Enhancing students' language and generic skills through a network project on TV advertising

The presentation described a case in which a number of secondary schools implemented projects in which students invented their own products and produced TV advertisements to "market" them. Their objectives in doing so were to incorporate elements of popular culture into their school-based curriculum, and also to enhance students' language and generic skills through a language arts project. The students learned about the features of TV advertisements. They also learned how to write jingles and slogans for their products. They worked together in groups to develop scripts for their TV advertisements and to film them. The projects were successful in motivating students to speak and write in English, and in enhancing the English language environment in the schools. Since the project involved a network of teachers from different schools, the teachers also had opportunities to learn from one another and to share their projects.

Working together to bridge the gap between primary and secondary levels

This presentation described a two-year project in which a primary and a secondary school worked together to bridge the gap between the P6 and S1 curricula through curriculum mapping and planning, enhancing teachers' professional capacity and improving students' language proficiency.
As a gap had been identified between the primary and the secondary curricula, teachers' expectations and students' learning needs, opportunities were provided for the primary and secondary schools to share their experiences through a series of "cross-fertilization" activities for teachers to review the teaching and learning at each school. Primary teachers then modified teaching, learning and assessment practices through a series of reading and speaking projects inside and outside the classroom. A cross key stage Speaking Enhancement Programme was also implemented to provide an opportunity for promoting interaction between students from the two schools.

Through close collaboration and with the help of professional exchange and experience sharing between the two schools, students' learning needs could be better addressed and their motivation for learning English improved.