Many research studies on English reading support that phonological awareness is crucial to reading success. This paper reports about a study which examined the effect of phonological awareness training in English reading among Hong Kong children who learn English as their second language. Participants were 5-year old children studying the last year of preschool education, the year before formal primary schooling. Children in the experimental group (184) received phonological awareness training for about 6 months while the children in the control group (166) were taught with their original English curriculum. Children in the experimental group performed significantly better in both reading–related tasks (picture naming and word reading) and reading-related skills (rhyme detection and phoneme identification). The findings indicate that phonological awareness training is beneficial to the development of English reading skills among Hong Kong children.

Early childhood education has already become an accepted Chinese culture in Hong Kong. Nowadays, most parents send their children to a preschool at the age of three. To a certain extent, they understand the significant values of pre-primary education to the total development of young children. However, due to the unhealthy and keen academic pressure in primary education , both parents and teachers always emphasize children's cognitive development and neglect children's physical, social and emotional development in early childhood. In fact, the ultimate goals of preschool education are to educate young children wholly through various plays and stimulating activities in the formal and informal curriculum; and to offer comprehensive care to young children in a preschool. Movement (physical play / physical education) is the essence of young children's lives. It influences and is influenced by all aspects of development, consisting of physical, cognitive and affective domains of children behaviors. In Hong Kong, preschool curriculum has integrated movement in the form of structured physical education, unstructured physical education / physical free play, spontaneous physical activities and rhythmic movement. No doubt, apart from the daily movement programs, it is crucial to create a stimulating learning environment including play-areas and learning corner to arouse children's interest for self-discovery and individual learning. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to introduce a Physical Education and Health Learning Corner in preschools with special focus on the rationale, objectives, contents and equipment. In this paper, a strategic implementation plan is recommended to preschool educators too. It is hoped that the set up of this newly introduced learning corner will provide an attractive, interesting and useful learning opportunity to all preschool children through pleasurable experience.

Chinese is one of the significant subjects in the primary core curricula in Hong Kong. Through the acquisition of the Chinese, the students are expected to master the skills of writing, reading, listening and oral aspects of the language. Although the acquisition of Chinese seems to be similar as the English, it normally embraces more elements other than language acquisition such as the cultural and social aspects since Chinese is also the mother language of the students. It is therefore interesting to explore how the primary teachers make decisions in Chinese teaching: what are the concerns of the teachers before the lessons, what are the emphasis and interactions during their lessons and what are reflections of the teachers after their lessons. In this study, three experienced teachers were interviewed and their lessons were observed. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted before and after the lessons. The data were triangulated with the data from the lesson observations. The results of the study will shed lights on teacher education in the Chinese teaching.

Traditionally, children in Hong Kong are taught to read English by reading/memorizing the whole English words followed by sentences and stores. Many research studies on English reading support that phonological awareness is crucial to reading success. A study is conducted in Hong Kong to examine the phonological awareness approach in developing English reading skills among preschool children who learn English as their second language. Participants were 5-year old children studying the last year of preschool education, the year before formal primary schooling. Children in the experimental group (182) received phonological awareness training for about 6 months while the children in the control group (166) were taught with their original English curriculum. Children in the experimental group performed significantly better in both reading-related tasks (picture naming and word reading) and reading-related skills (rhyme detection and phoneme identification). Results indicate that phonological awareness training is an effective approach to the development of English reading skills among Hong Kong children. The findings of the project will provide data to facilitate the school curriculum planning and suggest changing teaching practices in English reading so as to prevent difficulties in learning.

The optimal period which can be significantly influencing the establishment of young children's cognitive, social, emotional and psychological learning activities, and positive attitudes and appreciation of participation in regular health-related physical activities has been recognized as Early Childhood (3-8 year-olds). Since movement is the very center of young children's lives, it is the primary vehicle to assist children's total learning. Most nurseries / child care centers and some kindergartens in Hong Kong, movement, physical plays, physical activities under the umbrella of preschool physical education (P.E.) have been arranged in daily time-table of the "Whole Child Curriculum". Recent research studies have strongly indicated that the development of preschool physical education curriculum has been hindered due to some major factors namely: the internal (inside the preschool), external (outside the preschool), and human (child care workers & parents etc.) factors. The ultimate purpose of the study is to collect concrete field data at a nursery in Hong Kong by a case study method with the employment of participation observation (one month), class observation (6 P.E. lessons) and interviews (6 interviewees, 15-20 minutes for each) about the problems / difficulties encountered by the child care workers (CCWs) in the development of preschool physical education curriculum in the preschool in order to investigate: what the problems are; what the causes of the problems encountered are; what the influences are; and what the remedies/solutions are. According to the results of the class observations (6 CCWs & 6 P.E. lessons, with a duration of 30 minutes per lesson) CCWs have encountered major problems in the following areas: teaching approach & stages; teaching skills in observation; demonstration and arrangement of group work; safety and health measures. All these areas are related to the professional practical knowledge and skills. The results of the interviews have