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

The purpose of this study was to examine the potential influential factors of secondary students’ attitudes toward physical education in Hong Kong. The Physical Education Questionnaire was completed by 1172 students which measured how physical education is perceived concerning the values, the status, the atmosphere, the experiences, the social aspects, the teaching method and the PE teachers. Mean ratings on these aspects from 3.43 to 3.92 on a 5-point scale, indicating that the students generally liked physical education, but they liked some aspects more that others. Employing analysis of variance techniques revealed that school year, gender and perceived skill competence were significant factors influencing students’ attitudes. These findings have pedagogical implications for the teaching strategies of physical education.