Preparing primary students for EMI secondary education

1. Preparing primary students for EMI secondary education Stella Kong

2. Today’s rundown 9:45 am First Session 11:00 am         Break      11:15 am         Second Session 12:00 pm         Q & A and Discussion 12:15 pm        Close 12:30 pm         Coach leaving HKIEd

3. Overview • What is EMI and why EMI? • What are the EMI challenges for S1 students? • How can teachers prepare primary students for secondary EMI? • What English is required for secondary EMI? • How can primary students be prepared for this English? • Q & A

4. 1. What is EMI and why EMI? • EMI = instructing students in English across the curriculum = immersion education • Immersion: immersing in a language for very high proficiency • To teach all subjects through English  students learn the subjects through English so that they learn both the subjects and the English • The range of English + the time for English  very high (native-like) proficiency

5. 1. What is EMI and why EMI? • Chinese (L1) is the most effective and efficient tool for learning but… • Parents want their kids to have high proficiency of English for educational and economic reasons • Learning English in English lessons  general English, interpersonal English, aesthetic English, narrative English • Learning English through other subjects  the English of science, the English of history, the English of music … (academic English)

6. 1. What is EMI and why EMI? The sole reason to teach across the curriculum through English is that students develop a high level of proficiency in English at no expense to subject learning (cognitive development)

7. 2. What are the EMI challenges for S1 students? • Students must learn both subjects (content) and English (language) at the same time • Problem with secondary EMI / late immersion: Proficiency gap 600 words 2000-5000 words

8. 2. What are the EMI challenges for S1 students? Learning all subjects through English (academic English)  a much wider range and depth (cognitive complexity) of English (vocabulary, sentence structures, texts) e.g. • When the phone rang, I was having a bath. (time) • When / Ifa straight line makes a quarter turn, it forms a right angle. (definition) • When the intercostal muscles contract, the ribs move upwards and outwards and the diaphragm becomes flattened. (cause-effect) • When the water level is rising at an average rate of 3.1 mm per year from 1993 to 2003, what would happen to the world in 2053? (hypothesis)

9. 2. What are the EMI challenges for S1 students? • When the content becomes more difficult and complex, the English becomes correspondingly more difficult and complex  students’ English progresses • Can they learn content through English and learn both to progress through secondary?

10. 3. How can teachers prepare primary students for secondary EMI? • Students need some academic English to start learning content through English Teachers teach primary students basic academic English using some academic/ rich content / texts (to narrow the proficiency gap)

11. 4. What English is required for secondary EMI? There are 5 key academic text types students need to use for learning through English: • Information report: to give information on a class of objects, to define what an object is • Process description: to describe a process / sequence of events / routes • Process explanation: to explain a process of events that has a cause-effect relationship • Comparison-contrast; to compare and contrast 2 or more entities • Discussion: to provide / argue for different views

12. 4. What English is required for secondary EMI? Information report Vertebrates can be classified into 5 types: fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, mammals. Fish breathe with gills. Their bodies are covered with scales. They reproduce by laying eggs. Shark is an example of fish. Reptiles breathe with lungs. Their bodies are covered with dry skin or horny scales. They reproduce by laying shelled eggs. Crocodile is an example of reptile. Amphibians breathe with gills when young and with lungs as adults. Their bodies are covered with damp skin. They reproduce by laying eggs. Frog is an example of amphibian. Birds breathe with lungs. Their bodies are covered with feathers. They reproduce by laying shelled eggs. Penguin is an example of bird. Mammals breathe with lungs. Their bodies are covered with hair or fur. They reproduce by giving birth to live babies. The mothers feed their young with milk. Dolphin is an example of mammal.

13. 4. What English is required for secondary EMI? Process description Ventilation of the lungs is the process by which air is inhaled and exhaled. This process is the first stage in respiration. When we inhale, air containing 21% oxygen enters the respiratory system through the mouth and the nose. The air passes through the larynx and the trachea into the two bronchi, which divide into many bronchioles. The air passes into these bronchioles, which connect to tiny sacs called alveoli. Gaseous exchange takes place in these alveoli. When we exhale, air containing less oxygen but much more carbon dioxide goes back from the alveoli to the bronchioles and then to the bronchi. From the bronchi, air goes back to the trachea and the larynx and then goes out of the respiratory system through the mouth and the nose.

