The Beta version of The Blue Sparrow is officially online. At this stage, only specific groups of testers are invited to use the app. Thank you for your interest in this project.

Dear poets, English teachers and the general public,

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Action and Expression

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This project celebrates hybrid forms of action and expression that are uniquely found in creative, modern and traditional poetic texts. Poems are full of glee, gusto, imagination; they delight us, they charm us, they move us. Poetry-reading activities involve interpretation and speaking skills, and poems are particularly suitable for introducing the interfaces among words, intonation and expression. A digital tool should enable engagements with poetics and praxis in multimodal manners. The creation of a Poetry-reading App for Hong Kong’s young learners enables both innovative and traditional aspects of poetic texts to be explained and accessed at ease, with a swipe and a tap of the fingertips.

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Process and Production

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This website introduces you to the process and products of this HKBU-led project. This project benefits from the benevolence of the Innovation and Technology Bureau of the HKSAR Government. Their generous support enables the project team to build bridges among communities across age groups – Hong Kong English teachers who recognise the educational value of English poetry, tech-savvy young learners who enjoy learning and playing on their mobile devices, and IT architects who will combine innovation and tradition to construct a multi-channel application (iOS, Android and WebApp) that balances utility and user experience. The current collection of children’s poems will be transformed into school-based activities during the project’s second and third year.

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Impacts on the Community

Launching a poetry database for Hong Kong’s young learners in 2021

Empowering teachers and learners in poetry appreciation and reading

Joshua Chan & Jane Lo
Hong Kong Baptist University
On behalf of the project team