What's New

SOW Activity Sheet "PLAY, LEARN, THINK in SOWonderland: Fun Activities for Fuelling Positivity"
This activity sheet aims to nurture students' positive values and attitudes and to hone their language skills (e.g. speaking, writing) through fun and engaging activities. It provides opportunities for students to explore and reflect on the featured themes (i.e. "Leading a Positive Life", "Diligence", "Empathy", "Respect for Diversity" and "Cherishing Life") and selected sayings of wisdom under the SOW Campaign 2022/23, and use English to discuss and share their views on topics related to positive values and attitudes in meaningful contexts.

Online Self-learning Platform on the Academic Use of English
The e-Learning Platform on Academic Use of English aims to heighten senior secondary students’ awareness of the academic use of English and facilitate their self-directed learning through interactive activities with explanatory notes and answer-checking function. The platform comprises six chapters on the common features of academic texts and language skills for reading and writing academic texts. Each chapter comes with brief notes and learning activities, which guide students to explore key concepts of academic use of English. In addition to the e-learning platform, a printable version of the materials and a collection of six posters featuring keys concepts of academic use of English are also also available for download and adaptation.

Learning and Teaching Resources Related to Cultivating Students’ Concern for Cleanliness
To cultivate students’ concern for cleanliness, and enhance their awareness and habit of keeping the environment clean, three sets of learning and teaching resources, including video clips and presentation slides, have been developed to support schools in developing students’ good civic awareness for building a clean campus and community:

SOW Motivational Talk Contest
The SOW Motivational Talk Contest is organised to enhance students’ language and multimodal literacy skills, develop their interest in reading and viewing, nurture their creativity and foster their positive values and attitudes. Students are invited to create a short video to share their reading or viewing experience by connecting their reflections on a text of their own choice with a SOW that echoes the theme and/or the sub-themes of the SOW Campaign 2022/23. [Updates]

Learning and Teaching Resources

Entry Submission Form /Transcript Template
By 6:00 pm, 19 May 2023 (Friday) [Updated]

Implementing National Security Education in the Secondary English Language Curriculum

The resource materials on Implementing National Security Education in the Secondary English Language Curriculum aim to illustrate how elements of National Security Education (NSE) can be integrated organically into and connected naturally with the learning components of the English Language curriculum. The resource materials comprise four learning units based on a range of selected reading/multimodal texts featuring different topics and major domains of national security. Suggestions for cross-curricular and life-wide learning activities are also provided to extend students’ English learning beyond the classroom and help them connect learning experiences across the curriculum.

Learning and Teaching Resources on Law-abiding Education
To support schools in promoting values education (including law-abiding education), three sets of learning and teaching resources, including video clips and presentation slides, have been developed to support schools in integrating values educaiton into the school English Language curriculum at primary/secondary level:

Schools are advised to adapt the resources with reference to the students’ needs and abilities and cultivate in them an awareness of law-abidingness and understanding of the rule of law to enable them to fulfil their civic responsibilities.

SOW Treasure Chest
The SOW Treasure Chest aims to provide suggested ideas and resource materials for schools to enrich their school English Language curriculum and promote the learning and teaching of SOW. The box of resource materials, each containing a SOW Aeroplane Chess Board Game and Activity Cards, SOW Speaking Cubes and SOW Acrostic Poem Templates, may be adopted in class and other English learning activities (inlcuding the school-based activity “Week of Positivity”) or placed in the English corner for students’ self-learning and enjoyment.

A Treasury of Literary Classics – Chinese Fables and Tales Series (2)

Chinese Fables and Tales Series (2) aims to help students develop reading skills and reflect on the moral lessons embedded in the ten inspirational Chinese fables and tales written in English. An extension activity for each story is included to encourage students to watch a relevant short video and share their thoughts and feelings. Through reading the stories and watching the videos, students can enhance their understanding and appreciation of the essence of Chinese traditions and culture as well as the latest development and achievements of China, thereby cultivating a sense of national identity in them and fostering their development of positive and proper values and attitudes. To facilitate students’ self-directed learning, an e-version with interactive features such as answer-checking functions and prompts is provided. In addition, the Chinese Fables and Tales Series (1), which was disseminated earlier, has been enriched with the inclusion of an extension activity for each story.

Posters on “Leading a Positive Life”
A collection of four posters has been designed to present selected sayings of wisdom echoing the overarching theme of “Leading a Positive Life” and the four sub-themes “Cherishing Life”, “Diligence”, “Empathy” and “Respect for Diversity” of the SOW Campaign 2022/23. Each poster highlights three selected sayings to inspire students to gain a better understanding of and reflect on the featured themes.

