Lesson Observation: Integrating values education and national security education into a module to develop students’ inference skills

The event commenced with an innovative Secondary 5 English lesson delivered by Dr. Wong Po-yin Pauline of Pentecostal Lam Hon Kwong School. The teacher utilised an engaging reading article titled "Perfection to a Tea" from the China Daily website to cultivate students' appreciation for the art of Chinese tea making. Through various cooperative learning activities, students gained a deeper understanding of the positive values and attitudes (e.g. perseverance and commitment) exhibited by the main subject of the article, Li. In addition, they understood better the importance of protecting cultural heritage and respecting nature, and developed their inference skills.

The teacher employed motivating strategies such as an inductive approach to inferencing, the KISS model, distinguishing multiple types of inferences, cooperative learning and providing opportunities for students to create inference questions to develop their self-directed learning, stimulate their higher-order thinking and foster their collaboration and communication. Through interactive and peer learning, students demonstrated their ability to work out the steps of tackling inference questions, differentiate between various types of inferences, and generate inference-based questions.

Case Sharing 1: Enhancing students’ critical thinking and creativity through promoting Language across the Curriculum/Reading across the Curriculum and creative use of English

Ms Tang Wing-fung, Vivienne, the English Panel Chairperson of Pui Tak Canossian College, shared how to utilise the opportunity created from optimisation to holistically review and enrich the school curriculum through incorporating LaC/RaC and elements of creative use of English to enhance students' critical thinking and creativity respectively. In junior forms, the English department collaborated with teachers from different Key Learning Areas to design interactive cross-curricular projects to enhance students’ critical thinking and problem solving skills. In senior forms, teachers have incorporated creative elements into stories and debates to ignite students’ creative thinking and inspire their imaginative use of English. Through engaging in these diverse and meaningful activities, students’ language proficiency was enhanced, while their higher-order thinking abilities and creativity were nurtured.

Case Sharing 2: Broadening students’ horizons and enriching their learning experiences through infusing Life Planning Education and life-wide learning into the school’s S3 English Language curriculum

Ms Koon Ying-yan, Jasmine, and Ms Wong Wing, Wince, teachers of Kwun Tong Kung Lok Government Secondary School, shared how the school made good use of the opportunity created from optimisation to develop students' interest in learning English by infusing Life Planning Education elements into the school’s English Language curriculum in S3 and extending their learning experiences from inside to outside the classroom through life-wide learning. Teachers infused career exploration elements into unit planning and connected students’ learning experiences through on-site visits to help students understand the nature and requirements of different jobs. With such holistic planning, students were equipped with the capabilities and positive attitudes towards whole-person development and lifelong learning.

Conclusion: Fostering students’ whole-person development

The event demonstrated how schools made good use of different curriculum initiatives (e.g. values education, national security education, LaC/RaC, creative use of English, Life Planning Education and life-wide learning) inside and outside classroom as gateways to broaden students’ knowledge and horizons, enriching their life experiences and enhancing their higher-order thinking. All these measures have effectively helped cater to students’ diverse learning needs, develop their English literacy skills in a balanced manner and foster their whole-person development for meeting the challenges of the 21st century with confidence.