:
4
persons is a safe planner of a series unaided. The plan, when drafted needs checking by several teachers whose school conditions and standards very.
commonest
32. The nook weakness is that a plan moves too quickly and packs too much material into each broadcast. It is very much safer to move too slowly, and to plan for too little material. It is not easy to imagine from the 'bare bones' of a plan, the broadcasts which some months later will be going into the classrooms, but it is important that effort and care should be given to imagining exactly what each broadcast will be like.
33. It is important too that no one, not even the group of teachers to whom the plan is referred for checking, should be allowed to alter it by a snap decision; the alteration while curing one fault will almost certainly
introduce another.
340 If too ambitious a programme of Schools Broadcasts is undertaken, the planning will involve the co-operation of an excessive number of the leading scholars and teachers in Hong Kong, most of whom are already busy with educational and civic matters. Programmes must therefore be planned with an eye to economising in the time of these consultants.
Script Writing.
35. Schools Programme Assistants will themselves write scripts, but outside contributors are necessary in addition. The writing of scripts demands, ideally, the ability to write direct spoken English, imagination (for dramatic scripts), and inventiveness (for devising ingenious methods of obtaining a response from children). The ability to write dialogue, a knowledge of the vocabulary which will be understood by the class, a knowledge of their background and a knowledge of the subject dealt with arc necessary.
36. Most educated people can write a reasonable script if they are guided by a good Programme Assistant, and are prepared to rewrite it on his instruc- tions, and to accept his ruthless editing; but it is too expensive of staff time to use any writers but those who write with ease and some proficiency.
37. Neither the most renowned expert nor the most expert teacher is necessarily the best writer of a script. The expert is not always sufficient of a teacher, the teacher is not always sufficient of an expert, and neither one or the other may be able to present material in the way most effective for broadcasting.
38. A script writer should receive a clear brief from the Programme Assistant in charge of the series. His scripts should be thoroughly edited, and if necessary re-written. In some cases they may need to be checked for accuracy by someone more expert than the writer, in others they may need to be checked by a teacher for the difficulty of vocabulary and ideas, but the Programme Assistant should normally have the necessary knowledge for this himself. Script writers who are not members of the School Broadcasting staff should be paid fees which are commensurate with their status and the time taken for the week. Although a nominal fee is often acceptable for writing an occasional script, it is not sufficient if a person is required to write a dozen or 20 scripts at weekly intervals. In the Schools Department of the B.B.C. a full time Script Writer is not expected to write more than one and a half to two scripts a week. A greater output of work cannot be reckoned on since a considerable amount of reading is often necessary, particularly in writing scripts for History and Geography. There are certain types of script, however, which take less time, for example, language broadcasts, the teaching of songs, etc. Scripts therefore are expensive.
39. It is possible to have a certain number written by outside con- tributors, but it must be remembered that between 30 and 40 in each series may have to be written in a year, and there are few persons who have the time and energy to write as many as this, in addition to their normal work. It must be assumed that in Hong Kong a high proportion of the scripts will be written by Broadcasting staff.