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The Language Fund also welcomes new ideas and innovative projects from schools. In the first fund allocation exercise, two of the approved projects were initiated by individual schools. One involved the joint effort of two secondary schools in developing an English language teaching package while the other undertook a Chinese poem-writing competition.

The Language Fund Advisory Committee has identified some possible areas in which proposals may be drawn up. These include:

improvement of the skills of language teachers and production of additional teaching materials;

programmes to promote students' interest in language learning and develop the language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing; development of reference materials on what constitutes good Chinese language use in Hong Kong as a useful reference for teachers and the public;

trying out of various approaches to the development of bilingual proficiency at all levels, in particular pre-primary and primary levels; training of professionals in translation who are proficient in both English and Chinese;

local research into child language development and the acquisition of bilingual proficiency;

local research into language requirements, language uses and desired profiles of bilingual proficiency for academic and vocational purposes; investigation into and provision of language improvement measures for the working population;

research programme to follow the academic and personal development of groups of students, matched for academic ability and experiencing different medium of instruction models;

assessment on language proficiency in Hong Kong; and

regular surveys of language ability of new entrants to jobs with respect to listening, speaking, reading and writing skills.

Starting from January 20, Language Fund application forms will be available from the General Enquiries Section of the Education Department, 15/F, Wu Chung House, 213 Queen's Road East, Wan Chai or by writing to the Language Fund Secretariat in Room 1123 of the same building. The Secretariat may be contacted for enquiries on 2892 6642 or by fax on 2574 0340.

Applications will be called for twice a year with the deadline for the first call this year on March 31 and that for the second call on September 30.

End/Wednesday, January 18, 1995

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