ENG-1983 — Page 124

EDUCATION

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level. Both primary and secondary schools continued to benefit from the centre's free dubbing service: over 800 recordings of teaching tapes were made during the year.

The English Language Teaching Centre organised 64 workshops, seminars and talks for 3 100 teachers. It provided schools with a free dubbing service and about 12 200 language teaching tapes were issued to 430 schools. The centre has a specialist library of about 5 660 books on English language teaching and linguistics, and a display room for exhibiting modern English teaching aids. A tape library containing 350 tapes (mostly produced commercially) was set up to assist teachers in selecting listening materials for use with the wireless induction loop system.

The Field Studies Centre, within the campus of the Sai Kung Outdoor Recreation Centre, is an educational and resource centre for ecology and geography studies. During the year, 34 residential ecology or geography courses were held for 1 400 sixth formers, with two orientation courses conducted for biology and geography teachers. In-service training courses on stream pollution and environmental studies, -and five special courses for 183 geography, social studies and biology lecturers from the three Colleges of Education were held. An exhibition on tree planting, talks on countryside education, lectures and field trips, the development of a nature trail, and the production of slides of local habitats were other activities organised by the centre.

The Science Teaching Centre was extensively used for meetings, refresher courses, seminars and workshops on science education ranging from basic knowledge and teaching methods to laboratory safety, audio-visual aids and construction of home-made apparatus. More than 2 500 science teachers and laboratory technicians visited the centre and took part in various in-service training activities.

The Mathematics Teaching Centre on Hong Kong Island, which serves as a resource centre and training venue for primary school mathematics teachers, held 14-refresher courses and 17 workshops and was visited by 1700 teachers during the year. The Mathematics Teaching Centre in Kowloon held courses for 173 junior secondary mathe- matics teachers and conducted five seminars for potential senior graduate masters in secondary schools.

The Social Subjects Teaching Centre provides a training venue for teachers of geography, social studies, and health education at primary and secondary levels. During the year, 147 secondary school and 1 414 primary school teachers attended courses at the centre and it received some 1000 visitors involved in various aspects of education. A wider range of education material, with teachers involved in its production, is being installed in the centre.

Visual Education Centre

The centre makes available through its library a wide range of audio-visual aids for free loan to schools. Stocks include 16 mm films, filmstrips, slides, audio-cassette tapes, filmloops, overhead transparencies, learning packages, picture sets and an increasing number of video-cassette tapes. The Media Production Services Unit is open seven days a week to all teachers for the production of teaching resources. During the year, more than 100 introductory courses and workshops on the use of audio-visual aids and the production of audio-visual materials were held.

Cultural Crafts Centre

The centre has facilities for teachers from primary and secondary schools to improve and up-date their teaching skills in practical and technical subjects such as art and design, craft and home economics. In 1983, more than 2 300 teachers attended seminars, courses and