How to enhance English writing and presentation skills in History

WaYing College History Panel Head Miss Yeung Sau-fung 20 June 2014

1

CDI020140497

2

Think-and-Pair

Do junior and senior form students share similar concerns / face similar difficulties when they study History in English?

3

Students are …



Unable to grasp the requirements of key question words – especially in essay-type questions



Unable to study political cartoons / numerical interpretation / written sources



Unable to express their answer precisely



Unable to understand the content of textbooks

4 Is students’ written English really important?

DSE Marking Guidelines – marks for language?

5

Objectives

   

To introduce the development of our school policy on enhancing English writing and presentation skills in History To share teaching strategies on enhancing students’ reading skills in junior forms To introduce how to develop writing and assessment teaching packages in History (DSE) To share current development challenges and future

6

Knowing my school

      Located in Kowloon City EMI F.1 to F.3 History -- individual subject (2 lessons per week) F.4 to F.6 History is offered as one of elective subjects Cross-classes: Including Science and Arts stream students About 40 students take History every year.

7 A. The development of our school policy on enhancing English writing and presentation skills in History

8

Development ….

9

Early Stage

 For junior forms -- provide glossary lists and design worksheets  simplified sentences / point forms  fill in the blanks  For senior forms – Collaborate with English teachers – Read English magazines or extracted some articles from various sources

Turning point

   Supported by School-based Language Support Team Focussed on developing students’ reading skills in junior forms Results:  A good start of collaboration among different subjects in teaching and learning 10  Develop students’ learning habit – transfer knowledge and skills

11

Reinforcement

     Developed 7 – 8 writing and assessment teaching packages Target group: DSE students Objectives:    Enhance students’ performance in DSE Enhance students’ writing skills Address diversified learner needs in class Opportunities:   Employ external professional manpower Release some manpower in school to develop teaching packages to strengthen students’ English writing ability Results:  Effective  Further strengthening collaboration among different subjects

12

B. Teaching strategies on enhancing students reading skills in junior forms

13 3-year program design

Pre-reading While reading Vocabulary Building Post reading F1 (06-07) Predicting Questioning Clarifying Summarising F2 (07-08) KWL Double entry journal Spell Say Define Draw F3 (08-09) Anticipation guide INSERT Word Map 3.2.1.

Strategy Summary frame

14

English Department Reading Passage

How it works

Collaboration with other subject(s)

Pre-reading  Anticipation guide While-reading  INSERT  Word Map Post-reading  Summary frame

Subject Department Reading Passage

2013-14 Reinforcement scheme

15

IS

F.1 Survey

Topics / tasks I wish to cover in LAC English classes (Please use back side if more space is needed.)

Unit Topic/Task Focus areas/Difficulties to address

History

Introducing science Looking at living things Cells & reproduction

Vocabulary

Learn the basic scientific terms for future learning A lot of names of living organisms need to be learned. Concept of classification is more important. Students might have difficulty in identifying all the terms in reproduction.

May discuss later

16

Contents…

Theme 1: Subject Specific Vocabulary – History

•

Word families – key words in history subject and their parts of speech

Theme 2 : Subject Specific Sentence Building – History

• •

Short reading exercises Group discussion to identify specific sentence patterns in reading

Theme 3: Subject Specific Forms of Expression – History

•

Specific examples of language forms and functions used in history

17

C. Develop writing and assessment teaching packages in History (DSE)

18

Collaborate with English Department

19 Identify the major learning focuses in DSE History  Language skills in handling generic skills numeracy skills & problem-solving skills.

, like graphical interpretation & presentation in DBQ, critical thinking,  Students were weak at graphical interpretation & presentation, like bar charts  Students were weak at handling questions demanding high level thinking, such as to ‘discuss’, to ‘comment’ & to ‘evaluate’.

 Students were strong in making descriptions & explanations.

 Assessment of organization & development of ideas of essay type question

20

Teaching packages include…

   Public exam papers – Marking Guidelines Worksheets (Student version & teacher version) Samples (at least 2 levels, the first level aim at average students; the second level aim at the high achievers)

21

Language input

     Adjectives Comparative language Connectives – to make students’ presentation more precisely and concisely Knowing how to develop an argument Cite proper evidence  Explanation  Summarize topic sentence and conclusion

22

Language input

    Adjectives – for cartoonist’s “view” Vocabularies and phrases Connectives How to develop an argument (e.g. citing the relevant clues to elaborate argument, proper use of connectives etc.) Exam skills training  Skills on studying political cartoons  How to develop counter-balance answer

23 D. Current challenges and future development

Build on the prerequisites

… 

Trust among the two subject teachers



Spend time on meetings.



Nurture a habit of peer class observations in school.



Release the workload of teachers’ involved.



Principal or Vice-principal is the supervisor of the program

24 

Sustainability – embedded into history teaching curriculum