English Language Education Section
Curriculum Development Institute
Education Bureau
*
With a partner, discuss the following:
1. What are your senior secondary students like?
2. Are you satisfied with their performance in English?
3. What have you done to help your senior secondary students
to learn English? Are the measures effective?
*
 a better understanding of effective strategies for teaching
English to senior secondary students;
 designed meaningful learning activities to enhance learning
and teaching effectiveness; and
 explored the use of stimulating learning resources to enhance
students’ motivation and interests in learning English.
*
Set meaningful and
realistic goals
Reflect on their
learning
experiences
Learners
Engage confidently
and meaningfully
in learning
activities
Monitor and
evaluate their
progress against
set goals
*
Negotiate learning
goals and content
with learners
Adapt teaching to
students’ response
Create a supportive,
motivating and
language-rich
environment
Act as a role model
Teachers
Provide
appropriate
scaffolding and
quality feedback
Promote selfaccess language
learning
Enhance quality
interaction
*
An interactive process of knowledge building and language
learning
An open and flexible curriculum framework
Building on strengths
Setting learning targets and allowing flexibility in learning
Using a wide range of learning and teaching approaches and
strategies
Catering for learner diversity
Flexible use of resources
*
English Language Curriculum and Assessment Guide (Secondary 4-6) CDC & HKEAA (2007) p.72
*
Learner-centred instruction
Target-oriented English learning
Integrative and creative language use
Learning grammar and vocabulary in context
Tasks and exercises
Extended tasks and project learning
*
Context
Purpose
Product
Involves learners in
thinking and doing
Requires learners to
draw upon a framework
of knowledge and skills
Unit
The Internet
Level
S4/S5
Objectives
• To enable students to develop deeper understanding on the
topic (e.g. the benefits and harm brought about by the Internet)
• To familiarise students with vocabulary related to the topic (e.g.
Internet addiction and censorship) and terminology used in a
debate.
• To familiarise students with the structure, language and style of
a debate speech.
• To enhance students’ ability to analyse an issue, develop
arguments and present them with supporting details
• To increase students’ exposure to a wide range of text types (e.g.
public speeches, editorial, cartoons, discussion and debate)
Adopting Task-based Learning
Use of tasks for contextualised, purposeful and integrated
learning of viewing, reading, listening, writing and speaking
skills
Situation
The Debating Club of your school is conducting an interclass debating competition. They have conducted a
workshop to develop students’ reasoning, critical thinking
and speech writing skills in preparation for the competition.
By the end of the workshop, students are expected to write
/ deliver a speech on the motion “The Internet does more
harm than good to our everyday life.” The best speeches
and strongest speakers will be selected and a team will be
formed to represent the class for the competition.
Adopting a Task-based Approach in Lesson Design
An example
Module:
Communicating
Text types:
 public
speeches
 debate speech
 editorials
 cartoons
 discussions
 tables
Task 1:
Taking notes of a
speech on how to
write an effective
debate speech
Task 2:
Watching the
opening speeches
of a live debate
Unit:
The Internet
Task 3:
Reading a magazine
article entitled
‘Should the Internet
be Censored’
Situation:
 The English Debating Club of your
school is conducting a series of
training workshops for the new
members of the club.
 By the end of the workshop,
students are expected to write /
deliver a debate speech OR conduct
a mini debate on the motion ‘The
Internet does more harm than good
to our everyday life.’
Task 4
Studying a range of
texts (e.g. an online
forum, statistics,
comic strips) to
gather views for and
against the topic
Task 5:
Reading a debate
speech on ‘Mobile
phones are
necessary evils’
Final task: Writing/delivering a debate speech (individual work)
Conducting a mini debate (group work)
Adapted from Enhancing English Vocabulary Learning and Teaching at Secondary Level (2012), pp.139-188
Unit Overview
• Read a magazine article entitled “Should the Internet be
Censored” to gather views about the advantages and
disadvantages of the Internet and learn how to present an
argument with force.
