By 6F Terrance Hung
The education regime in Hong Kong which shows no sign to improve is not living up to the goal for every student to become proficient in Cantonese, Putonghua and English. There are no signs of any progress notwithstanding the notable goal brought up by the government.
That our students’ Putonghua level is stunningly poor is unimpeachable. This may be attributed to the government’s indifferent attitude towards Putonghua studies. It is uncontestable that our Putonghua will remain a sleepy backwater if the Putonghua curriculum ends in form 3. Further studying of Putonghua is hindered by the lack of Putonghua courses provided for senior form students. It is undesirable, if not hopeless, to pins on the three years' foundation course of Putonghua in a bid to achieve proficiency in this pivotal language. To exacerbate the problem, teachers, however reluctant, are required to teach an extra subject concurrently while teaching Putonghua at school. Teachers, consequently, will possess a low initiative to pursue betterment for teaching, especially Putonghua, which is being considered an insignificant subject in the territory.
Aside from this, in practice, our highly-acclaimed English capability is not so glaring either. Even schools using English as the medium of instruction face a problem of students’ low incentive to learn English, let alone schools using Chinese as the medium of instruction. The underlying reason for the low incentive is the deep-seeded Cantonese learning environment and atmosphere. The lingering problem lies in the reluctance of students to communicate in English owing to their Cantonese mother tongue. In the absence of heavy scrutiny, students will chat in their mother tongue even if the teachers do their utmost endeavor to promote English. In most cases, undesirably, teachers will also use Cantonese in lessons for further elaboration which is also deleterious to students’ English development. However, it is worth sympathy that students will be put in an embarrassing, if not anathematic situation if they are required to use an unfamiliar language 24/7.
Though fluent students' Cantonese may seem, barely could they come up with a single readable Chinese essay. The problem lies in the lack of writing practice. Instead of writing essays, teachers opt for practicing comprehension skills which requires less effort to mark. In addition, students nowadays prefer comic books rather than novels, which has set the alarm bell ringing everywhere. Not only can Chinese novels boost students comprehension skills staggeringly, but it can also enhance their practical thinking skills. Comic books, on the other hand, will have detrimental effects on students’ writing skills, with bizarre phrases and violent content undermining their mindset. The school, however, has done little, making it too late to hamper students from reading comics.
There is no panacea to learn a language quickly. To be practical, in an effort to lay solid foundations for students’ Putonghua, a host of measures should be implemented. Extending the Putonghua curriculum is a case in point regarding the measures to strengthen student’s Putonghua skills. Lengthened Putonghua training is what students need to consolidate their Putonghua foundation.
Teachers play a key role in maintaining a favorable learning atmosphere for students. Teachers' teaching attitude is of cardinal importance to students’ improvement in language. A merely deep-rooted learning approach is not enough. Teachers are advised to formulate a host of thought-provoking activities like group discussion or personal presentation to lure students to study a language through formal interaction.
Encouraging students to read more is also a juvenile-friendly approach to improve students’ linguistic skills. Reading Chinese novel, for example, is an effective and intriguing way for students to study Cantonese. The more novels students read, the broader student’s horizons will be. Added to this, reading will, uncontrovertibly and indubitably, facilitate one’s reading skills and skyrocket one’s writing ability.
All the three languages of Cantonese, Putonghua and English will make immense contribution to our future career in light of the world trend of globalization. Dwelling in a metropolitan like Hong Kong, we had better equip ourselves to be trilingual to surmount all formidable challenges ahead in our career path.
