TNAG-1725-FCO40-2438-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1988 — Page 118

HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL — 20 January 1988

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MRS. CHOW: Sir, referring to the last few lines of the penultimate paragraph of the answer, can we be informed what the main problems envisaged by those teachers who are encountering difficulty adapting to our teaching environment are, and what measures have been taken to resolve them?

SECRETARY FOR EDUCATION AND MANPOWER: I think the problems to be encountered by people coming into a new culture are fairly self-evident; I mean, some people find it easier to adapt than others. I felt I had given a fairly detailed reply in my original reply as to what is being done. The British Council is giving very full support to the teachers in the way outlined in the last paragraph of my first reply. It seems to me that it is difficult to envisage how more support could be given than is already being given in the ways suggested.

MR. DESMOND LEE: Sir, may I refer to the mention of 'sensational reports in the press' and ask which of these reported difficulties proved to be untrue?

SECRETARY FOR EDUCATION AND MANPOWER: Sir, I am not suggesting that anything was untrue. I am suggesting that one particular report was rather unbalanced in my view. One newspaper produced a very positive report and then a few weeks later produced an extremely negative one. The second report was very difficult to reconcile with the first report in the same newspaper.

MR. SZETO (in Cantonese): Sir, could the Government inform this Council before or at the time or after the Government decided to adopt this particular scheme, had other schemes been suggested which might bring us the same results but which might be more economical and more effective and, if so, why is it that the Government has not adopted the other alternatives and has opted for this particular one?

SECRETARY FOR EDUCATION AND MANPOWER: Sir, the Government attaches a lot of importance to improving language teaching in our schools. Certainly measures are not limited to this one scheme. The Education Commission in its first report recommended 12 different recommendations affecting language teaching. In its second report it recommended another three recommendations. Many of these ideas have already been adopted. Others will be adopted as soon as funds can be made available. The present scheme is only one of many schemes being tried and, as already mentioned, this scheme is itself a pilot project. Our idea is to try as many different methods as possible and assess which are the most effective and which are the best value for money before we come to final conclusions as to what are the best ways to improve language teaching in our schools.

DR. Ho: Sir, it is understood that expatriate teachers in Chinese middle schools and in some secondary schools in the New Territories feel rather frustrated because the standard of English of the students in these schools is so low that they cannot benefit from the scheme. Will the Secretary inform this Council whether the Government has any plans to rectify this situation?