2000年起，香港的課程改革倡議用普通話教中文，根捧統計，至今已有半數以上中小學校正在推行。論者認為，“普教中”不但是教學語言的轉換，也是課程、教材、教法以至評估的更新。這項變革牽動中小學語文課程的校本設置，在教學層面上，也對教師的課堂語言及教學策略的運用，提出因應調整的要求。 識字教學是低年級語文教學的重要任務，香港的小學過去大多採取隨文識字的教學模式，通過課文學習，讓學生認識字詞的形音義，進而理解文本，訓練閱讀的能力。由於此前的語文課以粵語授課，識字教學可以充分利用學生的心理詞彙，以他們日常生活中習得字詞的語音或語義為基礎，連繫要學的字形，能較容易掌握生字和新詞。中文科改以普通話為教學語言，因為切斷晰語音層面的勾連，低年級學生便無法利用心理詞彙貫通字形、字音和字義的優勢識字；加上學生生活中缺乏普通話語感，學習字形與字義的同時，還得記憶陌生的語音，既形成新的難點，也加重了學習負擔。 這些年來“普教中”的先導學校參考內地、臺灣等地區的教學經驗，以漢語拼音作為輔助學生識字的工具。不少學校為此設置校本拼音教程，讓學生集中能在較短時間內把拼音通學一遍。語文教師在課上也不斷嘗試摸索，運用拼音教學字詞。觀課所見，教師在實踐中已就拼音識字發展出相應的教學策略，包括讓學生粗通拼音，邊學邊用；語文課上調動運用，從課前預習讀音，到課上自行拼讀字詞﹝個人或小組合作﹞；利用拼音記音、自我正音；定期和系統復習拼音等。不過，也有部分教師對語文課上運用拼音識字似乎還不夠重視，對相應的教學策略也未適當掌握，識字教學的效能可再提升。 “普教中”推行已十多年，因教學語言改變，識字教學的重點與難點有所轉移，但有關的教學對策的探討不多。本文主要從檢視目前學校的實踐經驗及成效切入，通過借鑒不同地區的中文識字教學方法和研究成果，建議引進音節教學的直讀法、漢字標音、以獨立或隨文兩種方式拼讀字音等方法，藉此探尋一套適用於香港普教中情境，能有效突破語音難關，並能促進識字效能的教學策略，供學界參考。

English learning is pervasive in Hong Kong kindergartens. Hong Kong children start to learn English as a school subject as early as three years old. However, the practices are diverse and there is a lack of understanding in current practices of English language teaching and its impacts on early literacy outcomes. The present paper will report the development of an observational system for English teaching in the Hong Kong classroom. The system developed by the researchers focused on evaluating the amount of code-based and meaning-based instruction provided to Hong Kong Chinese ESL children and the pedagogical strategies teachers employ in the classroom. Around 30 English lessons from 13 kindergartens located in various geographical districts in Hong Kong were coded using the observation system. The coding results provide information regarding the current practices adopted by Hong Kong kindergartens. School characteristics (e.g. SES, teachers’ qualification, teachers’ nationality) and the pedagogy and teaching content of English language teaching will be discussed. Preliminary findings of the impacts of teaching content on language and literacy skills of around 300 children from the 13 kindergartens will be presented.