Part 2
• Read a range of texts (e.g. online forum, tables and cartoons)
to collect more ideas and discuss the pros and cons of internet
censorship.
• Study a sample debate speech on “Mobile phones are
necessary evils” to learn how to structure a debate speech,
present arguments and make refutations.
Part 3 • Write a debate speech on the motion “The Internet does
more harm than good to our daily life.”
• Deliver the debate speech / Conduct a debate for peer
feedback.
A variety
of
materials
A range of
text types
Learner
choice and
autonomy
Assessment
for Learning
TBL
• Listen to a speech given by the Advisor of the English
Debating Club, who introduces the major component of a
debate and some tips on writing an effective speech and take
Part 1 notes.
• Watch the opening speeches of a live debate to understand
the procedure, tone and style of a debate speech
Catering for learner diversity
Theme: The Internet
Integrative Use of Language Skills
Tasks
• Listening and viewing: Students listen to a speech by the teacher
advisor of the debating club and watch the opening speeches of a
debate. {Skills: Viewing and Listening}
• Reading: Students read a range of texts (e.g. articles, debate speeches,
tables, cartoons) on the topic Internet censorship
{Skills: Reading}
• Group discussion: Students discuss the pros and cons of the Internet
and work in groups to conduct a debate against another group. {Skills:
Speaking}
• Individual presentation: Students deliver their own speeches or
conduct a mini debate on the motion “Internet does more harm than
good to our everyday life” for peer feedback {Skills: Speaking}
• Writing: Students write a speech presenting their stance on the motion
with reasons {Skills: Writing}
Using a Variety of Learning and
Teaching Materials
Use of audio-visual materials
1. Audio-visual clips
Is the Internet Making Us Stupid
Description:
Jimmy Wales, Kaiser Kuo, Jeremy
O'Grady and Thomas Crompton,
four leading international
personalities in the online field went
head on head on the motion and
discuss how the Internet has affected
our health, attention and intelligence.
Source: Youtube
Using a Variety of Learning and
Teaching Materials
2. Live Debates
Learning focuses:
• The procedure of the debate
and some basic debate terms
• The tone and language style
of the speakers
Source: Learning English through Social Issues (Secondary 4-6): A Resource Package (2010), EDB
Using a Variety of Learning and
Teaching Materials
3. Cartoons
Cartoons
Cyber crimes – identity theft
Copyright infringement
Spamming
Money-laundering
Piracy
Hacking
*
Passive
vocabulary
Active
vocabulary
Learning Tasks
• Reading
• Listening
• Speaking
• Writing
Functions
• as input
• as output
Skills involved
• Understanding
meaning of words
in context
• Recalling words
and using them
appropriately in
context
Pre-reading
Guiding students in anticipating word families, thematic vocabulary and
language features related to content and text-types
Task 1:
Taking notes of a
speech on how to
write an effective
debate speech
Names of
cybercrimes
19
Task 3:
Reading a magazine
article entitled
‘Should the Internet
be Censored?’
Coined words
on
information
technology
Task 5:
Reading a debate
speech on ‘Mobile
phones are
necessary evils’
DebateIntensifiers
related terms
Suggested words:
Names of
cybercrimes
• copyright
infringement
• hacking
• identify theft
• moneylaundering
• phishing
• piracy
• spamming
Coined words on
information
technology
Debate-related
terms
• blog
• edutainment
• email
• google
• infotainment
• mouse
• Net
• netiquette
• netizen
• spyware
• surf (the Net)
• affirmative
/proposition
side
• motion
• opposition/ne
gative side
• rebuttal
Intensifiers
• absolutely
• certainly
• completely
• definitely
• entirely
• greatly
• strongly
• surely
• totally
While-reading
Demonstrating the use of vocabulary building strategies in guessing
and inferring words and phrases in context
Supporting students in working out the meaning of words in contexts
1.
2.
