According to the English Language Curriculum and Assessment Guide (Secondary 4-6) published by CDC, EDB & HKEAA in 2007, the Elective Part serves the purposes of adding variety to the English Language curriculum, broadening students’ learning experience and catering for their diverse needs and interests by
- providing learners with opportunities to apply the subject knowledge and skills (i.e. the four skills, grammar, communicative functions, vocabulary and text-types)
- enhancing the further development of generic skills such as communication, critical thinking, creativity and collaboration
- engaging learners in a variety of activities
- providing learners with opportunities to demonstrate their learning or achievement through producing some kind of product (performance/ display/ portfolio…)
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Yan Chai No.2 Secondary School is a co-educational school with students of diverse ability and interests. Based on the curriculum document, teachers selected the elective module “Learning English through Workplace Communication”. The design of the module aimed at providing opportunities for students to learn English in a fun way and motivating them to equip themselves with the required skills for their future career.
Strategies used
The design of the elective module “Learning English through Workplace Communication” was based on Tomlinson’s Differentiated Instruction (2003). Tomlinson suggests that to cater for learner diversity, the content, process and product should be differentiated according to the learners’ readiness, interests and learning profile. In fact, other research studies also indicate that students are more successful in school and are more engaged if they are taught in ways that are responsive to their readinesslevels (Vygotsky, 1986), their interests (Csikszentmihaly, 1990), and their learning profiles (Sternberg et al., 1998). |