漢字的認讀和害寫是閱讀和寫作的前提，故漢字教學是語文教學的基礎。學生通過漢字識字和寫字的學習，豐富了識字量，為間讀奠基，成為掌握知識、學習的基本知能。識字是對字的形、音、義的掌握，漢字是單音獨體的方塊字，往往是一字一義、一字多音，同音字多、筆劃字形不能透露讀音等等，構成漢字學習的繁難，識字成為小學語文教學首先要解決的一個難題。 香港課程發展議會編訂的《香港小學中國語文建議學習重點﹝試用﹞》﹝2008﹞，是香港教育統籌局的語文教育指導文件之一，其中列出漢字的形音義是語文學習基礎知識的學習重點，包括了漢字的筆劃、筆順、字形間架結構、偏旁、部件、漢語音節的組成、造字法、同音字等等，這成為香港小學語文教科書構思的重要依據。教科書是學生學習的媒介，其創設的條件和環境，對教師的「教」和學生 的「學」皆有極大影響。 本研究以香港三套較通行的小學中國語文教科書為觀察對象，以文本分析法，比較三套教科書中有關識字教材的選擇、重點、識字類型、編列次序、指導策略等，以期釐清識字教學的概念，提升識字教學的素質。研究成果除有助教材編撰者日後教材的編寫外，面對重視學生主體性，積極發展校本課程的當下教育界，這個研究有助教師建構校本課程的參考。 研究發現香港教科書的識字教學設計，主要是隨文分散識字，有知識和能力並重的意識，並有集中識字的安排，但採用的組織方式不同，例如有特設識字單元的，也有在不同單元都加有識字欄目。集中識字的策略也各有偏重，識字重點方面，有識字和寫字並重，有只重視字詞的認讀，而忽略字形的書寫指導，又或寫字指導系統不完備，序列與學生的認知心理有矛盾。

本研究旨在分享兩位小學教師試行「浸入式」教學策略的經驗，探討他們運用「浸入式」教學策略對非華語學生學習中文的成效，並了解教師和學生對「浸入式」教學的意見。這是個案研究，研究對象是香港一所小學兩班小學一年級（共四十七位）非華語學生和兩位中文科教師。本研究採用「定質」和「定量」的研究方法，包括：問卷、訪談、前測和後測。研究發現教師運用了「浸入式」教學策略有助提升學生的中文的成績。教師認為有效的浸入式教學策略是：「善用實用的主題單元」、「教師語言的妙用」及「浸入式的閱讀」。學生則喜愛實用的主題、從遊戲中學習中文和組織學習檔案等學生活動。
[Copyright © 2016 香港教師中心.]

This paper reports on a hermeneutic phenomenological study on the experiences of visual arts teachers teaching students with intellectual disabilities in Hong Kong. Themes which emerged from the interviews were examined in conjunction with the lived experiences of the teachers. Special school visual arts teachers who participated in this study have strong emotional and personal connections with their students. The teachers had experienced difficulties when teaching their students and many of the problems were unique to the special school settings. In an effort to tackle these problems and improve their teaching, these teachers engaged in reflection and explored a variety of ways to enhance their students' learning. In spite of the practical learning problems their students face, the teachers maintained that studying visual arts is beneficial to their students 'whole-person development. The paper concludes with a critical reflection on the nature of teaching visual arts to students with intellectual disabilities.
[Copyright © 2015 Australian Association of Special Education Inc.]

This study is the part of a larger study on investigating Hong Kong (HK) prospective teachers’ (PTs) Subject Matter Knowledge (SMK) and Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK). In this paper, five HK PTs’ SMK and PCK on teaching one topic regarding square root were investigated. The results suggest that insufficient understanding on the concept of algebraic operation is the major obstacle to limit those student teachers from teaching students with mathematical understanding. The results further echo with the viewpoint that SMK and PCK are two interrelated constructs and rich SMK leads to high quality of PCK.

Schools are one of the major agents of socialisation in society along with the family, community, mass media and peer group. One of the important functions or purpose of education and schooling is to equip learners to live and work effectively in an ever-changing and evolving society. As new and growing challenges emerge which need to be met, such as concerns about environmental issues including destruction of the environment, global warming and an expanding carbon footprint, schools are one of the key agents of socialisation in society which seek to bring about changes in behaviour into more desirable directions. This chapter reports on the results of a research study that examined whether the schooling provided in Hong Kong has been successful in actually getting learners to modify their behaviour in ways and directions which are likely to successfully promote improvements to the environment and sustainable development. The results show that although there was a perceived increase in knowledge of the selected environmental issues, with regard to behaviour changes, 29.4–50.6% of students believed that their environmental behaviour had not changed. The chapter then examines pedagogies that can be successful in changing students’ behaviour and argues that to increase effectiveness of environmental studies, particular types of learning should occur, including discovery learning, systems thinking-based learning, critical thinking-based learning, interdisciplinary learning, problem-based learning and participatory/collaborative learning. Teachers should provide an opportunity to engage students in pro-environmental activities and address values that are going beyond an economic imperative.