A Compendium of Week of Hope

As a supplement to the web page “A Collection of English Learning Activities through English Sayings of Wisdom: Examples from the School-based Activity “Week of Hope", this e-booklet provides further examples of learning activities for primary/secondary schools to enrich and diversify their learning activities for enhancing English learning and nurturing positive values and attitudes in students. Schools participating in the “Week of Positivity” under the SOW Campaign 2022/23 are encouraged to make reference to the compendium to plan and design their school-based English week.

Fact Sheet on “Understanding the Functions of Assignments, Dictation and Assessment”

The Pamphlet on “Parents’ Tips on Effective English Language Learning through Assignments, Dictation and Assessment” and Fact Sheet on “Understanding the Functions of Assignments, Dictation and Assessment” are developed to help parents understand how to support their children at the primary level to learn English effectively. Through clarifying myths about assignments, dictation and assessment, the pamphlet illustrates how parents can play their role more fully in their children’s learning and how they can help their children learn English well through these three aspects and cultivate in their children ways to develop positive attitudes and habits of active learning, thereby enhancing their children’s self-directed learning capabilities. The fact sheet provides an overview of the functions of assignments, dictation and assessment for students, teachers and parents, so that parents can better support and guide their children.

A Collection of English Learning Activities for the Promotion of Values Education: Examples from the School-based Activity “Week of Hope”
The webpage showcases a collection of school practices in planning and implementing the “Week of Hope”, a signature school-based activity under the 2021/22 SOW Campaign. Schools can make reference to and adapt the variety of multimodal resources and learning activities on the webpage to strengthen the promotion of values education in the school English Language curriculum and enrich students’ English learning experiences. Based on the examples and the resources available, schools are encouraged to organise their school-based “Week of Positivity” under the 2022/23 SOW Campaign.

Highlights of the Award Presentation Ceremony for the SOW Campaign 2021/22
A web page capturing the highlights of the Award Presentation Ceremony for the SOW Campaign 2021/22 held on 10 December 2022 (Saturday) has been developed to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of schools and students in various SOW territory-wide competitions/student activities. Schools can refer to the video clips and winning entries of different SOW competitions on the web page when planning and implementing learning activities for the promotion of values education in the school English Language curriculum.

SOW Year Planner
2022 is drawing to a close soon. With a new year around the corner, the Chinese saying “A year’s harvest counts on spring; a man’s success hinges on his diligence” reminds us that it is high time for students to set goals and make plans for their learning and life. The EDB has developed the SOW Year Planner 2023, which showcases 12 winning entries from the SOW Creativity Contest: A Moment in Time, to support schools in promoting positive values and attitudes through inspirational sayings, and guiding students to plan ahead for the future, set goals and strive to achieve them with persistence.

Poetry Remake Competition 2022/23
The Poetry Remake Competition is a cross-curricular activity jointly organised by the English Language Education Section and Arts Education Section of the Curriculum Development Institute. It aims to enhance students' awareness of and interest in English poetry by poets in Hong Kong, encourage artistic and creative expression and provide opportunities for cross-curricular collaboration in the promotion of reading. The competition integrates literary appreciation and art creation. Students create a two-dimensional artwork in response to one of the selected poems, and then write an artist statement in English to explain the ideas in their work.
Submission Period: 20 to 21 April 2023

Implementing National Security Education in the Junior Secondary English Language Curriculum (Cover)

Implementing National Security Education in the Junior Secondary English Language Curriculum
In support of the promotion of national education and national security education in the junior secondary English Language classroom, three sets of presentation slides are developed to provide suggested learning and teaching materials and activities for exploring different major fields of national security such as cultural security, science and technology security and outer space security in the English lessons. Schools are encouraged to make use of the resource materials to enrich students’ English learning experience and enhance their understanding of our country and national security.

Week of Positivity

The Week of Positivity, which is to be held within the period of 6 February – 7 July 2023, is a school-based activity under the cross-curricular campaign “Promoting Positive Values and Attitudes through English Sayings of Wisdom (SOW) 2022/23”. It is a cross-curricular English week in which schools organise their own activities that echo the theme of “Leading a Positive Life” and four sub-themes “Cherishing Life”, “Diligence”, “Empathy” and “Respect for Diversity to create a learning environment conducive to English learning and the promotion of values education.
Registration By 6:00 pm, 6 February 2023 (Monday) [Updates]

Campaign on "Promoting Positive Values and Attitudes through English Sayings of Wisdom 2022/23"

SOW Campaign 2022/23 will continue to feature a variety of student activities and learning and teaching resources to sustain the momentum and growing impacts of building a positive school culture through cross-curricular collaboration. The overarching theme of the campaign this year is “Leading a Positive Life” with “Cherishing Life”, “Diligence”, “Empathy” and “Respect for Diversity” as sub-themes. Schools are encouraged to enrich students’ English learning experiences and foster their positive values and attitudes through enlightening students about the power of positive thinking and the means to develop a positive outlook on life, as well as encouraging them to put positive values into action in daily life through caring for and respecting the people and things around them.

