Overview

Programme Aims

The programme aims at upgrading teachers’ knowledge and skills in the teaching of English in primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong. It will focus on areas of English language knowledge and skills relevant to the current needs of teachers in the local school sector with particular emphasis on the implementation of recent updates in the English language curriculum.

Upon completion of the programme, participants should be able to:

• review and reflect on the current practice of teaching English in schools in Hong Kong;
• develop an understanding of updated strategies of English language teaching and learning;
• sample practical ideas and activities to help students with their English language development.

Programme Structure

For the 2022-2023 academic year, the course options offered will be as follows:

Course options (3 credit points)
i. Cohorts 1 & 3 (Theme 1)
English Language Teaching in the Digital Era – Practical Ideas and Strategies

This course aims to support practicing English language teachers’ continual professional development by introducing recent pedagogical practices emerging from the digital era to enable them to explore new possibilities for their application to facilitate teaching and learning in the contemporary English classroom. Within a five-day PDP course conducted on five consecutive Saturdays, each day will focus on one of the following topics: informal digital learning of English, technology-enhanced vocabulary learning, assessment and feedback in second language writing, digital storytelling and use of multimodal texts in the English classroom.

ii. Cohort 2 (Theme 2)
Teaching Grammar in Context

This course explores the rationale, principles and strategies for teaching grammar in context to better support English language teaching and learning in KS2 and KS3. It introduces a text-based, meaning-focused approach to grammar teaching, supported with a variety of classroom teaching strategies. The course will facilitate teachers in enabling their students to raise their grammatical awareness and understand grammar forms as meaning in context, thus addressing language fluency, comprehension and accuracy in both a contextualised and coherent way. Teachers will analyse and evaluate samples of appropriate learning materials as well as adapt and design their own materials suitable for their students.

iii. Cohort 4 (Theme 3)
Enhancing learning in the English Language KLA with literary and creative genres

According to the English Language Education Key Learning Area (KLA) Curriculum Guide (Primary 1 to Secondary 6), the use of literary and creative works serves to complement the subject of English Language and further enhance students’ English language proficiency by providing them with opportunities to interact with literary texts and explore the aesthetic, intellectual, cultural and emotional aspects of language learning. This course aims to broaden practising English language teachers’ repertoire of knowledge and skills to use a wide range of literary and creative genres to enhance students’ learning in the English Language Education KLA. The course will run through five Saturdays and the topics include: (1) drama in English language teaching, (2) exploring visual literacy through graphic novels, (3) creative poetry writing, (4) using children’s literature in the English classroom, and (5) reading and writing for pleasure.

More detailed course outlines can be found in https://www.eduhk.hk/ele/programmes/professional-development-programmes

Mode of Delivery

To cater for the schedules of teachers in schools and their difficulties in being released from teaching, the programme will be offered on 5 consecutive Saturdays (details are listed below).

Each Saturday will be a stand-alone seminar exploring a different topic concerning teaching grammar in context/ English language teaching in the digital era/ enhancing learning in the English Language KLA with literary and creative genres, areas currently identified by EDB as priorities for teachers’ professional development.

The 30 course hours are organised as follows:

5 Saturdays x 6 hours (3-hour seminar in the morning + 3-hour workshop in the afternoon)

Medium of Instruction

The medium of instruction is English.

Entrance Requirements

To be eligible for admission, applicants should be:

• In-service primary or secondary school English language teachers in Hong Kong; and
• recommended by their respective school principals.

Award

To be awarded a Certificate of Completion, participants must obtain a pass in course assessment tasks required and successfully fulfill the attendance requirements as stipulated by the programme.

Participants who attend all of the 5 Saturday sessions and complete the assignment tasks, either within one semester or across two semesters within the same academic year (for Cohorts 1 & 3 only), will be considered as having completed the course, and will be awarded a certificate of programme completion.

Disclaimer
Every effort has been made to ensure that information contained in this website is correct. Changes to any aspects of the programmes may be made from time to time due to unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control and the University reserves the right to make amendments to any information contained in this website without prior notice. The University accepts no liability for any loss or damage arising from any use or misuse of or reliance on any information contained in this website. Any aspect of the course and course offerings (including, without limitation, the content of the course and the manner in which the course is taught) may be subject to change at any time at the sole discretion of the University. Without limiting the right of the University to amend the course and its course offerings, it is envisaged that changes may be required due to factors such as staffing, enrolment levels, logistical arrangements and curriculum changes.