On paper at least, it's a great idea, but doubt is on the horizon. English teachers across Hong Kong are concerned that task-based learning (TBL), when implemented this September, will create mayhem in Form One classes.
'In a classroom of 40 students, they're all different. If individual differences are too big, there'll be more problems for the teachers,' said Andy Chan King, the deputy English panel chair in GCCITKD Lau Pak Lok Secondary School.
Under the revised syllabus for English Language recommended by the Curriculum Development Council back in 1999, TBL, the new teaching strategy, requires teachers to use activities to help students to engage in authentic, practical, lively and functional use of English.
But some teachers fear that TBL means an even heavier workload, as they have to design different tasks and exercises for students to participate in. Robin Corcos, a senior language instructor from the University of Hong Kong, is unsure whether TBL can work in crowded classrooms. He suggested that the Government should put more resources into language teaching if the new approach was to work.
'You can't just throw a few books at teachers and say: 'Now you have to change the way you teach'. It doesn't work like that,' he said.
Lack of discipline, especially in lower band schools, is a possible problem for this alternative teaching method. Despite believing that TBL is a good idea, Leung Yuen-yee, an English teacher from TWGHs Mrs Wu York Yu memorial College said: 'The class size in Hong Kong is so big, if everyone in the classroom is talking, you can imagine how noisy it will become.'