English Activities

A University Taster – Webinar on Language and Culture

To help our S5 students to identify their interests and experience a diversified range of undergraduate programmes, our school invited Dr. Charlie Ng to give a webinar to us.\

 

The webinar was held on 7th April 2022. The guest speaker, Dr. Charlie Ng, is the Assistant Professor of HKMU Department of Humanities, Language and Translation. We invited Dr. Ng to give a talk on how students can learn English through culture. Through this webinar, students learned two of the cultures, British and American. We were impressed by how the speaker related British culture with its iconic cuisine, like afternoon tea and yorkshire pudding; while American culture Hollywood movies including The Searchers and Forrest Gump.

 

Besides talking about culture, Dr. Ng has introduced some of the courses in HKMU. It is a good chance for our students to know more about university courses, curriculum designs and different universities.

Also, it breaks our stereotypic understanding about learning English, which is not just about learning vocabulary and grammar. Understanding the cultures from other countries can also benefit us and make the learning process more interesting and enjoyable.

All students were delighted and enjoyed this webinar. This is definitely an awesome experience for all of the students!

5E Coco Wong

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After the webinar, we took a picture together to commemorate this moment.

 

HKFYG “Speaking for All” Workshop

To let us gain more speaking skills and techniques through popular culture, the English Society invited the HKFYG Institute for Leadership to organize a workshop revolving around cultural myths. Instructors came from different countries, such as Chad, Singapore, Indonesia, France, Venezuela and the United States. About 50 of our S2-S5 club members participated in this workshop.

 

Instructors of the workshop came from all over the world.

 

On 15th April, we joined a workshop called “Speaking for All”. The host, Jey, who came from Singapore, started the workshop with some warm-up activities on Mentimeter, such as asking us how we felt at that moment and our views on different topics. The activity successfully narrowed our distance between each other despite being on Zoom since all of the responses were accepted by the host and participants. The students could enthusiastically express their thoughts and feelings. Thus, this activity encouraged students to participate in a safe and inclusive environment.

 

Interactive warm-up activities on Mentimeter.

 

After that, we were divided into different groups. We used sticky notes or images on Jamboard to share our knowledge about fascinating countries. Since each group leader came from a different country, they shared special facts about his/her native country, such as the country’s signature food or other aspects of their popular culture. We deepened our understanding of the diverse cultures and learned to respect cultural differences to develop our worldviews. Thanks to the high participation of students during this sharing, students could actively express their views using various methods while being held accountable for  their responses.

 

Sharing fascinating knowledge about different countries.

 

Moreover, some group leaders shared some myths and legends from countries like Venezuela and Chad. Through this sharing, we gained knowledge about the more unfamiliar aspects of Venezuela and Chad. After listening to the sharing, it was our turn to share our myths and legends from Hong Kong and China. As most of our myths and legends were common ones that we have heard before, it put us at ease in sharing what we knew through storytelling. During this process, the group leader invited us to share our opinions on our myths and legends, such as Chang’e Flying to the Moon, to everyone. This particular part of storytelling allowed us to practice the use of English and build up our confidence in communicating in English.

 

We were sharing the myths and legends (Chang’s Flying to the Moon).

 

After attending this workshop, students could understand that learning English is not just all about the DSE, but also connecting with others from different parts of the world. English Society is really committed to or [......]


S4 Drama Workshops 2021-22

In November and February, the school arranged a series of workshops for us in a bid to deepen our understanding of the book, The Alchemist.

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In the first workshop, we had some experienced native English-speaking drama tutors from a professional drama house to provide us with interactive activities. It was intended to give us a clearer comprehension of the characters in the book. They conducted a role play activity for us. We put ourselves into the shoes of the characters, understood their feelings and actions and participated in the workshop as if we were really the characters. Look at our weird movements in class!

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In the second workshop, it was conducted on Zoom due to the face-to-face class suspension during the fifth Covid wave. It would be a complete misconception if you think that we just sat and listened to the tutors like a lecture that day, they actually did a fun warm-up exercise with us. All of us were required to stand up and shake our hands in front of the cameras! That was such a breath of fresh air for us! We also reviewed the dialogues between the characters to figure out their corresponding characterization and features. At the end, we did a presentation on Zoom. What a challenging task for us!

