Overview

Programme Aims

The programme aims at upgrading teachers’ knowledge and skills in the teaching of English at primary level. 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.

The aim of the programme is to enhance teachers’ knowledge and skills in the teaching of English at primary level.

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

Content Objectives

• demonstrate an enhanced understanding of aspects of the English language system;
• demonstrate an enhanced understanding of aspects of the English language learning and teaching;
• demonstrate an understanding of how this enhanced knowledge is applicable within the Hong Kong primary curriculum.

Pedagogical Objective 

• demonstrate enhanced skills in teaching English to Hong Kong primary students.

Programme Structure

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

Course options (3 credit points)
Cohort 1
Towards a smooth transition from kindergarten to primary

A smooth interface between kindergarten and primary is vital in facilitating very young learners’ emotional and habitual preparation for their promotion to primary school. This course aims at empowering in-service primary schools teachers in Key Stage 1 and middle managers in curriculum tailoring to help support children of KG age in adapting to their new learning environment. Teacher participants will conduct kindergarten visits, devise age-appropriate learning content, expectation, assessments as well as teaching strategies according to the very young learners’ cognitive and developmental readiness.

Cohort 2
Developing e-resources for reading across the curriculum in primary schools

This course introduces a wide range of principles and practical skills in promoting reading across the curriculum in Hong Kong primary schools. Focus will be on ways to (a) incorporate reading as a whole school approach, (b) create a diversified range of texts as reading materials, (c) create e-resources that can help students understand the interplay between words, images and sounds, (d) help students to locate, evaluate, extract, organise and present information from cross-curricular texts, and (e) promote reading engagement and motivation. Reports from External School Reviews have pointed out that there is room for improvement in school holistic planning for the promotion of reading and strategies and increasing students’ motivation in reading. The course will showcase effective reading approaches that have been implemented in local primary schools. A particular emphasis is on the development of self-designed eBooks to construct a school-based reading across the curriculum programme suited to the needs of diverse schools and learners. The effective evaluation of current school resources and situation will be included..

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

Medium of Instruction

All teaching and learning activities will be conducted through the medium of English.

Entrance Requirements

To be eligible for admission, applicants should be:

• in-service primary 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.

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.