SOW Instant Messaging Stickers

As a sustained effort to support the SOW campaign, a new set of 40 instant messaging stickers have been developed to promote positive values and attitudes through festival greetings, the related SOW and common daily expressions. Apart from offering an opportunity for students, teachers and parents to use the stickers for communication on social media platforms, schools are also encouraged to use the multimodal resources to engage students in appreciating the messages of various English sayings of wisdom in context.

Flipbook “SOW Campaign 2020/21 An Anthology of Winning Entries”

The anthology is a collection of students’ works selected from the winning entries of the SOW Creative Writing Competition and the SOW Picture Book Design Competition held in the 2020/21 school year. Both competitions provided opportunities for students to develop their creativity and multimodal literacy skills, share their personal reflection or creative work on English sayings of wisdom, and foster their positive values and attitudes. An activity booklet, with 20 suggested post-reading/viewing activities (i.e. 10 for the primary level and 10 for the secondary level), is developed to facilitate and complement the use of the anthology.

Resource Kit on the Creative Use of English: A Collection of Six Posters and Activity Sheets

This resource kit aims to support schools in incorporating elements of the creative use of English into the English Language curriculum. It includes a collection of six posters to present six key topics on the creative use of English in a lucid and graphical manner for easy understanding. A total of six activity sheets are designed to facilitate and complement the use of the posters by providing opportunities for students to apply the writing skills and techniques featured in the posters.

An e-Poster “Nothing is Impossible to a Willing Heart”
An e-poster "Nothing is Impossible to a Willing Heart" has been produced to support the implementation of the cross-curricular campaign “Promoting Positive Values and Attitudes through English Sayings of Wisdom (SOW)”. Schools can make effective use of the poster to create an engaging and language-rich environment, enhance English learning and nurture positive values and attitudes in students. (SOW Posters Webpage)

Posters on "Promoting Positive Values and Attitudes through English Sayings of Wisdom"
In support of the cross-curricular campaign “Promoting Positive Values and Attitudes through English Sayings of Wisdom (SOW)”, a total of eight printed and animated posters (embedded with audio files of the inspirational quotes) have been produced for the 2021/22 school year. Schools can make effective use of these posters to create an engaging and language-rich environment, enhance English learning and nurture positive values and attitudes in students. Students are also encouraged to view the animated posters as self-learning activities to appreciate the inspirational quotes.

Resource Kit on the Academic Use of English
This resource kit, which includes a resource pack and a collection of six posters, aims to support schools in incorporating elements of the academic use of English into the English Language curriculum and facilitate students’ self-directed learning. The resource pack, which consists of a Student Book and the Answer Key, comprises six chapters on key language features and skills related to the academic use of English. The six posters are designed to present six key topics on the academic use of English in a lucid and graphical manner for easy understanding. The posters can be used together with the Resource Pack to illustrate important concepts in academic English.

Leaflet on “Bridging the Gap for a Smooth Transition – Strengthening Connections and Progressions in the Secondary English Language Education Curriculum”

This leaflet is designed to provide suggestions for English Language panel heads and teachers to strengthen connections and progressions in the secondary English Language Education curriculum. It introduces effective strategies to support students to develop the language knowledge and skills essential for further studies and lifelong learning, and provides examples on holistic curriculum planning and implementation to cater for students’ diverse learning needs.

Resource Kit on Promoting Life Education through Issues of Animal Care at Primary Level - Say "Yes" to Treating Animals with Respect

This resource kit is designed for students at Key Stage 2 to enhance their lanauge skills, develop heir multimodal literacy and facilitate self-directed learning through exposure to various resources on issues of animal care. It also helps students develop positive values and attitudes (e.g. empathy, respect and a sense of responsibility for animals). The resource kit consists of 10 activities based on a range of selected reading/multimodal texts with focuses on a variety of issues of animal care.

Posters on "Promoting Positive Values and Attitudes through English Sayings of Wisdom"

In support of the cross-curricular campaign “Promoting Positive Values and Attitudes through English Sayings of Wisdom (SOW)”, four new posters have been developed based on the inspirational quotes from Albert Einstein, Helen Keller, Mark Twain and Sam Levenson to create an inspiring learning environment for the learning and teaching of SOW.

