CERCular: No.2 of 1998

CERC members recently participated in the Induction Course for more than 270 Native-speaking English Teachers (NETs) who had just arrived to work in Hong Kong secondary schools. The NET scheme is one of the measures undertaken by the government to enhance language proficiency.

CERC joined forces with the In-Service Teacher Education Programme (INSTEP) office in the Faculty of Education in a successful bid to run the course, which was put out to tender by the Hong Kong Government Education Department. The course comprised five intensive days of lectures, workshops and field trips in the last week of August, followed by two Saturday morning sessions in September.

A number of CERC members kindly volunteered their services. Jeffrey Day set the scene with a broad-ranging and highly entertaining talk about the Hong Kong education system; Cheung Chi Kim contributed a very lively presentation on popular culture; Peter Falvey gave a stimulating talk about literature and creative language development in English lessons, while Winnie Lai organised a team of B.Ed full-time Chinese stream students to give introductory Cantonese lessons to the new teachers. John Tan led a group session on "Living in Hong Kong", and Ed Vickers was particularly active, giving a plenary session on teaching English in Hong Kong, facilitating group sessions, and serving as a tour guide on a trip to Baptist Wing Lung Secondary School in Tuen Mun. Emily Mang, the secretary of CERC, helped the excellent administrative team from INSTEP led by Mary Chung.

Other speakers included Quentin Allan and Suzi Nicholson (on the TeleNex system), Albert Wong (on English language teaching), YC Au-yeung (on school principals' perspectives), John Whelpton (on being a NET), Pauline Chow (on how the NET scheme can be effective), Christine Lau (on speech and drama festivals), Lilian Leung-Downey (on teaching in a variety of contexts) and Allan Yuen (on Information Technology in English language teaching).

INSTEP and CERC were able to liaise with outside bodies to provide support for the NETs. The Community Advice Bureau, various consulates and chambers of commerce, publishers, various sections of the Education Department, Hong Kong Examinations Authority, Immigration Department, the Hong Kong Putonghua Education and Assessment Centre, schools, teachers and the business community all participated in the course. The Teachers of English Language Education Centre, based in the university, is setting up a website and conference corner to enable the NETs to keep in contact when they are working in their individual schools.

The course attracted considerable media attention, and was featured on TVB and ATV news, RTHK's Chinese and English stations, and in several local newspapers.

The NETs are mainly from Australia and Canada, although there are some from the USA, UK, Singapore and the West Indies, among other places. Their first few weeks have been a whirl of activity: besides the intensive induction course, they have been following immigration procedures, finding accommodation, settling into a daily routine, starting a new job—so it is not surprising that some were feeling the pace!

This course represents a new—and very welcome—departure for CERC. The centre has built up a substantial pool of talent which can offer a wide range of educational services to the local, regional and international communities. Such courses can also help to fund CERC's other activities. Overall, the course was very successful. The efforts of these CERC members and of the other speakers were much appreciated by the NETs, as indicated by their very positive feedback. Comments included:

"I found the induction course extremely helpful and informative."

"Everyone who has been involved has been incredibly patient and I thank you for your efforts"

"I think it was invaluable and I feel that we would be greatly disadvantaged had we not had the course."

As Course Co-ordinator, I add my personal thanks to everyone involved. These speakers and NETs taught me a lot and gave me some new perspectives on life in Hong Kong.