English Week is a special event organized to celebrate and promote the English language, literature, and communication skills among students. Ka Yan students enjoy a vast array of learning experiences. The goal of English Week is to enhance students' language proficiency, boost their confidence in using English, and foster a love for reading and writing. By participating in interactive and fun-filled activities, students develop critical thinking, creativity, and teamwork while appreciating the richness of the English language. English Week also provides a platform for students to showcase their talents and encourages a school-wide enthusiasm for learning English.

English Week 2026: Adventures with Sherlock Holmes

Welcome to this year's extraordinary and highly anticipated English Week, where the enigmatic and thrilling world of Sherlock Holmes comes to life! Get ready for an unforgettable, action-packed daily journey filled with mystery, intrigue, and mind-boggling challenges across five spectacular days of immersive learning.

The Daily Case Files (Classroom Activities)

Our daily curriculum transforms standard English lessons into a dynamic, puzzle-solving playground where students unravel mysteries using language immersion:

• Day 1: The Mind of the Master Creator 

Students will explore a fascinating biographical text detailing how the brilliant British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (who started his professional life as a doctor) created the iconic detective. They'll discover why Doyle boldly tried to kill off his creation ("Killed Holmes") to focus on other literary pursuits , learn how Dr. John Watson narrates the stories , and discover that Edgar Allan Poe actually penned the first modern detective story. A competitive 10-question Kahoot! challenge awaits to test their reading comprehension!

• Day 2: Who is Sherlock Holmes? 

The mystery deepens as students dive into the lore of 221b Baker Street. They will learn about Holmes's complex world —from his faithful housekeeper Mrs. Hudson and his government-employed brother , to his dangerous archenemy Professor Moriarty and the jealous Inspector Lestrade. They will also explore legendary tales like The Hound of the Baskervilles and modern adaptations featuring Benedict Cumberbatch , followed by another thrilling Kahoot! quiz.

• Day 3: Deciphering "The Dancing Men" 

Language and cryptography collide! Students will watch a captivating animated YouTube story about a sequence of cryptic stick figures that bring confusion and terror to Mr. Hilton Cubitt and his wife Elsie. By following Holmes's use of frequency analysis to crack the code , students will learn how he unmasked the threatening figure from Elsie's past, Abe Slaney , answering target questions based on the video.

• Days 4 & 5: The Mystery Times Logic Puzzles 

Wits will be tested to the absolute limit with a series of perplexing, visual logic puzzles from The Mystery Times newspaper:

• Case 1: A Date with Death: Students must decode a cryptic letter substitution cipher left in a diary to accuse the real murderer, Lucy!
• Case 2: Poisoning at the Library: Students will solve a phonetic rebus puzzle drawn on a dying librarian's hand to locate a hidden antidote inside the book Peter Pan.
• Case 3: Cracking the Code: Students will decipher a 4-digit safe code belonging to criminal boss Billy Broccoli by cleverly flipping his wife Lois’s name upside-down.

Heart-Pounding Escape Room Activities

First up on the central grounds are our captivating and intensely immersive Escape Room Adventures! We have meticulously designed three distinctly challenging, labyrinthine routes that will test students' wits. Teams must utilize their English vocabulary and sharp logic to solve clues and break free from these daunting, locked chambers.

The Grand Highlight Assembly: The Case of the Broken Trophy

The excitement reaches a fever pitch on Day 4 with our spectacular, interactive stage assembly program.

All students will join forces with the brilliant and legendary Sherlock Holmes—brought to life on stage by our talented, charismatic English Ambassadors. The case? It’s all about a broken school trophy. By analyzing subtle, mysterious clues, participating in an audience-wide evidence hunts, and answering target Q&A questions, students will use persuasive, fluent English to piece together the puzzle and ultimately unmask the cunning culprit who stole the star from the trophy.

Our students are bound to be deeply engrossed and wildly enthusiastic about these dynamic games. They are acquiring valuable language skills in a deeply immersive, effortlessly natural environment—proving once and for all that learning English can be an absolutely exhilarating and joyful adventure!

To encourage our students to practise using the language beyond their English lessons, the English Department has organised a variety of fun and creative English activities for the junior form students to participate in during the school year. As we are near the end of May, it is time for the Department to tally up the scores and announce the winners. 

Without further ado, the winner goes to Class 1D2 with a score of 464, edging out the 1st runner up, Class 1A2, by a slight margin of 5 points. Class 1C1 comes in third, scoring 315 points, as it wraps up the podium finish of this year’s English recess activities.

Creative Speech Competition

After advancing to the 2nd round of the competition, Li Tsun Hei (2D) and Hon Tsz Yiu (3D) worked meticulously with their English teachers to prepare for recording their presentations live at EdCity Studio on Saturday, 26 April 2025. The shortlisted participants for the final round were released in early May, and our students’ journey in the competition has eventually come to an end. Although they fell short in entering the final round, the competition has proven to be a great platform for them to step out of their comfort zone and challenge themselves for academic excellence. 

