Bulletin Vol. 6 No. 3 Nov–Dec 1969

The Registrar Speaks on the Teaching of Chinese Mr. H.T. Wu, University Registrar and Director of the School of Education, was invited to speak at the Graduation Ceremony of Lee Kau Yan Memorial School on 12th December, 1969. In his speech (delivered i n Chinese) Mr. Wu announced that the University is planning a symposium on the teaching of the Chinese language. The English version of his address is as follows:— Ladies and Gentlemen, Lee Kau Yan Memorial School is unique in that it is the only Chinese middle school among the many secondary schools supported by the Anglican Church in Hong Kong. Since its inauguration, it has been trying its very best to nurture Chinese culture. Those who have the education of this community at heart should know how Mr. Lee, Principal of this school, has exerted himself towards the attainment of this goal. Besides expressing my admiration and appreciation of the achievement of your school today, I should like to take this opportunity to inform you of some of our recent trends concerning the teaching of Chinese language in the schools of Hong Kong. A t the 10th Congregation of The Chinese University on 7t h October, 1969, Dr. Choh-Ming Li, the Vice-Chancellor, pointed out that the trend in Hong Kong is to attach importance both to Chinese and English , and that in order to achieve effective bilingualism, it would be necessary to start at the secondary school level. The response was favourable, and some urged The Chinese University to take steps to help secondary schools towards the attainment of bilingual proficiency. One went as far as to invite the professors of Chinese Language and Literature from both universities, a professor of Education as well as two members of the administrative staff of The Chinese University to get together to exchange their views on this issue. After the preliminary discussion, it was agreed that the steps taken by The Chinese University should include a symposium and other research projects. The School of Education of the University was entrusted with initiating the task, with active co-operation from other departments of the University. Having been promised generousfinancialsupport from an enthusiastic organization, the School of Education was able to start planning the programmes of the symposium. Nevertheless, raising the standard of Chinese is an important task and the scope involved is a wide one. Before any decision on the programme of the symposium was made, views of local educators and advice of the teachers of Chinese language at secondary schools should be sought. An informal discussion, sponsored by the School of Education, was duly held on 2nd December, 1969 and more than twenty guests, experienced in the teaching of Chinese language, were invited to participate. Among the participants were secondary school teachers, professors, lecturers, members of administrative staff, school inspectors, psychologists, textbook an d syllabus experts and one parent. The following issues were discussed at the meeting: how to stimulate an interest in studying Chinese language, the question of learning by rote, contents of textbooks, etc. The discussion of learning by rote was particularly lively. The participants freely exchanged their views, which proved very valuable to the organizers of the symposium. The exact date of the symposium has not yet been fixed. It will take five days and will probably be held during the summer holidays. There will be lectures by experts and scholars besides discussions. A scholar from abroa d will be invited to deliver some lectures if necessary. After the symposium, the proceedings and reports will be published and distributed to various organizations concerned. Programmes of action will also be made for further research and action. The reason why I give such a detailed account of the forthcoming symposium is to stimulate in you an interest in the task of raising the standard of Chinese in local schools. If teachers of this school feel that they have something to offer through their experience derived from this school, they are welcome to put suggestions in writing. We will all feel obliged to their ideas. Recently, a principal o f a secondary school, speaking at the school's speech day, urged The Chinese University of Hong Kong to help secondary schools raise the standard of English, This is undoubtedly a very important task, but for the moment, greater priority should be given by the University to raising the standard of Chinese. Bilingual proficiency will entail changes in the curriculum because additional time would have to be allotted to certain subjects, but an hour's increase in the teaching time for one subject would mean an hour's decrease in another. Therefore, the revision of the curriculum should go side by side with the raising of the standard of teaching the Chinese language. — 1 3 —