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The Permanent Secretary for Education, Mrs Cherry Tse Ling Kit-ching, said at the opening ceremony of the Reading Fair 2011 today (April 16) that the expertise and experience in promoting reading to be shared by schools at the event will strengthen students' reading skills and abilities.
She said this can help to promote cross-curricular English learning and thus contribute to enhancing the English learning environment in schools.
Mrs Tse added that under their whole-school language policy, schools can, in accordance with the fine-tuned medium of instruction (MOI) framework, decide on the appropriate school-based MOI arrangements with regard to students' diverse needs.
She said apart from teaching non-language subjects in English, schools can conduct Extended Learning Activities in English. Extended Learning Activities can take many forms and one of the most prominent forms is English language learning across the curriculum, she added.
Noting that "Reading to Learn" is one of the four key tasks in the Curriculum Reform, Mrs Tse said, "Since the implementation of the Reform, many schools have identified 'Reading to Learn' as a priority and devised a school-based reading programme.
"Over the past few years, Hong Kong students have achieved remarkable results in a number of international research studies on reading. In the 'Programme for International Student Assessment 2009' (PISA 2009), Hong Kong students continued to top the rankings, which is indeed pleasing.
"The outstanding performance of students is unquestionably the outcome of the concerted efforts of schools, teachers and various stakeholders. It is also solid proof that we are heading in the right direction."
At today's Reading Fair, Dr Dinky Lau Kit-ling from the Faculty of Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, delivered a keynote speech on "Enhancing Students' Reading Literacy - Insights from the Performance of Hong Kong Students in PISA 2009".
To showcase the theme "Diversified Learning Strategies" of the event, the Education Bureau invited speakers from one university and over 10 schools to share their successful experience in areas such as reading across the curriculum; reading and the medium of instruction; reading among non-Chinese speaking students; reading and school-based assessment; as well as online reading.
Lesson demonstrations were also held to enable participants to experience interactive learning and teaching in a classroom setting.
About 400 primary and secondary school principals and teachers participated in the Reading Fair 2011.
Ends/Saturday, April 16, 2011
Issued at HKT 10:40
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