Resources in Support of Students’ Self-directed Learning (II)

This list includes additional resources for teachers to arrange extended leaning or self-directed learning activities during the special vacation. Schools can, with due regard to their own contexts and students’ attributes, use these resources to enable students to make the most of the special vacation and engage in online self-directed learning at home so that they will be well prepared for the resumption of classes.

Learning and Teaching Resources in Support of Students’ Self-directed Learning

This list includes a variety of online learning and teaching resources and related reference materials which enable schools to promote students’ self-directed learning during the special vacation. Schools can, with due regard to their own contexts and students’ attributes, use these resource materials to enable students to make the most of the special vacation and engage in online self-directed learning at home so that they will be well prepared for the resumption of classes.

“Promoting Positive Values and Attitudes through English Sayings of Wisdom” – SOW Interactive Online Games

The SOW Interactive Online Games are intended for use in both primary and secondary English Language classrooms. Teachers are encouraged to adapt the learning activities with reference to their students’ needs and abilities to cater for learner diversity, and to leverage the online games to support students’ self-directed learning, in particular during the suspension of face-to-face classes under the pandemic situation.

e-Book Famous Scientists
The e-book Famous Scientists is suitable for students of upper primary and junior secondary levels to enhance their reading skills, connect their reading and writing experiences and kindle their interest in science. It consists of six reading tasks and one writing task. Each reading task comprises an inspiring life story (biography) of a scientist and reading activities through which students can develop their reading skills, generic skills as well as positive values and attitudes. Appropriate interactive features are included to develop students’ multimodal literacy. In the writing part, students are guided to search for information about a famous scientist they admire most on the Internet and write a biography of the scientist.

Learning and Teaching Materials on Appreciation of Hong Kong English Poetry
This set of materials features ten poems written by ten Hong Kong-based poets. The selected poems serve to support values education with themes such as “gratitude”, “empathy” and “perseverance” covered. Each poem comes with a variety of questions of different levels of difficulty. Suggested answers are provided to facilitate teachers’ discussion with students.

Promoting Positive Values and Attitudes through English Sayings of Wisdom - Resource Kit on Inspirational Speeches

The e-resource kit is developed for use in secondary schools to enhance students’ understanding of public speaking skills and creative use of English through appreciating inspirational speeches. Five speeches are featured in the resource kit and a set of learning and teaching materials with discussion questions and suggested answers is provided for each to facilitate teachers’ use in the English Language classroom. Teachers are encouraged to make effective use of the resource kit to enrich students’ English learning and nurture their positive values, attitudes and behaviour.

Videos on "Fantastic People"
Videos on “Fantastic People” are produced to supplement the themes “Special people” and “Successful people” in the English Language curriculum at Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 respectively. Three celebrities, namely Professor Sung Jao Yiu Joseph, Dr Allan Zeman and Ms Yu Chui Yee Alison, are introduced to students through the interviews in the videos. The videos, each lasting 6-7 minutes, enable students to learn from the celebrities’ sharing and gain insights into their achievements and success stories. The “Fantastic People Videos Activity Booklet”, with pre-viewing, viewing and post-viewing activities, is developed to facilitate and complement the use of the videos.

A Treasury of Literary Classics (Secondary Level) - Lyrics Series
The lyrics series features a collection of five English songs with lyrics of literary merits. Each song comes with a variety of questions of different levels of difficulty and extension questions for reflection and further discussion. Interactive features and answer-checking functions are embedded to provide students with prompts and instant feedback while attempting the questions. Teachers are encouraged to make use of the online resources to facilitate discussion of the creative use of English in lyrics in class or students’ self-directed learning.

A Resource Kit for Promoting Positive Values and Attitudes through English Sayings of Wisdom (SOW)
“Week of Hope” (Extended to 25–29 Jul and 1-5 Aug) is a signature school-based activity for the SOW Campaign in the 2021/22 school year. In support of the implementation of “Week of Hope”, the resource material “A Resource Kit for Promoting Positive Values and Attitudes through English Sayings of Wisdom” has been developed for use in the primary and secondary English classrooms. It aims to provide inspirations and suggestions on activities to enrich the school-based English Language curriculum and create an inspiring learning environment for the learning and teaching of the theme “hope”.

Let's Make a Difference: Unleashing Students' Potential in Learning English at Primary Level

This leaflet is designed to support the English panels and English teachers in planning, implementing and evaluating the English Language curriculum with effective strategies to cater for learner diversity at school, curriculum and classroom levels. The interface across key stages of learning and some common concerns about English learning and teaching are addressed.

English Treasure Chest
To support different modes of English Language learning and teaching and promote students’ self-directed learning, the “English Treasure Chest” is developed to provide a fine selection of English learning resources for use by both primary and secondary teachers and students.