14. 4. What English is required for secondary EMI? Process explanation Air is forced into and out of the lungs by the intercostal muscles, the ribs and the diaphragm. When the intercostal muscles contract, the ribs move upwards and outwards and the diaphragm becomes flattened. This causes the volume of the chest to increase and the pressure inside the chest therefore decreases. Air is thereforedrawn in. When the intercostal muscles relax, the ribs move downwards and inwards and the diaphragm becomes dome-shaped. This causes the volume of the chest to decrease and the pressure inside the chest therefore increases. Air is thereforeforced out.

15. 4. What English is required for secondary EMI? Compare-contrast Bothaerobic respiration and anaerobic respiration take place in humans. Aerobic respiration requires oxygen. Anaerobic respiration does not. Aerobic respiration takes place when there is enough oxygen supply. Anaerobic respiration takes place when we cannot have enough oxygen to produce the energy we need through aerobic respiration, for example, when we exercise. Aerobic respiration produces energy, water and carbon dioxide. Anaerobic respiration produces a much smaller amount of energy and it produces lactic acid instead of water. Lactic acid is poisonous, causing pains and cramps in our muscles. Aerobic respiration and anaerobic respiration in humans take place under different conditions and produce different products according to the needs of the situations.

16. 4. What English is required for secondary EMI? Discussion One of today’s most controversial subjects is nuclear or atomic power. In the past, fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas provided enough energy for homes and industries, but now they are harder to get and more expensive. People in developing countries throughout the world need cheap energy for better lives. People in industrialized countries want to keep their high standard of living. Nuclear power by itself can provide energy for both these purposes. However, many people oppose atomic energy. They say that the high standard of living in developed nations is unnecessary. Moreover, nuclear power can be dangerous. A single accident could kill or injure thousands of people.  A strong argument of the proponents of nuclear energy is that it is clean. Uranium mines do not damage the land as surface coal mines do. Coal- and oil-powered industries emit ugly, bad-smelling pollutants; nuclear generators do not. However, opponents of nuclear energy point out that nuclear reactors pour coolants into streams and rivers. These coolants change the temperature of the water. Opponents state that the temperature changes cause damage to fish and plants. Proponents, on the other hand, say that the warm water from nuclear reactors provides ideal conditions for raising certain fish.  ……

17. 5. How can primary students be prepared for this English? Teach these text types by: • using texts with academic content; • helping students deconstruct the texts to learn • the purpose of the text (what the text is doing – classifying, explaining, discussing?) • the structure of the text (the stages / parts involved) • the language useto achieve the purpose of the text

18. 5. How can primary students be prepared for this English? We offer a 1-week PDP to explore into these 5 academic text types: BWP048 (PDP for Primary Teachers of English) – Supporting Subject Learning in English: From KS2 to KS3 9-13 June 2014

19. Q & A

22. Passive voice Yes, the pupil is used to admit light into the eye. And in fact pupil is nothing but a hole. This is not an object. In fact, it is a hole. However, (1) the size of a pupil can be changed by the iris. In different situations, under different conditions, the size of a pupil can be adjusted by the iris. And in fact the iris will change the size of the pupil (2) depending on the lighting condition. Under very bright condition, when there (3) when there is bright light around, the iris will move to make the pupil smaller. And when we are looking things under dark condition, the iris will move(4) to make the hole larger to make the pupil larger. So more light can enter the eye, OK? Na, this kind of adjustment is part of the accommodation. OK? (Drawing the focusing muscles and lens on the partially drawn diagram of an eye) After passing through the pupil, the light ray will meet another structure. This is the focusing muscle and this is the lens. Don’t forget to put ‘s’ at the end of this word. This is important. Don’t say ‘len’. Lens. But the lens is used to focus object. When light enters the eye, the lens help to change, help to focus all the objects into (5) a single point on the retina which is the back of the eye. (Drawing light rays entering the eye on the diagram) Again the lens can be adjusted. In fact, (6) the thickness of the lenscan be adjusted by(6) the movement of the focusing muscles. When we are looking at objects from different distances, the lens, the thickness of the lens will be changed. If we are going to look at far objects, the lens will become thinner by the movement of the focusing muscle and when we are looking at a near object, the lens will become thicker, will become thicker to focus the object, to get a good image of it. It is another kind of adjustment in the eye. And again part of the accommodation of the eye. So that our eye can see under bright or dark condition. We can see things from far or near distances. Present participle phrase When-clause Infinitive phrase Long noun phrase Nominalised phrase