AN ENGLISH WEEK AT POOI KEI PRIMARY SCHOOL

(Songs, vides show, games and other activities for enjoyable exposure to English.)　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　By Isa Ho

During this week, a variety of language games and activities were arranged to introduce to the pupils the way to learn English in an alternative approach. The activities were carried out in the following sessions:

Session Duration
morning assembly 25 mins. daily
lunch time 25 mins. daily
class-teacher time 25 mine. (Mon--Thur)
extra-curricular activity time 2 hrs.(Fri)

In order to promote the English Week, about 100 colourful posters and pictures relating to the theme were prepared by the teachers and posted in the covered playground.

MORNING ASSEMBLY －－ SINGING SONG

During the assembly, songs on a different theme were played each morning, e.g. 'greeting', 'colour' ,'food and drink'. Pupils were encouraged to sing along after they had listened to the songs for a few times. It was hoped that through singing, pupils could have fun and at the same tine learn some new words.

EVALUATION:

Some songs were more popular than the other depending on the melody. If the melody was simple, pupils could learn it more easily, and have a higher sense of achievement.

LUNCH TIME－－VIDEO SHOW

Pupils took turn to watch 2 videos, 'Little Red Riding Hood' for P 1-3, and 'Sesame Street' for P 4-6. EVALUATION:

It was difficult to look for videos short enough to be shown during lunch time and easy enough for primary pupils to understand. But these 2 videos seemed to be the right material as the response from the pupils was very good.

CLASS－TEACHER TIME－－GAMES

During the 25 minutes at the end of each day, the class teacher played some games with the pupils, e.g. puzzles, riddles, funny verses, and jokes. Some small prizes were prepared to encourage pupils to participate actively in the game.

EVALUATION:

Since a large variety of games had to be prepared for each day, this session would have been very difficult to arrange if the panel chairlady had not been collecting the games piece by piece over the years. Now, with a large bank of materials ready for use, the session was made possible with relatively little effort.

EXTRA－CURRICULAR ACTIVITY TIME－－ACTIVITIES

Pupils were gathered in the hall to try a number of activities, for example, singing, bingo and secret message.

EVALUATION:

This was less successful than the other sessions because of the hugh number of pupils (about 500). Unlike in the morning session where pupils just listened quietly to the songs or sang to themselves, this session involved their active participation. Discipline was therefore very difficult to control. Besides, when pupils were asked to sing the songs they had learnt in the morning sessions, many of them couldn't do it because they had forgotten the melody.

OVERALL COMMENT
Although most teachers were supportive of the English Week, they were all busy with their daily teaching load. Hence, it was unrealistic to expect them to contribute too much time and effort in the organization work.

In view of this limitation, the panel chairlady had to run the activity with the least involvement of colleagues' time and man power. For example, most of the materials used during the week were her own collection over the years. Besides, since most of the activities were carried out during school hours, no teacher was expected to do any overtime work.

As a whole, the English Week was very successful. Pupils were exposed to the language in an enjoyable way and they experienced through the activities how English could be learnt in a painless way.


　

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