Message from the Principal
Message from the Principal
Enriching language environment
In today’s society, multilingual communication is emphasized. Knowing multiple languages is very helpful for learning, further education and work. Therefore, it is very important to cultivate children’s biliterate and trilingual learning from an early age. Learning through bilingualism not only does not affect children’s ability to learn their mother tongue, but also enhances children’s executive functioning, improves their concentration, decision-making and thinking skills. But how can you learn a second language most effectively?
“Language environment” plays an important role in learning their mother tongue or a second language (English). When children are immersed in a second language (English) learning environment for a long time, they are given the opportunity to have continuous “conversation” with foreign teachers. That increases the chances of listening (INPUT) and speaking (OUTPUT) which is the key for young children to learn a second language.
In recent years, our school has been committed to nurturing children’s language development, especially in the study of second language acquisition. This year, an English bilingual class was opened, and foreign teachers were hired as class teachers so that children have the opportunity to learn a second language (English) in a natural language environment from an early age. Through the context of bilingual classes, children have more opportunity to learn English. Through daily conversations, children listen to a lot of phrases such as stand up, sit down, line up please, hand up and pay attention etc. Because of their “playful” nature, children unconsciously learnt a lot of vocabulary and sentences of the second language (English) through games and activities. On top of that, teachers will also use self-made phonics teaching materials, English teaching aids and situational learning etc to consolidate what children have learned in a flexible learning mode. At the same time, children are encouraged to use English to express their own needs in daily life scenario.
In addition, the school also encourages parents to use second language for daily life dialogue with their children at home. That provides a different language learning environment for the children which can enhance their speed to master the second language.Parents can take their children to the park, go to restaurants and shopping etc and integrate the second language (English) into their daily life. During outings, children can identify the names of shops, stations, streets and purchased items etc. They will be given the opportunity to discover new words so as to increase their vocabulary in daily life. That will help in improving their fleuncy in speaking a second language (English).
Finally, reading is also a key in children’s language learning. Children who are exposed to words from an early age, especially beautiful words, can naturally acquire rich vocabulary and know how to use them appropriately. Reading gives children ability to “predict”meaning of new words and enrich their vocabulary whichis helpful for children’s language billingual development.
A Gift of “Love”
We firmly believe that every child is unique, valuable and should be respected.
We firmly believe that every child should learn to love and be loved, no matter when and where.
There is always a mission in education, which is to “hope that children grow up healthily with a whole heart”.
As long as children know how to appreciate life, they can love life, cherish life, and live life. Thus, they can learn to be caring and grateful for others, the environment, and things.
How can we let children understand this? By reading aloud. Only reading books aloud can help children “live life”.
Cultivating children’s habit of reading books from an early age can help children find the meaning in their lives. Books can present values, life education, moral education, daily knowledge etc. which children can devote themselves to endless fantasies and learning from the stories. But remember! The story is not for children to read aloud by themselves. We must accompany the children to read aloud. Reading together with parents can help children engage in the story situation. If parents spend 10 minutes a day reading books with their children, it will not only improve parent-children relationship, but also can promote children’s ability to learn.
This year, the school invited: Dr. Su Liu Zixia, a guest lecturer from the Education University of Hong Kong, to the school to conduct training for teachers, parents and kindergarten teachers of the Hong Kong Northwest Rotary Club of the Hong Kong Baptist Association, so that they can understand the importance of reading books. We firmly believe that in the process of reading a book, children can be guided through the cover, content and images hence can guess and understand the meaning of the text through guided reading. During the training, we understand that reading aloud is the foundation of reading. Once children fall in love with reading, they will be able to learn independently in aspects like speaking, reading and writing.
On top of that, it turns out that reading aloud has the following “seven benefits”:
Develop the right brain ~ Reading aloud is conducive to the self-cultivation of children’s image thinking ability.
Cultivate children’s cheerful personality ~ Reading aloud can let children appreciate their own or other people’s voices. Children will gradually build up self-confidence and become cheerful and joyful.
Improve self-worth ~ Repeated reading can increase courage. Children have the courage to read aloud their feelings and understanding.
Activating the Cranial Nerve ~ Persist in reading aloud makes the brain more sensitive. It also improves learning abilities such as reaction, thinking, concentration and auditory memory.
Good for memorizing materials ~ Reading aloud frequently can help children to concentrate and recall deep memories.
Intuitive thinking ability ~ Repetitive reading can directly help children’s thinking ability.as it leads to a good sense of language, the ability to internalize the content of the article, accumulate many vocabularies and enrich their language expression skills.
Improve writing ability ~ Reading aloud can let children understand the structure of an article including the beginning, succession, transformation, and closing. Knowing all these rules and regulations will lead to improvement on writing level.
Since reading aloud has so many benefits.
Today, I give you this gift of “love”, and may you share this gift with your children.