Linguistic clues
Contextual clues
Knowledge of word formation (e.g. prefixes, suffixes
and compound words)
Knowledge of lexical relations (e.g. collocation, sense
relations such as synonym, antonym and hyponym)
»
»
»
»
21
e.g. Understanding word formation
affixation
inappropriat
e
illegal
undesirable
blending
education +
entertainment

edutainment
internet +
etiquette

netiquette
clipping
The Internet

The Net
new
meaning
a mouse
(a small
furry animal)

a mouse
(a computer
device)
conversion
Google (n.)

to google (v)

e.g. Understanding word association
idiomatic pairs
synonyms
part and parcel
advantages &
benefits
hard and fast
to infringe or
breach
copyright
bring the world
to our
fingertips
antonyms
advantages &
disadvantages
e.g. Organising vocabulary using paradigmatic approach
Crime
24
Criminal
Action
hacking
hacker
hack
copyright
infringement
infringer
infringe
*
* Final Task: A debate speech on the motion “The Internet does
more harm than good to our everyday life.”
Pre-writing
Introduce sentence structures that add strengths to the arguments and
enhance persuasiveness
Patterns/
Structures
Examples
1. Modals
We should be aware of the potential harm of the Internet.
2. Imperatives
Be vigilant with your use of the Internet and watch out for
Internet scams
3. Inversions
Little do teenagers do except surfing the Internet and
playing online games.
4. Rhetorical
questions
What is to blame for their lack of social skills and physical
exercise?
*
Patterns/
Structures
Examples
5. Causeand-effect
structures
 Computers and mobile devices have become so
indispensable that students cannot live without them for
one single day.
 As most parents in Hong Kong are working parents, they
cannot always supervise their children and offer timely
parental guidance on the choice of website materials.
 Internet addiction has adverse effects on students’
physical and social development, resulting in poor health
and eyesight, as well as weak interpersonal and
communication skills.
 Clearly, it is the Internet that creates the opportunities
for all the cyber-crimes and cyber bullying.
 Children need guidance, not indulgence.
 It is time that we seriously thought about the harm the
Internet has done to our everyday life.
6. Emphatic
structures
*
Theme: Consumerism
• In groups, present group’s stance, arguments
and supporting reasons
Lessons 5-6 • Q&A
• Peer feedback
of
materials
A range
of text
types
Learner
choice and
autonomy
Assessment
for
Learning
Catering for learner diversity
• Individually, read a range of texts on the topic
‘over-consumption’
• In groups, discuss examples of overconsumption in Hong Kong, ways to avoid it
Lessons 3-4 and whether the government should take the
lead in educating the public about ‘wise
consumption’
A variety
TBL
• Watch a music video, an oral presentation
and look at some cartoons to work out the
Lessons 1-2 definition, causes and effects of consumerism
*Adopting a Task-based
Approach
Lessons 1-6:
Use of tasks for contextualised, purposeful and
integrated learning of viewing, reading,
listening and speaking skills
Situation
A concern group invites the public to take part
in a forum to discuss the phenomenon of
‘over-consumption’ in Hong Kong and whether
the government should take the lead in
educating the public about ‘wiseconsumption’.