The English Department would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the two students on their outstanding achievement and appreciate the wholehearted effort of the students and their teachers towards the competition.

As we approach the end of the school year, our English Department has received great news from Hong Kong Education City (EdCity). We have won the Active Participation Award in The Creative Speech Competition 2024 in recognition of our students’ hard work and dedication. We are so proud of our students and look forward to seeing them participate in more English competitions next year!

The English Department held a Prize-giving Ceremony on 29^th May to celebrate the accomplishments of our outstanding students. Students took to the stage to receive prizes and recognition for their academic achievements and their participation in the English activities in this school year.

Congratulations to all the award winners!

Winners of English Passport:

1C Maddie Supichaya
1C Diya Pun
1C Becky Qiu
1C Jacky Chu
1D Jolie Leung
1D Timi Chan
2D Yuki Ngai
 
 

2D Zoey Shu
2D Mandy Yan
2D Carmen Yu
3C Lai Sze Ting
3D Sarah Tse
3D Emily Weng
3D Bonnie Ye
3D Matthew Xu
 

Winners of Diamond Jubilee English Writing Competition:

1C Serena To
3C Ruth Lam
4A Crystal Chan
5A Alex Lam
 

Winners of Second Term Book Report Competition:

1D Nicole Hon
1D Percy Luk
3D Jimmie Ma
4A Jamie Chan
5C Jason Chu
 

Winners of Second Term English Highlights Library Readathon Competition:

1D Percy Luk
3D Matthew Xu
 

Winner of 2023-2024 English Passport Cover Design Competition:

4C Lily Li
 

Semi-finalist of "Read Out Loud" Competition:

1C Diya Pun
 

Best Performing Class of Recess Activities:

Class 1C1
 

Every morning and recess, students appreciated the beauty of the book Wonder by reading the extracts. With the help of English Ambassadors, students confidently read out the extract to the whole school.

To conclude the Week, students celebrated their kind acts with sweetness. Chocolate fountain and selfie booths were set up so students could share their love and care with their friends and peers.

Aiming to enhance students' presentation skills and boost their confidence in speaking English, our English Department held the preliminary round of The Creative Speech Competition in school for S.1 to S.4 students. Winners of each form would then participate in The Creative Speech Competition organised by Hong Kong Education City (EdCity).

It is an intense competition, with entries from prestigious schools territory-wide, and we have four students successfully advanced to the 2nd round. We are delighted to announce that Ma Chun Hung (3D), Zhang Yanyan (3D), Lam Pui Yi (4C), and Brian Chan (4D) will record their presentations at EdCity Studio in the coming weeks in an attempt to enter the final round of the competition. We would like to wish them the very best of luck with their video shooting.

We are pleased to announce that three students from our school have participated in the 18th Daily Readers "Read Out Loud" Competition 2023-2024, organized by KEA Learning International. Diya Pun from 1C, Steven Zhao from 2B, and Henry Ko from 2D showcased their exceptional reading skills in the competition. We are proud to share that Diya Pun has successfully advanced to the semi-final, which was held on Saturday, April 20, 2024. Congratulations to Diya for her outstanding achievement! We encourage all students to participate in more competitions and showcase your talents!

To encourage our junior form students to read more English books during their free time, the school has subscribed to Highlights Library, an online reading platform. Throughout the term, some junior students have completed different reading activities on the platform. Based on the performance of the activities, 3 students each from S1 to S3 received a prize of two McDonald’s $40 coupons for their excellent performance. Additionally, students across S1-S3 were asked to borrow a book from the school library during Christmas and completed a book report for a book report competition. Based on the quality of their work, students were chosen as winners and received Starbucks coupons as rewards.

Our English Ambassadors are diligently preparing for the upcoming Information Day. As part of the preparations, they have decided to teach guests how to craft 'Friendship Bracelets' and Towel 'Teddy Bears'.

The 'Friendship Bracelets' symbolize the values of friendship and unity, while the Towel 'Teddy Bears' exhibit creativity and resourcefulness. The English Ambassadors are excited to create enjoyable and memorable experience for our guests!

English Café was designed to integrate English learning into everyday life, enabling S1 students to learn how to place a food order as a customer, serve a diner as a waiter, and prepare food as a kitchen staff in the school café. Students took turns to immerse themselves in these three roles and put into practice by interacting with each other in their English lessons.

Recess Activities are our daily highlight where junior form students join in a broad spectrum of interactive games in the form of inter-class competitions such as Pictionary, Word Chain, Spelling Games etc in pursuance of enriching their English language.

On 12 October, 5B Tracy TSUI Sze-yan and 5A Alex LAM Siu-hang, the two newly-appointed English Ambassadors of Term 2023 - 2024, represented the Ambassador Team to attend the School Leaders Inauguration Ceremony. In this term, the English Ambassadors will carry out duties including organising English-learning events, making morning announcements and serving as the MC at events with the purpose of equipping their proficiencies in English language.