Transcript A modular approach

A modular approach
North Point Government
Primary P.M. School
21st February, 2004
Background
50th Anniversary
small and old school building
P.1 – evenly divide the pupils into 4
classes
P.2-6 – A, B classes with better standard,
C-E classes with poor standard
Background (cont’d)
Planned to start phonics teaching first
(school decision) module planning
(with support from EMB)
2002-2003 P.1 (5 teachers involved)
2003-2004 P.1 & P.2 (10 teachers
involved)
How to do?
1st step: find out the vocabulary &
language focus in each unit
2nd step: group several units (with
related focuses) into a module (the
sequence may be changed)
3rd step : reconfirm the vocabulary &
language focuses  production level vs
comprehension level
How to do? (cont’d)
Decide the final product for each
module
integrate suitable readers/big books
into the curriculum
Tailor make supplementary exercises &
amend workbooks (need to cancel
some non-suitable exercises/pages)
How to do? (cont’d)
Prepare suitable teaching aids (e.g.
puppets, picture cards, sentence
strips…)
Decide suitable tasks for the pupils, e.g.
buying & selling games, detective
games, etc.
Evaluate constantly. Amend flexibly.
Alignment to teaching.
Why use Small Books?
Easy to handle
Clear and explicit flow
Easy reference for evaluation
Characteristics of our approach
All designs are pupil-centred and authentic
Textbook-based but not textbook bound
Task-based approach
Allow learning space for pupils
Comments from pupils, parents & teachers 
more participation of stakeholders
High student ownership
Integrate readers into curriculum
Achievement
Improvement in 4 language skills
Teachers’ personal growth in teaching
and curriculum planning
Students enjoy the lesson
Enable peer lesson observation
Problem Encountered
Pupils have difficulties in recognizing
the vocabulary and spelling
Advantages for our school
We have a smart TA that helps us a lot
in making the Small Books
All colleagues are willing to cooperate &
share
Support from parents & principal
Difficulties for our school
Time consuming (for meetings,
preparation & producing the small
books)
No suitable place for meeting
No teaching resources room  difficult
to store the teaching aids (big books…)
Different streaming method in P.1 & P.2
The End