My Inquisitive Nature

Library Resources

Library OPAC

Newsela

Britannica

Hong Kong Public Library

HyRead

Nurturing Our Inquisitive Nature through a Holistic Reading Approach

At HKUGA College, nurturing students’ inquisitive nature is our top priority. For us, a key strategy to achieving this goal is a holistic reading approach.

Our Philosophy: Today a Reader, Tomorrow a Leader

As tomorrow’s leaders, we believe, as shared by Casey Imafidon, in the article "10 Reasons Why People Who Read a Lot Are More Likely to Be Good Leaders" that as better readers, we have better people skills, a wider vocabulary, a more rounded perspective, better associations and an improved focus. We also are more relaxed, more intellectually challenged, reminded of past actions, more energetic and purpose driven and are good time managers.

Future Proofing: Growing Critical Thinkers and Effective Users of Information Technology

In the age of technology, students are used to using technology to assist learning. Learning with good online resources assists students to extend their learning outside of school time. Parents are also encouraged to enhance communication by spending quality time reading and discussing issues with their children.

The College offers learning services, books and resources that enable all stakeholders to become critical thinkers and effective users of information and knowledge in all formats. It has been demonstrated that when students are equipped with communication, motivation, positivity, creativity and feedback skills, this helps prepare them as future leaders. Through our approach to studying and reading that emphasizes these skills, students are strengthening the skills to achieve higher levels of success in their near future.

Endless Options: Rich Reading Resources

For many years, the school has arranged subscriptions of printed newspapers; however, in our efforts to be more environmentally friendly and to allow students access to information more conveniently, we believe students also benefit from well selected online resources. The following are a selection of online resources we recommend:

English Websites: South China Morning Post: www.scmp.com, Guardian: www.theguardian.com, Daily Telegraphy: www.telegraph.co.uk, Britannica: school.ebonline.com (School Subscription);

Chinese Websites: 灼見名家: www.master-insight.com, 明報網站: www.mingpao.com, 經濟日報: inews.hket.com.

As a school-wide resource and to enhance our Reading Across the Curriculum (RaC) Programme and Cross-curricular Programme, the College has purchased a school-wide subscription to Newsela.

(Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that brings together engaging, accessible content with integrated assessments and insights to supercharge reading engagement and learning in every subject. Content on Newsela covers topics students care about, that connect to core curriculum, and are aligned to standards. Each article on Newsela is published at 5 reading levels so that every article is accessible to every student in a class, regardless of reading ability. Assessments are integrated directly into articles to help students engage with the content and to give teachers and principals actionable insights on students’ activity. The result is more engaged readers—and engaged readers are better learners. (from: https://www.edsurge.com/product-reviews/newsela)

In addition to the online resources, the school provides a printed magazine collection for students to read in our library. Our collection of magazines includes the following titles:

Collection of English Magazines: English Channel/English Corner/ Readers Digest/ BrainSpace (suitable for S1 – S2 students), Empire/PC Games/Rolling Stone/Seventeen/ Scientific America (suitable for S3- S4 students), National Geographic/ Times/Education Leadership (suitable for S5- S6 students); Collection of Chinese Magazines: 未來少年/香港中學生文藝月刊/知識 (suitable for S1 – S2 students), 選擇月刊/ 中國國家地理/健康動力/城市文藝/中國旅遊(suitable for S3- S4 students), 亞洲周刊/ 明報月刊/ 信報月刊/字花/中國國家地埋 (suitable for S5- S6 students).

Finally, The Hub has a collection of more than 20,000 books, plus CDs & DVDs. All students (and parents!) are welcomed to The Hub to access available resources.

The Heart of the College: Our Library - The Wellbeing Hub

A cornerstone of our positive education approach is our reading initiative. The symbolic heart of our belief is found in our new library, The Wellbeing Hub, which has been designed to invite all who enter into an inviting space to relax, recharge, read, share, exchange, explore and so much more.

Inside The Hub, our friendly Chartered Librarian, Ms Jennifer Yu, will greet you. She is ably assisted by our student librarians and parent volunteers. Together, through serving the school community, they help build positive relationships and share positive emotions, while increasing everyone’s sense of purpose, engagement and accomplishment – five key elements of our positive education wellbeing focus.

Positive Purposes: The Wellbeing Hub

Being the symbolic heart of our positive education wellbeing initiative and the embodiment of our four cornerstones:

Integration of Eastern and Western Cultures
Integration of the School and the Family
Integration of the School and the Community
Integration of Passion and Professionalism

Providing the learning community with a wellbeing space that invites everyone to embrace a growth mindset and build their character strengths, while focusing on strengthening the six positive education elements of heath, emotions, relationships, purpose, engagement and accomplishment.

Providing a service of the highest quality to the academic community of the school in a fair and unbiased manner together with equitable access for all.

Being capable of catering for users ranging from 11-year-olds with enthusiasm who have limited experience, eventually, to senior students about to embark upon their tertiary education journeys, ready to contribute to the growth of a flourishing community by doing good and feeling good.

Providing all students with an up-to-date resource collection consisting of print, non-print and electronic materials that are aligned with the school curriculum and support HKUGA College’s academic standards and motto – Strive for Virtue, Quest for Truth.

Providing, integrating and utilizing an ethically focused technology rich environment to support a commitment to life-long teaching and learning.

Acknowledging and valuing the character strengths of individual members of staff and their needs to advance their knowledge of librarianship.

Reading is DEAR to us: Time to Read

Within and beyond The Hub, we offer multiple access points to reading materials and opportunities, including:

S1-S2 DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) Librarian Lessons

Some topics covered during these lessons include

Using online resources (Newsela, Brittanica, etc.)
Choosing appropriate reading materials in the Hub and Class Library
Plagiarism
Referencing
Reading comprehension strategies

DEAR Subject Lessons (in various forms, in English, Chinese, Humanities, Science and Mathematics)
DEAR Classroom Libraries with a selection of Chinese and English reading materials
DEAR Book Collections throughout the Campus
Lunch Wellbeing DEAR Time every day at recess, lunch wellbeing time and after school

Students may read hard copies or online resources using their own learning devices.