XN000022-1984-05-05 — Page 2

NOTE TO EDITORS:

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 1984

1

GOVERNOR TO OPEN NEW SCHOOL

****

THE GOVERNOR, SIR EDWARD YOUDE, WILL OFFICIATE AT THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE NEW TERRITORIES HEUNG YEE KUK TAI PO DISTRICT SECONDARY SCHOOL AT TAI YUEN ESTATE AT 10 AM ON MONDAY (MAY 7).

BEFORE THE CEREMONY, SIR EDWARD WILL ALSO VISIT CHOI YUEN ESTATE IN FANLING.

YOU ARE INVITED TO COVER THE TWO EVENTS.

GOVERNMENT TRANSPORT FOR MEDIA REPRESENTATIVES WILL LEAVE FOR FANLING AT 7.30 AM SHARP FROM THE KOWLOON PUBLIC PIER IN TSIM SHA TSUI.

TEACHER TRAINING CRUCIAL TO LANGUAGE LEARNING ****

TEACHER TRAINING WAS THE MOST CRUCIAL FACTOR DETERMINING IN THE EFFECTIVENESS OF LANGUAGE LEARNING IN FORMAL EDUCATION, THE DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION, MR COLVYN HAYE, SAID TODAY (SATURDAY).

HE WAS SPEAKING AT THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE SEMINAR ON + INNOVATIONS IN LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION+ ORGANISED BY THE HONG KONG ASSOCIATION OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS.

A MAJOR EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVE IN HONG KONG, MR HAYE SAID, WAS TO PROVIDE FOR ALL CHILDREN THE OPPORTUNITY TO ACHIEVE THE MAXIMUM DEGREE OF COMPETENCE IN CHINESE AND ENGLISH.

TO ACHIEVE THIS OBJECTIVE, THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT HAD STARTED A LANGUAGE PACKAGE, HE SAID.

THIS IS A SET OF INTERRELATED MEASURES, WITH CHANGES IN THE CURRICULUM AND THE SYLLABUS SUPPORTED BY PROVISION FOR MORE TEACHERS AND TEACHER TRAINING STAFF, THE INTRODUCTION OF UP-TO- DATE TECHNOLOGY, NEW TEACHING MATERIALS AND TESTS AS WELL AS THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AN INSTITUTE OF LANGUAGE IN EDUCATION (ILE).

THIS INSTITUTE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RE-TRAINING OF TEACHERS

OF CANTONESE, PUTONGHUA AND ENGLISH.

FOR CHINESE LANGUAGE TEACHING, MR HAYE SAID THE PRIMARY SCHOOL SYLLABUS WAS BEING REVISED TO UNDERLINE THE IMPORTANCE OF PUPIL-CENTRED TEACHING AND ACTIVITY APPROACHES.

+NEW SOFTWARE IS BEING PREPARED FOR USE WITH THE WIRELESS LOOP SYSTEM.

+IN THE TRAINING PROGRAMMES FOR PRE-SERVICE AND IN-SERVICE TEACHERS OF CHINESE RUN BY THE COLLEGES OF EDUCATION AND THE ILE, THERE HAS BEEN PIONEERING WORK IN THE DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANISATION OF SPECIAL COURSES IN REMEDIAL LANGUAGE TEACHING, HE SAID.

/ON