Newsletter No. 103

CUHK Newsletter No. 103 4th March 1997 3 Making Less Awesome the Learning of English for Chinese Immigrant Children Mrs. Winnie Lai, audio-visual manager, Cu Press W ith the increase in the number of children from mainland China coming to Hong Kong to live with their families, schooling has become an urgent issue. This does not merely mean creating adequate school places for them, but also helping them adjust to the Hong Kong education system. One of the major distinguishing features of schools here, as compared with their Chinese counterparts, is the use of English as the medium of instruction in English lessons. While most Hong Kong children learn their ABCs in kindergarten or as soon as they can drink alphabet soup, most children in China are not exposed to the language until much later in life. Among those children who have recently arrived in the territory, it has been observed that some have had no exposure at all to English. Even those who have had some learning experience are disoriented by the differences in teaching styles. In place of pattern drills, translation practices, and detailed grammatical explanations made in Chinese, in Hong Kong classrooms knowledge about the function and form of English is imparted imp l i c i t ly through interactive activities which involve plenty of speaking and listening — all in English. To acculturate Chinese immigrant children to this aspect of Hong Kong classroom teaching, The Chinese University Press was invited by the Hong Kong Education Department to tender for the production of an English language self-learning package for these children. Its proposal was accepted in mid-1996 and technical production of the teaching materials began in September 1996. The package, entitled 'English Language Self- learning Packages: Primary 1 to 3 for Children Recently Arriving in Hong Kong from Various Parts of China', consists of a set of videotapes, work sheets, a performance record, and instructions and keys to exercises. It was designed by Prof. Gladys Tang and Prof. Gu Yang of the English Department, who were invited to take up the job because of their expertise and interest in the topic in question. Their ideas were translated into a script and the shooting was undertaken by the Press's Audio-Visual Division. The package is designed to serve as a bridge to regular English lessons for children with little or no background in English. It provides overall foundation training in the skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. In the process of teaching English, it familiarizes them with the learning and teaching styles typically found in local English lessons, such as what is referred to as 'teacher t a l k ' — 'Open the book...', Turn to page ...', 'Louder please.' The children are also made aware of the communicative use of English outside the classroom. The package contains materials for three levels — primary one to three. There are 750-800 minutes of video spread out in 30 lessons, with roughly 10 lessons for each level. Under the general rubrics of self-learning, the children can enter the programme at a point commensurate with their English language experience, and go through the lessons at their own pace. Their performance is monitored and assessed by a teacher whose role is otherwise largely consultative. Autonomous learning is stressed: the teacher is there simply to help set the children on the right track. To guide the students through the lessons and to give feedback where necessary, there is an on-screen presenter. Technical production was completed just last month. Mrs. Winnie Lai, the Press's audio-visual manager, says time was a major problem during production. As many actors and actresses were children, shooting had to be confined to the weekend, when they didn't have to attend school and their parents were free to chaperon. And since few of them had acted before, much time was spent on training and rehearsals. Casting posed another problem. To foster identification in the target audience, all actors and actresses, even those playing the roles of janitors and market vendors, had to be Chinese- looking persons with native or near native fluency and pronunciation. This greatly limited the pool of suitable candidates. Many of the child actors and actresses who actually made it to the screen are students from international schools, or emigrants returning from English-speaking countries. Mrs. Lai points out that this project is but one of the many similar projects the Press has undertaken for the government and public organizations. Previous endeavours include a teaching kit for China Light and Power Co. Ltd. and The Hong Kong Electric Co. Ltd. on energy conservation and environment protection, and a promotions package on the new airport core project. The Press's decision to bid for ajob usually depends on the availability of time, resources, and relevant expertise on campus. The current project has been given HK$2.3 million which covers, besides design and production, the costs of a follow-up study to take place a year after the implementation of the materials. In the follow-up study, Prof. Tang and Prof. Gu will analyse data collected from the participating schools and voluntary organizations, and submit a report to the Education Department. It is hoped that the study will furnish useful information for the latter in its attempts to accommodate children from China to the local education system. Piera Chen Young actresses simulating a classroom situation. Chinese children were used to foster a sense of identification A scene from the video demonstrating the use of English outside the classroom Shooting on location at the Tai Po Old Market Public School Editing of the videos takes place in the Press's Audio- Visual Division