What's New

“Speak to Peak” English Public Speaking Circle

To support secondary schools in enriching the school English speaking curriculum and fostering students’ whole-person development and diverse talents, the “Speak to Peak” English Public Speaking Circle was established in the 2024/25 school year.

Key Objectives: 

• To support schools in integrating curriculum initiatives, such as values education, self-directed learning, and the academic and creative uses of English, into the school English speaking curriculum
• To strengthen students’ public speaking skills, including verbal and non-verbal delivery, content generation, and speech evaluation, through structured “Speak to Peak” meetings

Creative Use of English Digital Learning Platform

This digital learning platform illustrates writing skills and techniques related to the creative use of English through real-life examples. It comprises six micro-modules, each featuring a key aspect of the creative use of English, and supports students’ self-directed English learning through animated videos and interactive activities.

Student Showcase Scheme - "Speak Your Mind!"

The Student Showcase Scheme, “Speak Your Mind!" (the Scheme) aims to enhance students’ confidence and engagement in using English for communication, and to celebrate and showcase students’ creativity and multimodal communication skills.

Students are invited to create English videos of one to three minutes on a topic of their choice. Outstanding entries will be published at regular intervals on the Scheme’s YouTube channel  (youtube.com/@speakyrmind) for public viewing.

English Explorer Portal

The English Explorer Portal, a digital platform featuring a wide range of multimodal English learning resources, is designed to foster primary and secondary students' interest in English and facilitate self-directed learning by offering features that encourage students to set goals, self-evaluate and self-reflect in the learning process. Digital tools and interactive tasks with game-based learning elements are also provided to enhance learner engagement and support learning within and beyond the classroom. 

SOW Campaign 2026/27

Building on the SOW Campaign 2024/25 and 2025/26, which focus on reading (SOW the Reading Seed), the SOW Campaign 2026/27 will continue to feature a variety of student activities and learning and teaching resources to facilitate English language learning by integrating values education into the school English Language curriculum within and beyond the classroom. With the overarching theme “SOW the Reading Seed – The Spark Within, The Words Beyond” and four sub-themes, namely “Mindful Messages: The Power of Self-care”, “Echoes of Empathy: From Pages to Presence”, “Community Chronicles: Exploring Our City, Sharing Our Story” and “Heritage and Harmony: Wisdom across Cultures”, the campaign this year aims to:

• cultivate students’ positive thinking;
• enhance their English language skills by developing their reading interest and ability, and encouraging them to extend the insights they gain from reading (The Spark Within) to wisdom articulated and shared through writing and speaking (The Words Beyond); and
• guide students through a ripple of wisdom: from self-care and inner peace to empathy for others, pride in their community and nation, and finally an appreciation of the wider world.

SOW Year Planner 2027

The SOW Year Planner 2027 showcases 12 outstanding entries of the “SOW Your Discovery” Multimodal Composition Contest, organised under the SOW Campaign 2025/26, with an aim to develop a zeal for reading among students, enhance their language skills and multimodal literacy, unleash their creativity and foster their development of proper values and attitudes. Students are invited to read a book of their choice and create a multimodal text to share a saying of wisdom (SOW) taken from the book and their discovery from the book (e.g. new knowledge/ skills/ lessons learnt/ insights/ understanding) in a succinct yet creative way. The multimodal composition should echo the overarching theme “SOW the Reading Seed – Discover as You Read” and/or the two sub-themes “Dream Big, Read Bigger” and “Wisdom Unites, Stories Connect” of the SOW Campaign 2025/26.

SOW Readathon Reading Challenge Booklet 3

The SOW Readathon Reading Challenge Booklet 3 has been developed in support of the territory-wide reading scheme “SOW Readathon 2026/27”. The booklet includes a variety of challenges to support their organisation of student activities. The booklet contains a number of “Reading Challenges”, which vary in levels of difficulty and nature, such as reading to discover ways of practising self-care, stories from Hong Kong’s local community, as well as wisdom in proverbs from different cultures and around the world. Participating students of registered schools, who are the SOW Reading Rangers, will be awarded an electronic certificate issued by the EDB upon completion of three or more challenges with teachers’ validation.

