EXPLORING WAYS FOR
IMPROVING STUDENTS’
WRITING SKILLS
Holy Family Canossian College
Margaret Liang
Basic information
Subject: S4 History
 Topic: Roles of Hong Kong in the Asia-Pacific
Rim in the 20th century
 Time: 70 mins
 Teaching aids: worksheets


Pre-requisite knowledge: already learnt the roles
of Hong Kong in the Asia-Pacific Rim in the 20th
century
Objectives
Able to write a well-organized essay* with three
parts: introduction, main body, and conclusion
 In each paragraph, able to present the ideas in
three stages: a generalizing remark
foregrounding the main ideas of the paragraph
(topic sentence), elaboration in the form of
examples, and a concluding remark.
* The word essay is commonly used in the Hong
Kong context as an umbrella term for writings in
different ‘genres’

Essay Questions
1.
2.
What major roles did Hong Kong play in the
Asia-Pacific Rim in the 20th century? (15 marks)
Explain the internal and external factors leading
Hong Kong to play such roles in the Asia-Pacific
Rim. (15 marks)
The teaching-learning-cycle
Setting the
context
Students
constructing
independently
Teacher
modelling and
deconstructing
Teacher and
students
constructing jointly
Stage One : Setting the context ( covered in the
previous lesson as background information for
the essay )
Stage Two a. Deconstruction stage
 Steps:
 In
groups, students work on a
concept map
 Write main ideas in point form
Politically
 Teacher
models language for
students
economically
Roles
of HK
culturally
Modelling language structures
E.g. change abbreviated language from notes into
complete sentences
 Hong Kong as a bridge between China and the
rest of the world

 Hong Kong was a bridge between China and the
rest of the world
 Hong Kong for regional organizations

 Hong Kong was an ideal place for setting up
regional organizations because of its freedom and
many favourable conditions

Structure of an essay

Similar to a hamburger which should consist of
three parts
introduction
body
conclusion
• politically
• economically
• culturally
Genre: taxonomic report:
describing the way things are/were e.g.
economically, socially, culturally
Structure of the taxonomic report genre
Roles of Hong Kong
Politically
Economically
Culturally
. Modelling and deconstruction of the body
Discussion among students under teacher’s
guidance:
 how to elaborate the key idea of each paragraph
 For example:
 First role
 Heading : Politically,

Model text:
 Hong
Kong was a bridge between
China and the rest of the world.
For example, when the Korean War
broke out in 1950, western countries
imposed an embargo on China and
isolated her. Under these
circumstances, the mainland used
Hong Kong as a medium of
communication with the west.
1.
2.
3.
Cut up the text into different strips. Jumble
them. Distribute one set of strips to one group of
students
In groups, students organize the strips into the
correct order.
Ask students why the topic sentence (Hong
Kong was a bridge between China and the
rest of the world.) should come first, and why
the rest of the paragraph should follow this
way. ( 1. topic sentence, 2. elaboration in the
form of examples, 3 concluding remark)
• Second role:
• Heading: Economically
• Teacher models sentence structures for this
paragraph, reducing the language support
gradually
For example:
 Hong Kong as a base for foreign investment in
China

 Hong Kong was a base for foreign investment in
China
Hong Kong as a centre for managing funds

Hong Kong was chosen as a centre for managing
their funds and finance.
Stage Three Joint construction
Teacher elicits ideas from students with probing
questions and constructs the second paragraph
titled ‘Economically’ together with the students.
The whole text is written on the blackboard.
 Examples of probing questions:
 What is the topic sentence going to be?
 What example(s) can you give to elaborate the
topic sentence?
 What can you conclude about the economic role of
HK?

Stage Four: Independent construction
Students construct the last role titled
‘culturally’ independently
Consolidation
A similar writing task is given on the following
essay question:
 Explain the internal and external factors leading
Hong Kong to play such roles in the Asia-Pacific
Rim. (15 marks)
Using the strategies in Slide 6,9,14
encourage students to
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Brainstorm by using the concept map (Slide 6)
Change notes into complete sentences (Slide 6)
Decide on the taxonomy (Slide 9, Slide 18)
Think of the topic sentence for each paragraph
(Slide 14)
Think of the reasons to include (Slide 14)
Think of a concluding remark for this paragraph
(Slide 14)
Factors
Internal
External
Students
can write the essay at
home individually after being
supported in this way.
THANK YOU