Organised by English Language Education Section Curriculum Development Institute Education Bureau

1. Seminar-cum-workshops on Promoting the 3Cs and Quality Interaction in the Primary English Classroom Organised by English Language Education Section Curriculum Development Institute Education Bureau Guest speakers from TELEC Teachers of English Language Education Centre The University of Hong Kong March 2005

2. Aims of Seminar-cum-workshops • To familiarize participants with the resource package ‘Promoting Quality Interaction in the Primary English Classroom’ • To introduce effective and flexible ways of using the resource package for a series of school-based facilitator-led workshops • To help participants gain a better understanding of what interaction involves, and to enable them to bring about quality interaction and the development of 3Cs in their classrooms

3. Purpose of Package To support the implementation of the English Language Education Key Learning Area Curriculum Guide (P1-S3) (CDC, 2002) and the English Language Curriculum Guide (Primary 1-6) (CDC, 2004) by • helping teachers of English to gain a better understanding of what interaction involves in their classrooms* • enabling teachers to bring about quality interaction in their classrooms • providing resource materials for promoting quality interaction through school-based workshops and self-access learning (*For “English for Classroom Interaction”, please refer to Appendix 4 pp. A23 – A26 of the English Language Curriculum Guide (Primary 1-6) (CDC, 2004) )

4. Contents of Package • 3 multimedia CD-ROMs containing materials to help teachers generate quality interaction in the English classroom • A handbook for facilitators (facilitators’ guide and printable handouts for participants)

5. Organisation of Sessions in the CD-ROMs • Session 1 – Developing good practices in language teaching and learning • Session 2 – Recognising and selecting appropriate oral activities • Session 3 – Generating interaction in the classroom: the role of the teacher • Session 4 – Analysing student interaction in the classroom • Session 5 – Improving the quality of classroom interaction

6. Components of Sessions • Each session is divided into three components: A, B & C. • Component A is designed for facilitator-led whole group sessions. • Components B & C are designed for self-access use, for individuals or small groups of teachers.

7. Components, Options and Time Required

8. Why focus on ‘interaction’? • Language serves a social function for interactive communication in everyday life.(See p.142 of the English Language Curriculum Guide (Primary 1-6) (CDC, 2004) ) • Students should be given the opportunity to take risks, experiment with language and develop their creativity. • Language output is critical for language development.

9. Why do students need to participate in interaction? • When students are using language they are actively involved in the negotiation of meaning. (See Tsui (1996)) • Using language enables learners to test hypotheses which they have formed about language. (See Tsui (1996)) • Language learners need to have the opportunity to take risks, be creative and experiment with language. (See Rubin & Thompson (1983)) • Contributions by students help to create the content of the lesson. (See Katz in Bailey and Nunan (1996))

10. Interaction involves ... • controlling one’s own language production • making decisions and choices on the content of their interaction and the way to express it • using language in order to satisfy particular demands • using language under normal processing conditions • having conditions that require participants to reciprocate • the participants in the management of interaction • the negotiation of meaning (Summary based on Bygate (1987))

11. What is quality interaction? • Using the target language to communicate effectively with others in meaningful contexts • Involving a two-way process with feedback • Developing ability to clarify meanings during interaction • Communicating with each other for a purpose • Developing language and skills that are useful in real life

12. How to promote quality interaction Teachers should: • provide activities which enable students to develop the skills that will enable them to participate in real-life situations; and • provide a range of activities and task types to help students develop the skills that enable them to manage interaction in and beyond the classroom.

13. Promoting the 3Cs Communication Skills In learning to communicate effectively, learners should learn to… • identify purpose and context of communication • convey a message in accordance with needs of the audience • organize accurate and relevant information for the audience • evaluate effectiveness of their communication • identify areas of improvement for action (See pp. 73-74 of the English Language Curriculum Guide (Primary 1-6) (CDC, 2004))

14. Promoting the 3Cs Creativity To develop learners’ creativity, teachers need to… • ask them to go beyond given information • allow them time to think • strengthen and reward creative efforts • encourage problem solving • create a climate conducive to creativity (See pp. 75-77 of the English Language Curriculum Guide (Primary 1-6) (CDC, 2004) )

15. Promoting the 3Cs Critical Thinking Skills In learning to think critically, learners should learn to… • draw meaning from given data and statements • evaluate accuracy of given statements • evaluate and generate arguments • question and enquire in order to make judgements (See pp. 78-79 of the English Language Curriculum Guide (Primary 1-6) (CDC, 2004) )

16. Developing the 3Cs

17. Evaluating Activities • Do these activities help students develop communication skills, creativity and critical thinking skills? If yes, to what extent? • What kind of demands do these activities make on students’ speaking skills? • What problems do you think upper primary students might have in carrying out these activities?

18. A Visit to the Doctor • Teacher shows students a flash card of an ailment and elicits responses by asking ‘What’s the matter?’. • Teacher models the structure and vocabulary, e.g. She’s got a cough. • Students listen and repeat. • Teacher asks a question and nominates student to answer the question.

19. Have you got any apples? • Students work in groups of four. • Each student has a shopping list with six food items. • The group leader deals each player six cards with pictures of food items. • Each student must try and obtain the items on his/her shopping list by asking other students in the group ‘Have you got any …’ [i.e. the target language item] • If a student has the card, he/she must give it to the student who asked the question. • They continue playing the game until someone has all the items on his/her shopping list.

20. My New Festival • Students work in groups of four. • They brainstorm ideas for a new festival using headings as prompts for discussion. • They organise their ideas as notes under the headings. • They then use their notes and work collaboratively to write about their new festival.

21. Visiting Hong Kong • Students read an email from a cousin in Canada who wants to visit Hong Kong. In the email he wants to ‘visit beautiful places and learn something about Hong Kong’. • Students plan an itinerary for their cousin using a map and some information about things to do in Hong Kong.

22. strong strong strong strong Developing the 3Cs weak