 

 

As one of the participants in the event, I thoroughly enjoyed what the tutors prepared for us. We also benefited a great deal from the workshops. We learnt how to express characters’ emotions through actions and dialogues, and hence, improved my verbal and non-verbal communication skills. We are particularly grateful that even if it is more challenging to teach online now, the tutors, still, did not fail us and gave us an interesting workshop on Zoom.

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Sophia Gan 4B (6)

 

Canadian Writing Competition 2022 (Arch Cup) Award

IMG_0521Canadian English Writing Competition 2022 (Arch Cup) is a scholarly competition that includes all primary and secondary school students in Hong Kong. After two rounds of elimination, 14 of our students secured their places in the Semi-finals with with the results of 1 gold award, 4 silver awards, and 9 bronze awards.

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IMG_0529 (1)3A Fung Wing Laam Coyee gaining the Gold Award in the contest

IMG_0527Students with Silver Awards

IMG_0522Students with Bronze Awards

 


S5 and S6 Inter-class Oral Practice

The S5 and S6 inter-class oral practice took place in the school hall on 22 Oct and 29 Oct respectively. Our students were divided into groups to discuss different topics about society, in hopes of enhancing their speaking and deep thinking skills.

 

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The S5 and S6 inter-class oral practices were held on 22 Oct and 29 Oct respectively.

 

This has been my first practice with other classes. I was glad to have this experience as it gave a great opportunity to practise more and interact before our DSE with other classmates that we are not familiar with. It gave a boost to my confidence to the next level, out of my comfort zone. Just like the strangers that we meet in the DSE speaking exam, some of them might have amazing speaking skills; some might have a different accent. I am grateful for having this formal practice.

5A Tina Cheung

 

The inter-class oral practice has offered me a golden opportunity to practise speaking with different classmates whom I am not familiar with like in the public exams. Most importantly, it allowed me to know my shortcomings and learn from mistakes. In our daily oral practice, as we are familiar with our classmates, we may not feel nervous. It is difficult to fully simulate the DSE situation. However, the inter-class oral practice allowed us to practise with different schoolmates and be examined by other teachers. It helps me practice in a more realistic exam setting.

6B Tiffany Lau

 

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Students exchanging ideas through discussions optimizes their deep thinking and speaking skills.

 

S3 Interclass Debating Competition

On 22 Oct, the S3 interclass debating competition was held in the True Light Hall. Representatives from each S3 class debated on the motion ‘This House would allow students to bring their own electronic devices to school’, with Nikita Yau (3D), Chole Lam (3C) and Karen Lo (3D) on the Affirmative Team; and Helia Yeung (3B), Mary Thewe (3A) and Cheryl Li (3B) on the Negative Team. After some intense debate with both teams presenting supportive arguments and evidence, the Negative Team was declared the winner, with Helia Yeung named the Best Speaker Award. 

 

Let’s see what her thoughts on this debating experience are:

 

The form 3 inter-class debating competition was an unforgettable and valuable experience for me because this was my first time joining a debate competition and I had to get well prepared with my negative teammates within 3 days. It was hard to get very well prepared but luckily my teammates helped me a lot and I also got a lot of good advice from my classmates and my English teacher. I enjoyed working with my teammates during the preparation period and making the rebuttals with them. We believed that our effort would get repayment so we worked really hard and tried our best to make it perfect. We all rejoiced when we won the competition and I was honoured to be the best speaker of this competition. I wish to thank everyone who pitched in to making it a great event.

- 3B Helia Yeung

 

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The S3 Interclass Debating Competition was held on 22 Oct 2021.

 

 

 

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The Negative Team, Cheryl Li (3B), Mary Thewe (3A), and Helia Yeung (3B) (from left to right), taking a photo with the adjudicator, our vice-principal Mr Chu.

 

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Debating optimizes students’ deep thinking skills through the research and argumentation.

 

HKSSDC – First win for Debating Team I

 

  

HKTLC Senior English Debating Team I on their first victory, 18 Oct 2021

 

The new academic year has just started for a month, but our English debating team has already had a fantastic start for this year – we won in the first round of the debate competition for term one!

  Like last year, the debating competition was held on Zoom due to Covid-19. On the 18th of October, led by Ms. Yeung and Ms. Cheung as our team coaches, our team comprising 4E Denise Fung, 5A Nicole Chan, and 5A Anna Chan defeated Po Leung Kuk Ho Yuk Ching (1984) College in the debate on the motion “Esports should be added to the Olympics”.

