44
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1988
"WE MUST CONTINUE OUR EFFORTS TO IMPROVE THE TEACHING CHINESE AND ENGLISH, HE SAID.
**
OF BOTH
"NEXT YEAR EACH SECONDARY SCHOOL WITH 18 CLASSES OR MORE WILL BE PROVIDED WITH AN ADDITIONAL GRADUATE TEACHER OF CHINESE."
A TWO-YEAR PILOT
SCHEME TO PROVIDE SECONDARY
SCHOOLS WITH
NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKING TEACHERS RECRUITED OVERSEAS HAD BEEN STARTED IN SEPETEMBER LAST YEAR.
"PERHAPS INEVITABLY, THERE HAVE BEEN SOME TEETHING
WITH THIS AMBITIOUS UNDERTAKING.
PROBLEMS
"THE SCHEME IS BEING MONITORED CAREFULLY THROUGHOUT THE TRIAL PERIOD BEFORE WE TAKE A DECISION ON ITS FUTURE.
MEANWHILE, THE NUMBER OF LOCAL SECONDARY SCHOOL ENGLISH TEACHERS TO BE TRAINED IN BOTH HONG KONG AND IN THE UNITED KINGDOM WILL BE DOUBLED: SOME 150 TEACHERS WILL TAKE PART IN THE SCHEME NEXT YEAR.
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SIR DAVID SAID MOTHER TONGUE TEACHING ENABLED MANY PUPILS ΤΟ MAKE BETTER PROGRESS IN SUBJECTS WHERE THEY MIGHT OTHERWISE HAVE DIFFICULTY, AND THE GOVERNMENT WAS THEREFORE ENCOURAGING SCHOOLS ΤΟ SWITCH TO MOTHER TONGUE TEACHING.
"OVER 100 SECONDARY SCHOOLS HAVE OPTED TO INCREASE THE USE OF CHINESE AS THE MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION THIS YEAR, HE SAID.
"A FURTHER 270 ARE EXPECTED TO DO SO NEXT YEAR.
HELPED TO TRAINED
"IN SUPPORT OF THIS CHANGE, PUBLISHERS ARE BEING PRODUCE GOOD QUALITY CHINESE TEXTBOOKS AND TEACHERS ARE BEING IN HOW TO MAKE GREATER USE OF CHINESE IN THE CLASSROOM.
+
SIR DAVID SAID THAT IN SWITCHING TO GREATER USE OF CHINESE, SIGHT MUST NOT BE LOST OF THE IMPORTANCE OF A HIGH STANDARD OF ENGLISH. SO THESE SCHOOLS WERE BEING
WITH ADDITIONAL EQUIPMENT AND EXTRA ENGLISH TEACHERS,
PRESSURES ON SPACE MEANT THAT ABOUT SCHOOLS WERE BISESSIONAL, SIR DAVID SAID.
PROVIDED
80 PER CENT OF PRIMARY
SOME CHILDREN ATTENDED ONLY IN THE MORNING AND OTHERS IN THE AFTERNOON; 460,000 PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS WERE TAUGHT IN THIS WAY, UNDER A SYSTEM THAT HAD BEEN INTRODUCED IN THE 1950'S.
"IT HAS OBVIOUS DISADVANTAGES FROM THE EDUCATIONAL HE SAID. "OUR AIM IS GRADUALLY TO PHASE OUT BISESSIONAL ARE NOW CONSIDERING HOW, AND BY WHEN, THIS CAN BE DONE.
**
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VIEWPOINT, SCHOOLS. WE
/SIR DAVID