Catering for the learning needs of local and cross-border students: A case of P4
Background
Fuk Tak Education Society Primary School admits a significant proportion of cross-border students across year levels, implying that students' English proficiency ranges from developing basic competency of the newly arrived students to attaining proficiency beyond KS1 level. To help upper primary students with different starting points learn English more effectively and adapt to the learning environment in Hong Kong, teachers designed the school English Language curriculum starting from P4, incorporating the use of various strategies such as self-directed learning, life-wide learning and e-learning to develop a solid foundation of knowledge, skills and values and attitudes with a view to enhancing students' understanding of themselves, people around them, community and society.
Level
P4
Strategies used
Adopting a framework of development for systematic planning of lateral curriculum coherence
To enhance students' understanding of and sense of connection to different levels of context, namely "Individual and peer development" (focusing on themselves and people around them), "Class and school understanding" (focusing on life within school) and "Community and social adaptation" (focusing on life beyond school), P4 textbook units were mapped into one of the three levels as shown in Figure 1 to set clear unit objectives alongside the development of language skills.
Figure 1 Levels of contexts to enhance students' personal developmentInfusing e-learning and life-wide learning elements into relevant units to enrich students' language exposure and learning experience
To broaden students' horizons in terms of language exposure and to provide them with authentic contexts for meaningful application of their learning, teachers adopted e-tools accessible on the Mainland and incorporated life-wide learning activities that extended students' learning space. In this light, students' learning time within and outside the school was utilised.
What happened
Learning time within school: Conducting holistic planning through mapping textbook units into the framework of levels of contexts
The P4 English Language curriculum
To provide teachers and students with a clear direction for development, textbook units were mapped into one of the three levels of contexts (see Figure 1), and key tasks and activities were designed for students' to gain thematic knowledge and apply their learning in real-life situations. With this framework, units were reorganised under different levels of context and were reordered so as to help students progressively develop their understanding of the world. Furthermore, they were given more opportunities to showcase their acquisition of various language and generic skills in a wide range of authentic tasks including interactive tasks such as interviews and presentations (see Table 1 for a summary of the P4 English Language curriculum). As can be seen from Table 1, learning tasks became progressively more complex as the units moved from the inner to the outer levels of contexts (e.g. from giving a presentation to classmates on "My best friend" in Term 1 to introducing their work on the Open Day to visitors and to interacting with tourists in English in Term 2). As a result, students underwent deeper learning through higher-order, critical thinking that facilitated the active construction of knowledge and skills (Fisher & Heikkinen, 2010).
Levels of contexts |
Modules |
Units |
Key tasks/activities (Text types in bold) |
Language points |
Individual and peer development |
Connecting with Other People (Term 1) |
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Vocabulary: |
Class and school understanding |
Making Improvement (Term 1) |
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Vocabulary: |
Food and Drinks |
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Vocabulary: |
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Community and social adaptation |
Now and Then |
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Vocabulary: |
We Love Hong Kong |
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Vocabulary: |
Table 1 A summary of the P4 English Language curriculum
Learning time outside school: Incorporating e-learning and life-wide learning activities into relevant units
To extend students' learning space and time, teachers designed tasks that allowed students to make good use of their learning time outside English lessons in school and beyond school time (e.g. at home and in the community). The following paragraphs illustrate with examples how students' learning time at home, outside lessons in school and in the community was exploited, thereby (i) expanding the sources of the knowledge learnt, and (ii) allowing them to apply the knowledge, skills and values and attitudes learnt in real-life situations.
At home
As cross-border students' time at school was much reduced by the longer commute time, teachers incorporated resources available online on the Mainland for students' easy access, and uploaded adapted learning resources onto learning platforms for students to perform tasks at home across the border. For example, in the module "Now and Then", teachers adapted multiple sources of information from the Internet regarding different aspects of life 500 years ago, 50 years ago and now in Hong Kong and Mainland China, which were consolidated into customised texts uploaded onto electronic platforms accessible by students both in Hong Kong and at home such as WeChat public account and SlideShare (see Figure 2 for examples). This way, students may gain full access to learning materials without being limited by location and time.
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Figure 2 Screenshots of adapted texts uploaded onto SlideShare
Outside lesson time in school
"Food and Drinks" learning about the food pyramid and food labels, P4 students set up booths to introduce healthy snacks from different countries of their own choice on the International Snacks Day. The activity provided students with opportunities to learn and practise presenting information about snacks, including names and nutritional information.
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For the module "Now and Then", students presented their posters in different aspects of life in different eras, including schooling, transport, housing, currency, clothing and entertainment, to visitors of the school's 60th Anniversary Open Day. They were able to use suitable speaking and presentation skills to introduce their learning precisely and concisely to teachers, parents, peers and other members of the school community.