Animal Photopoetry Creative Challenge - Winners' Anthology 2026

The Animal Photopoetry Creative Challenge - Winners’ Anthology 2026 showcases the winning entries of the Animal Photopoetry Creative Challenge, a cross-curricular activity co-organised by the English Language Education Section and the Arts Education Section of the Curriculum Development Institute, Education Bureau in collaboration with Ocean Park Hong Kong, in the 2025/26 school year.  Teachers are encouraged to make effective use of the anthology to promote the creative use of English and foster students’ proper values and attitudes.

RTHK Radio Programme - In the Common Room

In the Common Room, broadcast at 9:05 p.m. on Radio 3 of RTHK every weekday, is produced by Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) with the sponsorship of the Education Bureau (EDB). The programme aims to nurture primary and secondary students’ interest in learning English and broaden their exposure to the authentic use of the language through a variety of engaging features. 

English Ranger - The Cultural Heritage Quest

English Ranger: The Cultural Heritage Quest is a set of multimodal learning resources comprising two audio drama episodes, a reader and an English Ranger Passport. Through completing a series of missions centred on the Great Wall of China, students can explore cultural heritage and develop a sense of national identity; use the four English language skills creatively and purposefully; and cultivate an awareness of their responsibility to preserve cultural heritage and safeguard national security. 

English Language Resource Materials on National Security Education at the Secondary Level
The resource materials consist of two learning units featuring selected reading and multimodal texts that help students explore various topics and major fields of national security. Through engaging learning activities, students will gain insights into our country’s latest developments and the significance of safeguarding cultural security, and economic security, thereby strengthening their sense of national identity. Suggestions for cross-curricular and life-wide learning activities are also provided to further enrich students’ English learning experiences. 

A Collection of English Learning Activities for the Promotion of Reading and Values Education: Examples from the School-based Activity “SOW Readathon 2024/25”

The webpage captures highlights of the “SOW Readathon” organised under the SOW Campaign 2024/25, a cross-curricular initiative that fosters a reading culture, appreciation of SOW, and proper values and attitudes through immersive, school-based reading and SOW-related activities in the English Language curriculum. It aims to showcase schools’ good practices and effective strategies for engaging students in diverse learning activities that echo the overarching theme “SOW the Reading Seed – Inspire and Be Inspired” and the four sub-themes “Resilience”, “Empowerment”, “Appreciation” and “Delight” (R.E.A.D.), both within and beyond the English classroom.

Campaign on "Promoting Positive Values and Attitudes through English Sayings of Wisdom 2025/26" - Posters of Sayings of Wisdom and Reading Challenges

To support schools in creating a language-rich environment that nurtures students’ proper values and attitudes, a collection of nine posters has been developed under the overarching theme “SOW the Reading Seed – Discover as You Read” as well as the sub-themes “Dream Big, Read Bigger” and “Wisdom Unites, Stories Connect” of the SOW Campaign 2025/26. They include eight posters featuring insightful English sayings by renowned authors; and a poster on reading challenges recommended in the “SOW Readathon Reading Challenge Booklet 2”. Schools are encouraged to use these resources to foster students’ interest in reading, build a positive reading atmosphere, and promote values education in the English Language curriculum. 

Campaign on "Promoting Positive Values and Attitudes through English Sayings of Wisdom" (SOW Campaign) - Fifth Anniversary Virtual Exhibition

To commemorate the fifth anniversary of the SOW Campaign, the SOW Campaign Fifth Anniversary Exhibition was held on 20 September 2025, showcasing the campaign’s five-year journey from the 2020/21 to 2024/25 school years. The exhibition featured award‑winning student works, the achievements of participating schools, SOW learning and teaching resources, and other highlights of the campaign. To further extend the reach of the celebration and allow more schools to revisit the exhibits, a virtual exhibition has been developed.  It allows visitors to explore the milestones and the impact of the SOW Campaign over the past five years anytime and anywhere.

SOW Readathon Video Series

The SOW Readathon Video Series, which comprises six videos, showcases success stories of fostering a school-wide reading culture in the school English Language curriculum and the reading journeys of the Outstanding SOW Reading Ambassadors in the SOW Readathon 2024/25. In the series, the Reading Captains share their insights into helping students build confidence and unlock the joy of English reading while the Reading Rangers share how books, their life-long companions, help them navigate through challenges, develop proper values and attitudes and discover the world.

