不論在中國內地或香港，｢幼稚園學生應否學習書寫漢字?｣ 是一直備受爭議的課題。香港教育局明確指出，｢書寫字詞｣ 的學習目的，是讓兒童透過書寫正確的漢字，利用文字表達意念。而香港幼稚園學生的書寫教學，以掌握漢字字形的平衡及比例，並準確地掌握筆劃及形狀為目標。故此，除了透過抄寫字形的方式來學習書寫漢字外，是否還有其他方法教導幼兒學習書寫漢字，這是一個十分值得探討的研究課題。本個案研究通過讓幼兒進行自由繪畫及書寫的方法，觀察幼兒能否在 ｢自由書寫｣的活動中學習漢字書寫。與此同時，本研究將比較幼兒 ｢自由書寫｣ 和 ｢正式寫字練習｣的書寫表現。研究結果發現，大部分3至4歲的幼兒並未能按筆順整齊地書寫漢字。相反，幼兒正從書寫不規則線條，慢慢過渡至正式文字；其中書寫的不完整文字可以稱之為 ｢過渡字｣。容許幼兒書寫 ｢過渡字｣，可以協助幼兒認字․以至學習筆順。在這階段，教師不應過於著重 ｢正字｣ 和 ｢筆順｣ 的問題，因為強制幼兒寫 ｢美觀標準字｣ 和限制幼兒不可寫字，同樣會阻礙幼兒書寫能力的發展。因此, “過渡字” 的書寫，有助幼兒閱讀能力和書寫能力的發展。
[Copyright © 2014 The Korea association for Han-Character and classical written language Education.]

Recent mega changes in the social, political and educational context of Hong Kong and the subsequent impacts on language teachers have put great demands on English teachers' effectiveness. Some of these irresistible changes are, for example, the implementation of TOC in primary schools, the proposed benchmark qualification assessment recommended in the Education Commission Report 6, the fast changing diversity in students' needs and ability due to the influx of immigrant children from the mainland, and most important of all, the insistent demands on quality teaching and learning of English despite a declining status of the language due to the change of sovereignty. Working in this changing environment, English teachers very often encounter unexpected challenges and great demands of effectiveness as professional language teachers. Responding to this, the present paper offers an emerging perspective to the perplexing question of how English teachers can function effectively in an age of megatrends. It suggests that to enable these ELF/ESL teachers to be responsive and adaptive to the megatrends in schools, the answer lies in a shift in the paradigm of teacher learning and development. The authors propose that English teachers should embark on self-learning while self-managing their work in schools so as to be able to face new challenges in the ever changing internal and external environment of the school. This paper attempts to apply the self-learning framework developed by Cheung & Cheng (1995 & 1996) to illustrate the concrete stages of how English teachers could engage themselves in an iterative process of self-learning. Cheung & Cheng's (1996) self-learning framework comprises two self-learning cycles: the Major Cycle and the Support Cycle. The Major Cycle consists of five sequential stages: namely, Environmental Analysis, Planning & Affiliating, Developing & Directing, Implementing, and Evaluating & Monitoring. The Major Cycle provides an overall mechanism for practicing

At the beginning of the third millennium, education reforms come to a forefront in both China and Hong Kong. The two regions had undergone different political systems in the past: various parts of China have been under the influences of different countries since the mid-nineteenth century and became a communist country since 1949; while Hong Kong was a British colony from 1842-1997. Both experienced Western influences in culture and education, and currently are facing challenges of globalization with regard to educating their future generations. This paper focuses on the development of music education in relation to traditional Chinese music in China and Hong Kong in the past century, and examines the recent music curriculum changes in China in order to establish a direction for the ongoing music education reform in Hong Kong. The study pinpoints the rationale for the study, the historical aspect and impact on music education in China and Hong Kong, the ongoing reforms on music education in both regions, and recommends a direction for a possible change in the music curriculum in Hong Kong. The suggestions could also be adapted for change in other Asian countries.
[Copyright © 2003 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]

The 1995 primary Art and Craft syllabus in Hong Kong states that there should be emphasis on three learning domains, i.e., understanding art, making art and living with art. In this information age, the World Wide Web has become one of the electronic media providing resources for teachers. In 1997, the Government demonstrated its serious commitment to IT in education. But at that time, there was little evidence of a strong IT culture in primary schools, and teachers in general had little experience in using IT. Four years later, in 2001, I carried out research into Hong Kong 1 primary art teachers’ experiences in computer use and their views on teaching and learning through web sites. Quantitative and qualitative research methods were used. Data for this study were collected from questionnaires, focus group discussion and individual interviews. The data reflected that the Hong Kong art teachers had a firm belief in web site being a helpful source for their own teaching and learning. However, the data also reflected that the teachers had difficulties in finding time to use web sites to support their teaching and learning in practice. The findings indicated that teachers’ workload was too heavy and art as a subject was neglected in primary schools in Hong Kong.
[Copyright © 2002 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]

Numerous studies have been carried out to investigate motivation; however, no research has been done to evaluate how length of stay has an impact on the second language learning pattern. This study, therefore, investigated how length of stay places impact on a group of Chinese immigrant students’ motivation to learn English in Hong Kong. It is hoped that an understanding of Chinese immigrant students’ motivation to learn English in relations to length of stay would have implications on current teaching and learning practices, based on the adopted motivational theory and that these would enhance learners’ motivation to learn English while adjusting to and integrating with the new learning environment.
[Copyright © 2008 Samara AltLinguo.]

Approaches to teaching art were studied through interviews with 18 art teachers at secondary schools in Hong Kong. Grounded analysis revealed that the approaches to teaching fitted into a four category model with category labels: instructional, discipline inquiry, social interactive, and personal. The categories were defined and described by six dimensional features: aim; content; role of teacher; role of student; teaching methods; and assessment orientation. The four categories of approaches to teaching could be placed under a higher-order spectrum between subject-and student-centred poles.