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In the community
Apart from learning about the various themes in English lessons, students were also given ample opportunities to apply their learning of knowledge, skills and values and attitudes in authentic contexts through relevant post-module life-wide learning activities for units grouped under "Community and social adaptation", aiming at helping students "achieve the aims of whole-person development and enable them to develop the lifelong learning capabilities that are needed in our ever-changing society" (Education Bureau, 2023).
For example, in the module "We Love Hong Kong", students interviewed tourists in Stanley to collect their views about Hong Kong and their experiences such as favourite tourist spots and dining experiences. To bestow a meaningful purpose of the module project, each interviewee was given as a souvenir a copy of a leaflet of Hong Kong tourist attractions or districts (including Sai Kung, Wan Chai, Ocean Park, Mongkok, Disneyland and Tsim Sha Tsui) the particular tourist had not visited. Since the tourists were of a wide range of nationalities and not necessarily native speakers of English, students used English as a lingua franca.
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At the end of the day, teachers also gave students a brief tour around Stanley to familiarise them with the area. This helped students, especially those residing on the Mainland, gain a better understanding of places in Hong Kong they would seldom visit.
Impact
Curriculum level
The P4 English Language curriculum was revamped to facilitate students', particularly those who travel across the border daily from the Mainland, understanding and adaptation to the new learning environment and people around them. Categorising textbook modules and units under the three levels of contexts (see Figure 1) and reordering the units along the framework provided a clear direction for students' learning and development from their own proximity to the community and society. Their knowledge, skills and values and attitudes were progressively developed throughout the school year. Through incorporating learning and teaching materials accessible on the Mainland as well as organising co-curricular activities outside lesson time within school and life-wide learning activities in the community, students were given opportunities to apply their learning in authentic situations and communicate with members of the society, thereby making good use of learning time (as suggested in Curriculum Development Council, 2022). A broader and more balanced curriculum was designed to deepen students' learning experiences and foster whole-person development.
Teacher level
Teachers formed a more holistic perspective of the school English Language curriculum through exploring possibilities to cater for the learning needs of both local and cross-border students. Their professional capacity was enhanced through organically incorporating learning and teaching tasks and activities both within and outside of English lessons and the school, aligning the different stages of learning with focused objectives and a road map of knowledge and skills development. Their repertoire of pedagogical strategies was also expanded as more interactive learning tasks and tools were designed, and they were able to provide timely and appropriate feedback for students based on observations on student performance so as to give them a sense of direction for learning and further improvement. In the course of curriculum development, they have also manifested curriculum leadership capabilities such as using data effectively, and making good use of school and community resources with a view to extending students' learning experiences. More importantly, the collaborating teachers conducted a sharing session with all members of the English department so as to build a sharing and collaborative culture among team members, demonstrating the achievements attained during the year. The development of the teaching team may facilitate and sustain the growth of the English panel.
Student level
From teachers' observation, students' learning motivation increased as the modules and units were designed around their daily lives. In general, students manifested improvement in all four language skills in terms of lesson engagement and assessment. They were also able to produce a wide range of learning outcomes such as designing posters with clear articulation of necessary information (see Figure 6 above) and making leaflets attractive to visitors (see Figure 8 above and Figure 9 below), and giving informative presentations without having to refer to notes (see Figure 10 below) with clear concepts of the purposes and potential audience in mind. Furthermore, given the lack of opportunities of language use and their late start in learning English, the cross-border students showed significant improvement especially in speaking and listening as the learning tasks were developed for them to make authentic use of the target language in different situations (e.g. using English as a lingua franca when interviewing tourists).
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Conclusion
With the significant intake of cross-border students in P4, teachers faced the challenge of catering for students' diverse learning needs and different entry points in learning English. Through reorganising the textbook units, injecting an array of learning and teaching tasks and materials into the English Language curriculum, and utilising school and community resources, the learning space and time of both local and cross-border students were both expanded and enhanced. Thanks to the English teachers' effort in addressing students' needs and solving pedagogical and administrative obstacles, students' knowledge, skills and values and attitudes were significantly built. To sustain the good practice, the English panel head and teachers will continue to review and revamp the school English Language curriculum, and extend the changes to P5 and P6 in the upcoming years.
Bibliography
Curriculum Development Council. (2022). Primary Education Curriculum Guide (Pilot Version). Retrieved from https://www.edb.gov.hk/attachment/tc/curriculum-development/major-level-of-edu/primary/curriculum-documents/Primary_Education_Curriculum_Guide/pecg_full.pdf
Education Bureau. (2023). Life-wide Learning. Retrieved from https://www.edb.gov.hk/en/curriculum-development/curriculum-area/life-wide-learning/index.html
Fischer, K. W. & Heikkinen, K. (2010). The Future of Educational Neuroscience. In D. A. Sousa (Ed.). Mind, Brain, and Education: Neuroscience Implications for the Classroom (1st Ed). Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.
Fuk Tak Education Society Primary School
Enoch MAN (Language Support Officer)