SOW Corner Bookmarks

The SOW Corner Bookmarks have been developed to facilitate the implementation of the SOW Readathon 2025/26 and add spice to reading. The do-it-yourself (DIY) corner bookmark templates consist of two designs that echo the two sub-themes of the SOW Campaign 2025/26. To promote multimodal literacy development, a video tutorial demonstrating how to create the corner bookmarks is available on the SOW Readathon webpage.

“Power Up Your English 2.0”under the English Radio Programme “In the Common Room”
To further promote self-directed English learning, “Power Up Your English 2.0”, comprising 13 thematically connected episodes on festivals across cultures and 13 sequential episodes on learning from great authors, will be broadcast under “In the Common Room” (broadcast at 9:05 p.m. on Radio 3 of RTHK every weekday) on Radio 3 of RTHK from November 2025 to February 2026 . A special TV slot on RTHK TV 31 is designated for the video episodes of “Power Up Your English 2.0” every Saturday from 15 November 2025 to 7 February 2026 at 11:00 a.m. The video episodes will also be made available on RTHK TV 31’s webpage. Two copies of the “Power Up Your English 2.0" poster will be sent to schools by post. 

SOW Motivational Talk Videos - An Anthology of Winning Entries

The anthology is a collection of performances by 12 student awardees of the Outstanding Awards in the SOW Motivational Talk Contest organised under the SOW Campaign 2022/23. This anthology aims to share the positive messages delivered by the awardees and foster students’ development of proper values and attitudes through appreciating the beauty and meaning of English sayings of wisdom (SOW).  In the videos, the awardees share their reading or viewing experiences by connecting their reflections on a text of their own choice with a SOW that echoes the overarching theme “Leading a Positive Life” and/or the four sub-themes (i.e. “Cherishing Life”, “Diligence”, “Empathy” and “Respect for Diversity”) of the SOW Campaign 2022/23. The videos have integrated live-action, animation and motion graphics to enrich the awardees’ inspiring speeches and illustration of the SOW in a vibrant and entertaining manner.

CDC English Language Education Key Learning Area English Language Curriculum Guide (Primary 1 - 6) 2025

To keep abreast of the latest curriculum development in English Language Education and meet the needs of students, the English Language Education Key Learning Area English Language Curriculum Guide (Primary 1 – 6) (2004) has been updated to reflect the changing educational contexts. The updated ELCG incorporates the recommendations from the Primary Education Curriculum Guide (PECG) (2024) and the curriculum emphases outlined in the English Language Education Key Learning Area Curriculum Guide (Primary 1 – Secondary 6) (ELE KLACG) (2017). It provides the overall direction as well as the learning targets and objectives for the development of the English Language curriculum at the primary level.

English Animation Series "An Inspiring Journey through Chinese Fables and Tales" (Season 2)

The English animation series “An Inspiring Journey through Chinese Fables and Tales (Season 2)" together with the activity booklet is designed to enrich students’ English learning experiences and promote national education. The animations, each lasting for 4-5 minutes, feature three well-known Chinese stories, namely “Sending a Goose Feather from Thousands of Miles Away” (「千里送鵝毛」), “Chai Breaks the Arrows: A Story about Unity” (「阿豺折箭」) and “The Story of a Great Chinese Calligrapher: Wang Xizhi” (「書法家王羲之的故事」). They enable students to learn English in an engaging way. The activity booklet is developed to complement the animations. In addition to developing English language skills, students are guided to respect, appreciate and inherit Chinese culture and traditional values, including integrity, benevolence, responsibility, unity, perseverance and diligence, thus cultivating a sense of national identity in them and fostering their development of proper values and attitudes.

"Developing Students' Listening and Viewing Skills" Video Series

The “Developing Students’ Listening and Viewing Skills” Video Series is designed to support students’ development of listening and viewing skills, and facilitate the integration of values education into the secondary English Language curriculum through engaging multimodal texts. The series comprises four videos of different text types, including a vlog, a TV interview, a poem and a story, which are infused with various proper values and attitudes such as resilience, perseverance and benevolence.