Balancing it right in the KS2 English KLA Curriculum

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Balancing it right in the KS2 English KLA
Curriculum
by Yuen Long Government Primary A.M. School
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The story began
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What did we do in reading comprehension?
Q1. Is David a taxi-driver?
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Q1. Is David a taxi-driver?
Q2. When did David drive on Tolo Highway?
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Q2. When did David drive on Tolo Highway?
Q3. How much did David pay for the fixed penalty?
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Q3. How much did David pay for the fixed penalty?
Q4. What other penalty did David have?
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Q4. What other penalty did David have?
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• This went well until
• Changes set in at macro level - the new English
  KLA Curriculum Guide
• Changes set in at micro level - new textbooks
• and
• System assessments requirements

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Identifying Inadequacy in Learning and Teaching

• Teaching was bound by a large number of
  textbooks and supplementary practice books.
• Lacks of linkage between each unit.
• Input was not sufficient in the four language
  skills, particularly in reading.
• Teaching of language skills was in isolation.
• Too much emphasis on the teaching of language
  forms

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What to do first? Analyzing levels of
comprehension
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• Read the following sentence-
• Marty opened her umbrella just in time and held
  it tightly

Literal comprehension - Marty opened her
umbrella just in time. She held it tightly.
Text-based inferential comprehension Marty
opened her umbrella. Probably she didnt get wet.
She held it up tightly?
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• Marty opened her umbrella just in time
• and held it tightly

Knowledge-based Inferential comprehension-
People Is Marty a man or a woman?
Action Opened umbrella, held umbrella tightly
Setting Indoor? Outdoor? Weather
conditions Rained suddenly (just in time)
Heavy rain and strong wind (held tightly)
Clothing ????
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Levels of comprehension

• Text
• Of the three girls, only Bonnie can reach the
  shelf on which their mother keeps the cookies.

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External text vs Internal text
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Correlating levels of comprehension to skills
framework in CG
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Analyzing skills focus in TSA

• Analyzing skills framework and its correlation
  to TSA reading and writing papers

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Analyzing reading skills focus
Sample of question analysis Q6 Read lines
14-16. What did the turtle do? Lines
14-16 No, no. Thats never work because my
shell is very hard, said the
turtle. But I know what you can do.
Throw me into the water. I
wont be able to breathe and Ill drown.
Then you can cook me! ? A. cried for
help B. jumped into the water
C. told the Chief what to do
D. asked the Chief not to cook him
(It is difficult for students to tackle this
question.) Q7 drown ? The turtle could not
swim. Q9 Why were the villagers silly? ?
they did not know the turtle could swim! Q10
Hidden meaning Read line 22. Why do
turtles live in the water most of their time?
Line 22 This is why turtles spend most of
their time in the water. ? A. Hunters
cannot catch them easily. B.
Turtles dont like living on land.
C. There is a lot of in the water.
D. Turtles like swimming in the water.
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Territory-wide System Assessment 2006 Item
Analysis (P.6)
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Re-conceptualizing language teaching and learning
in
School-based Curriculum Planning
Diversity
Vertical progression
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• Integrative balanced curriculum
• embedding diversities, scaffolding and
• spiral learning
• Horizontal vertical continuity

School curriculum
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How Students learn best

• Comprehensible inputs
• Low anxiety, safe environment
• Meaningful interaction
• Use prior knowledge in new learning
• Feedback for improvement

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Putting big ideas into action

• What to do next?
• Adopting task-based learning

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Solution
Selecting clear language focus
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Changes in School-based Curriculum
Textbook bound
Communicative task
- a central building block within the curriculum
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Communicative tasks

• Lexical or syntactic exercise

• Students communicative competence

• Language focus exercises

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Procedures for planning the learning tasks
Text analysis
Module plan
Setting the learning tasks
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Working out reading tasks
To help students acquire a wide range of reading
skills to comprehend different kinds of text.
Correlated the reading tasks to the target
reading skills in the English KLA Curriculum
Guide.
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Ways to help develop students reading skills
through reading tasks

• Part skills training
• Reading tasks
• Comprehension questions
• Reading activities
• Authentic reading materials
• Exposure to varieties of text types
• Putting parts to whole..

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Authentic writing modified by teachers with clear
focus on reading skills training
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Identifying key elements in a journal
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Re-vamping writing tasks
Before
After
Guided
Open-ended
Manipulated
Focus on process
Working out a skills framework
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A writing skills framework
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Scaffolding writing tasks
Substantive reading materials for various text
types
Input
Process
Using Graphic organizers
Product
Students writing
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An email from overseas
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From  ltvincentrocket_at_yahoo.com.hkgtTo don
ltdrernestse_at_gmail.comgtDate Wed, 25 Oct 2006
160450 0800 (CST)Subject Hello from Hong
Kong! Dear Don     How are you?My name is
Vincent.I live in Yuen Long. I am ten years old.
   There are 6 994 500 people living in Hong
Kong. There are a lot of interesting places in
Hong Kong. For example,Disneyland,Ocean Park, The
Big Buddha,The Avenue of stars,etc. I don't like
going to the beach because I think there are many
sharks. I like eating chicken curry,fish
balls,Wafers,egg tarks and cart noodles. They are
famous food in Hong Kong. We don't have any
Austnalian restaurant, but we have Japanese
restaurant and Chinese reataurant in Hong Kong.
               We have Bun Festival,Mid-Autumn
Festival and Dragon Boat Festival. Bun Festival
is usually in May About two weeks before the
Festival,people on Cheung Chau Island build a Bun
tower in front of the Temple there. They build
the Bun tower with steel and bamboo now. It is
about fourteen metres high. They covered the
tower with sweet buns.      Three days before
the Festival ,people on Cheung Chau Island do not
sell or eat meat. They only eat vegetables. On
the main steets,there is a procession along the
steets. Dargon Boat Festival is the day that
poet Wat Yuen died. People eat rice dumping ang
watch Boat races.       Mid-Autumn Festival is
usually in Septenber,we enjoy the full moon.
People play lanterns and eat moon cakes. Write
me soon. With best Wishes Vincent
Vincent
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What happened to student learning?

• Could they spot the differences?
• 
  
  

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Student reflections

• More varieties in learning activities
• Structured input helps task completion
• Interesting and motivating wish for longer
  English lessons
• Improved abilities in reading and writing
• Wish for learning opportunities outside classroom

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Teachers reflections

• New conceptions
• and new
  practices

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Teacher reflections

• Grow out of textbook bound teaching
• Clear language and skills focus in more balanced
  learning modules
• Varieties in learning materials and pedagogy
• More focused on student learning
• Matching teach-learn-assess cycle

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Further changes in language teaching and learning

• Language in use outside classrooms
• Email correspondence to overseas friends
• Strengthening speaking and listening activities

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Interactive activities in the classrooms
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• Graphics organizers to help writing

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Linking writing to oral presentations
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Outside Classroom
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Changes at School Level
Before
After

• In-depth discussion in co-planning meeting.
• Peer observations promote learning and teaching.
• Teachers share ideas horizontally at one level
  and vertically across levels.

• Unit oriented discussion in co-planning meeting.
• Lesson observations served as a tool for
  accountability.
• Teachers shared ideas at one level.

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Curriculum development
Pupil learning
School Development
Teacher Development
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Prime goals fulfilled

• Strike for a balanced curriculum
• Develop students language skills and proficiency
  for future study

Thank You