  That was a real toss-up. We had good evidence and organization, and so did our opponents. To our joy, we won in the competition, and Denise Fung was named the best debater.

 Despite the short preparation time, I am impressed that we could do this well in the competition. It was a wonderful experience to me, and I am thankful for having worked with two brilliant teammates who practised their speeches well and for the excellent teamwork and communication between us.

  We look forward to having a debate competition face to face and another chance to debate against different formidable opponents!

Nicole Chan Cheuk Yu, 5A

 

As a new member of the senior team, I helped as the researcher but not as a speaker in our first match, which gave me the best spot to spectate the entire competition, awed by our debaters who spoke very confidently throughout the whole competition. Their strong arguments and statistics have successfully convinced the adjudicator with our team case, who declared our debating team the winner by beating the affirmative team. This also brings our first victory in the year. My congratulations are to the speakers and to Denise Fung, who was named the best debater in the competition. It was such a memorable debate competition to kick off the year and I’m looking forward to another victory in the next debating competition. 

Kary Ching Ka Nam, 4B

 

4B Kary Ching, 5A Anna Chan, 5A Nicole Chan, 4E Denise Fung and their team coach, Ms Cheung (left to right)

 


Speed Counting Game, 20 Oct 2021

On the 20th of October, the English Society held the first English activity ”Speed Counting competition” in the English corner after school. The English Corner was filled with excitement and laughter from participants from different forms, who needed to challenge their reflexes and English speaking by pointing to and naming the number in the correct ascending order in a randomised grid simultaneously. It only took the winner 38 seconds to point out the numbers from 1 to 30 (while the slowest count might take more than a minute…)! All of the students who participated had fun in this activity, especially when chanting for Mr. Ho, our very special guest, who could not help joining our contest hearing our laughs. Only participants who were there could witness his game live and I shall leave this to your imagination for how the Mathematics teacher performed in the number-counting game…

Congratulations to 4B Maggie Yeung for winning this competition! I am looking forward to seeing more students (and teachers) joining the next English activity held by the English society.

Kary Ching, 4B

 

Students practising in groups to challenge each other

 

The real challenge on the screen was nerve-racking for both students and the teacher alike. 

 

An exhilarating and fun-filled afternoon for all participants

 

S1 Summer Theatre 2021

In early August, our S1 students attended a three-day intensive drama workshop. In order to help our newly enrolled S1 students adapt to the English learning environment before the start of the school year, we had the pleasure to have a group of highly experienced and enthusiastic instructors from a professional native-speaking theatre to enlighten our S1 students the way to interpret play scripts, embrace the art of dramas and give a professional drama performance.

In four groups, students explored both drama and our campus facilities that are specially-designed for stage performance and English-learning activities. Each group was assigned with a dedicated play script, including Arion and The Dolphin, Theseus and the Minotaur, Athene and Arachne, King Midas and His Golden Touch, Antony and Cleopatra, and Phaedra. With the guidance from the instructors, the drama workshop was successfully completed with laughter and joy.

           

All instructors and students enjoyed their time at the Performance Theatre in the three-day workshop.

Before reading and acting out the play scripts given, students from different groups participated in different warm-up games for ice-breaking and preparing themselves for better voice projection and body movements.

        

    Group 4 students participated in the drama activity named Frozen Pictures, in which they created the scene of an altar and a palace with their gestures and postures.

The instructors introducing the elements of a play script and going through the play scripts together with our S1 students

One of the venues was the Performance Theatre, where students enjoyed different lightning effects and a huge screen on the wall as the stage background.

 

 

After the workshop, students were asked to fill in a reflection sheet on what they had gained from the workshop and their opinions. Here are the reflections of some S1 students:

I liked the Summer Theatre because I was given chances to make new friends and try out new things such as making good use of the stage space, preparing our own props and following stage directions while acting. I hope I can perform a drama on stage like this again!

Seana Helynn 1A

My English speaking has improved a lot during these several days because the instructors were all foreigners. We had to speak in English all the time. I am happy that I had a chance to improve my English speaking and that I could make new friends even though we all had to chat only in English.

Zhu Tsz Kwan, Alice 1A

We played many interesting games in the workshops like zip-zap-zup. My favourite part was the game, Kitty Wants A Corner. When the instructor said “Kitty wants a corner”, we had to respond by saying “Ask my ne [......]


English Society 2021-2022

English Society committee [......]