A Study on Fostering the Sense of Hope among Middle School Students in the Inclusive Classroom through Inspirational Pop Songs of the Hong Kong Music Band Supper Moment

Ng Sin Fai Eric 

Abstract

Since the implementation of inclusive education in Hong Kong, many mainstream schools have admitted a lot of students with special educational needs (hereinafter referred to as SEN students) and these students study in the inclusive classroom in the school. Compared with students without SEN, SEN students have relatively weaker learning ability, so they inevitably have poorer performance in the academic area. Because of this, some SEN students have low self-esteem, insufficient self-confidence and a lack of sense of hope for their future. To deal with this, the author designed a curriculum of hope education that incorporates the teaching of Cantonese pop songs of the Hong Kong music band "Supper Moment". This curriculum contained a variety of teaching activities, which establish students’ positive attitude, and a sense of hope. In order to understand the effectiveness of the teaching, the author used the following research artefacts, including students’ reflection writing, learning portfolios, teacher’s reflection journals and the questionnaire of hope. The results showed that hope education based on the teaching of pop songs of the Hong Kong music band "Supper Moment" is not only able to build up the sense of hope of middle school students, but also to develop their positive attitude towards life. Finally, this study had a positive impact on students in the inclusive classroom.

Key words: positive psychology, hope, Chinese pop songs, integrated education, Supper Moment