Wednesday 24 June 2015

 

British Council launches new Primary Plus courses to develop children’s English and life skills
Enhanced Stay and Play and Phonics courses

In addition to academic achievement, developing skills for success in everyday life is becoming more important for Hong Kong children. Apart from English skills, children’s physical, personal, social and emotional development is crucial in preparing them to tackle future challenges. In the new term commencing in September, the British Council will offer its new Primary Plus courses, which will aim to raise young children’s confidence in communicating in English while considering the child’s development into a well-rounded individual. Enhancements will also be made to the signature Stay and Play and Phonics courses to better suit children’s learning needs.

Designed by British Council experts with reference to the local school curriculum, Primary Plus is a module-based, six-level series of courses with age-appropriate themes and topics that match with child development stages. Children will learn English skills and other life skills through a variety of tasks and projects which improve their understanding and use of the language. Taking advantage of theinteractive teaching methodology, students will take part in specially-formulated activities and engage with a variety of media to gain essential life skills naturally, including creativity and imagination, leadership and personal development, citizenship, critical thinking and problem solving, digital literacy, and collaboration and communication. Students can take part in learning activities on the Primary Plus online portal at home, which is specially designed for grammar and vocabulary training with language learning games.Parents will be able to constantly monitor their child’s progress through modular assessment of in-class tasks with feedback every four to six lessons, as well as through automatically-marked online grammar and vocabulary activities which their children do on the dedicated Primary Plus online portal. A final communicative task with measurable outcomes, such as a project, writing task or presentation, will be done at the end of each module to measure students’ progress. 

Courses are now open for registration. A new English language centre will open in Aberdeen in September to provide more convenient access to Primary and Secondary courses for Southern District residents. With a wide network of eight English language centres for Young Learners across Hong Kong, parents can select a location that is most convenient for their children. For details, please visit http://www.britishcouncil.hk/en/english/courses-primary/primary-plus.

In the coming September term, the British Council will also be introducing improved Phonics courses, which will help K1-P1 children learn about the relationship between written letters and individual sounds of spoken language through different stages. Children will continue to experience a multi-sensory learning programme with the new staged approach and achieve meaningful results. The popular ‘Stay and Play’ course has also extended the starting age range of its student from 18 months to 12 months, starting in September term. Now toddlers can be immersed in an English-only environment at a younger age, stimulating their interest in English learning. For details, please visit http://www.britishcouncil.hk/en/english/courses-kindergarten

Enquiries: 2913 5100 / enquiries@britishcouncil.org.hk

Website: www.britishcouncil.hk/en/english

English language centres for Young Learners courses: Admiralty, Aberdeen, Yau Ma Tei, Whampoa, Sha Tin, Tseung Kwan O, Kwai Hing

About the British Council

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and build trust between them worldwide.

We work in more than 100 countries and our 8,000 staff – including 2,000 teachers – work with thousands of professionals and policy makers and millions of young people every year by teaching English, sharing the arts and delivering education and society programmes. In Hong Kong, we have been doing this since 1948, giving people opportunities to learn, share and connect worldwide.

We are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter. A core publicly-funded grant provides 20 per cent of our turnover which last year was £864 million. The rest of our revenues are earned from services which customers around the world pay for, such as English classes and taking UK examinations, and also through education and development contracts and from partnerships with public and private organisations. All our work is in pursuit of our charitable purpose and supports prosperity and security for the UK and globally. 

For more information, please visit: www.britishcouncil.org. You can also keep in touch with the British Council through http://blog.britishcouncil.org/. To learn more about British Council in Hong Kong, please visit www.britishcouncil.hk and www.facebook.com/BritishCouncilHK