Adopting Task-based Learning
• Students’ roles in the discussion forum
Consumers
in support of
green shopping
Consumers
in support of consumption
for pleasure and quality
life
Businesspeople
Environmentalists
Integrative Use of Language Skills
Tasks
• Viewing and listening: Students watch a music video, an oral
presentation and look at some cartoons to build up background
knowledge of the theme ‘consumerism’. {Skills: Viewing and Listening}
• Individual reading: Students read a data file with a range of texts on
the topic ‘over-consumption’ related to the role assigned
{Skills: Reading}
• Group discussion: Students in the same role share observations about
over-consumption in Hong Kong, suggest ways to avoid the problem
and decide on the group’s stance {Skills: Speaking}
• Group presentation: Students present group’s stance and supporting
arguments about whether the government should take the lead in
educating the public about ‘wise-consumption’
{Skills: Speaking}
• Cross-group interaction: Students ask each other questions about their
views as well as respond to other groups’ questions
{Skills: Listening and Speaking}
Using a Variety of Learning and
Teaching Materials
Lessons 1-2:
Use of audio-visual materials (incl. LA materials)
1. Music video
The Credit Card Song
Learning focuses:
• Many consumers buy products out of
their desires to possess them, not their
needs
• When some consumers cannot afford
buying what they want, they use a credit
card and run into debt
Source: Youtube
Using a Variety of Learning and
Teaching Materials
2. Presentation video
A Presentation on Consumerism
Learning focuses:
• The definition of
‘consumerism’
• Three causes of ‘consumerism’
Source: Learning English through Social Issues (Secondary 4-6): A Resource Package (2010), EDB
Using a Variety of Learning and
Teaching Materials
3. Cartoons
More convenient lifestyle
Cartoons
Learning focuses:
• Positive and
negative effects
of consumerism
Pollution / Wastage
Food wastage / Obesity
Boosting economic growth &
creating job opportunities
Including a Wide Range of Text Types
Lessons 3-4:
Inclusion of a wide range of text types with various
text features and multiple perspectives
An example:
The data file for the role ‘Businesspeople’
Including a Wide Range of Text Types
Text 1: A table showing results of a weekly survey on the most
profitable shopping malls in Hong Kong
Including a Wide Range of Text Types
Text 2: The script of a short radio interview of the manager of
a shopping mall
Including a Wide Range of Text Types
Text 3: A speech at a luncheon
Including a Wide Range of Text Types
Text 4: An excerpt from a book on advertising
*
“Every class is composed of individuals who are
different from each other in terms of maturity,
motivation, ability, learning styles, aspirations
and interests.”
English Language Curriculum and Assessment Guide (Secondary 4-6)
(CDC & HKEAA)
1. Varying questions in terms of language and
cognitive demands
2. Varying the input and output
3. Employing flexible grouping
4. Providing timely feedback
*
Module
Individual and Society
Unit
Elderly Problems
Task 1
Reading an
argumentative
essay on the
plight of the
elderly
Task 2
Listening to
an online
forum about
the medical
services
provided to
the elderly
Unit
Crime
Task 3
Writing an
article on
‘Retirement
Age’
Task
Studying the
statistics
concerning
juvenile
delinquency
Task
Writing a
speech on
how to curb
juvenile
delinquency in
HK
*
Level:
S5
No. of students: 32
No. of lessons:
2 (a double lesson)
Duration:
80 minutes
Unit:
Elderly Problems: Retirement Age (Learning English through
Social Issues)
Lesson
objectives:
• To read, integrated and organise chunks of information from
a variety of sources
• To generate substantial arguments for / against an issue
from various perspectives for an argumentative essay
Students’ prior
knowledge:
• Discussion skills and strategies
• The format of an argumentative essay
• The language used in writing an argumentative essay
* Hands-on Activity
Adopting the task-based approach in lesson design
Group 1: Writing – photo description
Group 2: Speaking – interaction skills
Group 3: Language Arts (Short Stories) – plot structure
Group 4: Non-language Arts (Workplace Communication) –
handling complaints
* New Technologies
Transform Classroom
Practices and
Pedagogical Approaches
*Flipped Classroom
“Flipped Classroom” combined web learning and classroom teaching.
Teachers produced teaching videos for students to watch before the
lessons so that the lesson time could be effectively used to facilitate
classroom interactions. It could address learner diversity and help to
promote enquiry-based and self-directed learning, as well as enhance
learner independence.
Quick guide
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XO2ItlZte0&list=PLpYXVBevRJiMKqRq
RztY6RD65l6-RSoq_&index=1
https://www.edmodo.com/
*Edmodo
On Edmodo, teachers can continue classroom
discussions online, give polls to check for student
understanding, and award badges to individual
students based on performance or behavior
Quick guide
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur0c1h1Gdas
https://www.schoology.com/home.php
*Schoology
Schoology is an innovative learning management
system (LMS) and social network that makes it
easy to create and share academic content.
