The USP-T&G Project organized ‘Conference on Empowering Multicultural Learners, Unleashing Potential for Transition (蓄勢待發：中文學與教幼小銜接研討會)’ which was held on 5 January 2019 at HKU Graduate House. It provided a platform for in-service teachers and practitioners locally and internationally to discuss and share their ideas, perspectives, experiences and research findings of teaching and learning of Chinese for linguistically diverse learners in terms of curriculum, teaching materials and pedagogy in school settings ranged from kindergartens to primary levels. The Conference themes were addressed through 15 various plenary and featured presentations as well as poster demonstrations.
The distinguished keynote speech entitled ‘Language in Education: Support for multilingualism through educational contexts’ was delivered by Professor Victoria Murphy, Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Oxford. The other two plenary speeches, namely ‘Vocabulary Learners and Self-Starters - A discussion of the progression of vocabulary learning during the transition from kindergarten to primary school and self-regulated learning in multicultural children’ and ‘Picture Books Make Me Love My School!’, were delivered by Dr. W.I. Lam & Dr. S.Y. Hui and Dr. W.M. Cheung respectively. The Conference was a great success, with around 220 delegates from 74 local schools, including teachers from over 15 partnership schools, who have stepped out to generously share their school-based experiences and knowledge generated with fellow researchers and teaching professionals. Their experiences and perspectives are, without doubt, invaluable assets to those in our field.
For details, please visit the website: http://www.hkuuspp.com/
**[1] USP-T&G project refers to ‘University-school Support Programme - Transition and Growth: Effective Learning and Teaching of Chinese for Multicultural Students’ which is funded by Education Development Fund, Education Bureau from August 2017 to February 2019 and it is led by Dr. W.M. Cheung
Our Conference keynote speaker - Professor Victoria Murphy, Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Oxford
Teachers from collaborating schools showcase their school-based experience in poster session. (second from right) Dr. WM Cheung, the Project Leader of the USP-T&G Project.
The Event was organized by USP-T&G Research Team led by Dr. WM Cheung. The Conference attended by 220 delegates from 74 kindergartens and primary schools was a great success.
Program rundown (English / Chinese)