-2-
as I
One of the original 59 teachers has resigned,
understand for personal reasons, so by February we expect 81
teachers to be working in 41 participating schools.
The pilot scheme is to be evaluated by procedures
Council in conjunction
with the
designed by the British
Education Department and the Hong Kong Examinations Authority.
These testing procedures are among the most rigorous used in
any language teaching scheme anywhere. They are being used,
first to measure the language achievements of the pupils taught
by the expatriate teachers; secondly, to assess the effect of
the scheme in increasing motivation and interest among the
pupils; and thirdly, to assess the contribution made by the
expatriate teachers to the general life of the school.
effect
The scheme has been in operation, for only five months,
so clearly it is still too soon
is still too soon to make any formal assessment
of its effectiveness. Despite some rather sensational reports
in the press, there have in £ad been fewer difficulties with
the sabeme
sebeme than might have been expected. In a few schools
there have been problems of class control, but such problems
also
are encountered by local teachers also, and discussions
A
held with the schools concerned
to find ways
are
to improve the
situation. Adaptation to the teaching environment in Hong Kong
has been easier for some teachers than for others, but problems
are discussed and the teachers are given professional support
in a variety of ways.