronunciation. Students' responses are invariably brief and unintelligible. Ideas are seldom fully expressed in accurate English. Keeping silent remains the common tactics to shun communication.

Remedies: Recording voices, lunch forum, NET Scheme

1. As the general medium of instruction in our school is Chinese, students can hardly use English in lessons and they get used to speaking Chinese in English lessons too.

Remedy: strengthening students' classroom language

1. Only under compulsion do our students read and write regularly. Language errors are abundant in their writing and so are silly ideas. They need to cultivate good reading and writing habits.

Remedies: working in conjunction with the school's reading programme, daily journals, CE writing in S5, UE writing in S7

1. Professional sharing takes place rather informally and inconsistently in our panel. As improving teaching effectiveness remains a priority issue, we need to create more opportunities for sharing ideas and learning new skills.

Remedies: peer lesson observation, good practice sharing sessions