What's New

SOW Readathon Reading Challenge Booklet 2

The SOW Readathon Reading Challenge Booklet 2 has been developed in support of the territory-wide reading scheme “SOW Readathon 2025/26”. The booklet includes a variety of SOW-related reading challenges that echo the overarching theme “SOW the Reading Seed – Discover as You Read” and two sub-themes, namely “Dream Big, Read Bigger” and “Wisdom Unites, Stories Connect”, of the SOW Campaign this year. These reading challenges vary in levels of difficulty and nature. Participating students of registered schools, who are the SOW Reading Rangers, will be awarded a certificate issued by the EDB upon completion of three or more challenges with teachers’ validation.

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.

Learning and Teaching Resources in Support of the “SOW Your Discovery” Multimodal Composition Contest

Two sets of presentation slides (primary/secondary level) have been developed in support of the “SOW Your Discovery” Multimodal Composition Contest (the Contest) to provide practical tips and guidelines for teachers to support their students in composing different multimodal texts for the Contest. Additionally, sample entries are featured to illustrate how students can share a saying of wisdom (SOW) taken from a book of their choice and showcase their discovery from the book through creative multimodal expression. Teachers are encouraged to make effective use of the resources to develop students’ interest in reading, promote multimodal literacy, enhance their creative use of English and foster their proper values and attitudes.

“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.

The Award Presentation Ceremony for the SOW Campaign 2024/25 cum Fifth Anniversary Exhibition

The Award Presentation Ceremony for the SOW Campaign 2024/25 cum Fifth Anniversary Exhibition was successfully held on 20 September, 2025 (Sat) to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of schools and students in various SOW territory-wide competitions / student activities organised by the English Language Education Section and the Native-speaking English Teacher (NET) Section in the 2024/25 school year. Around 400 students, teachers, principals and guests of honour were invited to the ceremony officiated by Dr CHOI Yuk-lin, JP, Secretary for Education. Our heartfelt gratitude to schools' support and effort in featuring a variety of learning activities to promote values education in the school English Language curriculum.

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.

SOW Motivational Talk Videos Resource Kit

SOW Year Planner 2026

The year planner highlights 12 winning entries of the “SOW Inspiring” Book Gifting Competition, organised under the SOW Campaign 2024/25, with an aim to develop a zeal for reading among students, enhance their language skills, unleash their creativity and foster their development of proper values and attitudes. The SOW Year Planner 2026 also features 12 monthly tasks, echoing the overarching theme “SOW the Reading Seed – Discover as You Read” and the two sub-themes (i.e. “Dream Big, Read Bigger” and “Wisdom Unites, Stories Connect”) of the SOW Campaign 2025/26. Students are encouraged to unlock new worlds, understand that their talents and abilities can be expanded through dedication, as well as build meaningful connections and mutual respect through shared wisdom.

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

Building on the successes of the past five years, the SOW Campaign 2025/26 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 – Discover as You Read” and two sub-themes, namely “Dream Big, Read Bigger” and “Wisdom Unites, Stories Connect”, 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 read extensively, deeply and curiously;
guide students to understand that their talents and abilities can be developed and expanded by exploring and unlocking new worlds though reading; and
help students build meaningful connections throughout their inspiring reading experiences, as well as strengthen bonds and mutual respect through shared wisdom.

"SOW Your Discovery" Multimodal Composition Contest

The “SOW Your Discovery” Multimodal Composition Contest (the Contest) aims 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 2025/26

The Animal Photopoetry Creative Challenge, under the SOW Campaign, is a cross-curricular activity that aims to: enhance students' appreciation of and interest in English poetry, encourage students’ creative and artistic expression through photography and poetry writing, and foster students' proper values and attitudes.

Animal Photopoetry Creative Challeng 2025/26

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.

A Leaflet

Posters

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.

English Language Resource Materials on National Security Education at the Secondary Level
The resource materials consist of four learning units featuring selected reading and multimodal texts that help students explore various topics and major fields of national security. Through engaging reading, viewing, writing and speaking activities, students will gain insights into our country’s latest developments and the significance of safeguarding data security, resource security, food security, and societal 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.

"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.

Leaflet on "Learning English through News"

Reading news enriches our life and offers great educational values. Covering a wide range of topics at different levels, news provides a rich resource for students to enhance language and personal development. This leaflet aims to introduce strategies for enhancing secondary students’ media and information literacy through promoting news reading and designing a school-based news literacy programme, thereby building students’ solid language and world knowledge foundation and promoting Language and Reading across the Curriculum. The effective practices adopted by two secondary schools in promotion of news reading are also featured in the leaflet for schools’ reference.

"In Love We Share, In Love We Grow" Thematic Book Series

The "In Love We Share, In Love We Grow" Thematic Book Series comprises three books based on the English sayings of wisdom, “In love of home, the love of country has its rise.” (Charles DICKENS), “To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.” (Oscar WILDE) and “Friendship is a sheltering tree.” (Samuel Taylor COLERIDGE). Three sets of activity sheets are developed to facilitate and complement the use of the series. They are designed to engage students in interacting with and responding to the books to enhance their viewing and multimodal literacy skills as well as cultivate their proper values and attitudes. The series is available in electronic and print versions.

A Guide on Self-directed Learning for Secondary Students

Self-directed learning is important for nurturing students into lifelong English learners. This leaflet aims to illustrate key concepts of self-directed learning and offer some useful tips on how various English learning resources can be carefully selected and effectively used to facilitate self-directed English learning.