Quick guide
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbEBtHGnAyU
http://moodle.com/
*Moodle
Moodle is a free source e-learning software
platform to help educators create online courses
with a focus on interaction and collaborative
construction of content, and is in continual
evolution.
Quick Guide
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQyqpVobDR4
References and resources
from the Education Bureau (EDB)
49
Webpage of the
English Language Education Section,
Curriculum Development Institute,
Education Bureau
http://www.edb.gov.hk/en/curriculum-development/kla/engedu/index.html
50
*
*
*
Professional Development Programmes (PDP)
 Information on PDP by Curriculum Development Institute, EDB
http://www.edb.gov.hk/en/curriculum-development/kla/eng-edu/professionaldevelopment-programmes.html
 Application and Details
http://tcs.edb.gov.hk
Learning and Teaching Resources
 Curriculum Documents
http://www.edb.gov.hk/en/curriculum-development/kla/eng-edu/curriculumdocuments.html
 References & Resources
http://www.edb.gov.hk/en/curriculum-development/kla/eng-edu/curriculumdocuments.html
 ETV Programmes
http://etv.edb.gov.hk
 Radio Programmes
http://www.edb.gov.hk/en/curriculum-development/kla/eng-edu/referencesresources/teen-time.html
51
*
*
Other Useful Websites
 Central Resources by Curriculum Development Institute, EDB
http://www.edb.gov.hk/crc
 Government Publications
http://www.gov.hk/en/residents/government/publication/bookstore.htm
 Language Learning Support Section, EDB
http://cd1.edb.hkedcity.net/cd/languagesupport/resource/index_e.htm
 NET Section, EDB
http://www.edb.gov.hk/en/curriculum-development/resourcesupport/net/index.html
 The English Campus of HK Education City
http://www.hkedcity.net/english
52
Resource Packages Developed
by the ELE Section, CDI for the Senior Secondary Level
English Language Curriculum and
Assessment Guide (S4 – 6)
Task-based Learning &
Exemplar Modules
for Key Stages 3 & 4 (S1-3 & S4-5)
Suggested Schemes of Work
for the Elective Part of the Three-year Senior
Secondary English Language Curriculum
(S4-6)
Task-based Language
53
Learning (S4-5)
Enhancing English Vocabulary
Learning and Teaching at
Secondary Level
53
Resource
Packages Developed
Resource Packages Developed
by the
ELE Section,
CDI for Secondary
by
the
ELE Section,
CDILevel
for(3)the Senior Secondary Level
Self-Access Language Learning
for Secondary Schools
(S1-6)
Teen Time Remix
(S1-6)
Self-Access Language Learning
in Hong Kong Secondary Schools
(S1-6)
54
The Learning and Teaching of
Poetry (S4-6)
54
Resource Packages Developed
by the ELE Section, CDI for the Senior Secondary Level
Learning English through Drama
(Secondary 4 – 6)
A Resource Package
Learning English through Short
Stories (Secondary 4 – 6)
A Resource Package
Learning English through Poems
and Songs (Secondary 4 – 6)
A Resource Package
55Learning English through Popular
Culture (Secondary 4 – 6)
A Resource Package
55
Resource Packages Developed
by the ELE Section, CDI for the Senior Secondary Level
Learning English through Workplace
Communication (Secondary 4 – 6)
A Resource Package
Learning English through Sports
Communication (Secondary 4 – 6)
A Resource Package
Learning English through Social
Issues (Secondary 4 – 6)
A Resource Package
56Learning English through
Debating (Secondary 4 – 6)
A Resource Package
56
One-stop Portal
www.hkedicty.net
EDB One-stop Portal for Learning
and Teaching Resources
One-stop Portal
English Language Education
Assessment Tasks Bank
Login with HKEdCity login ID
One-stop Portal
Search by ‘KS4’ and ‘Reading’
One-stop Portal
Assessment Tasks Bank
Click to download
question paper
and suggested
answers
61