Slang adds richness to language but it don't travel well, bro

There has recently been more debate about the optimal type of English to be used by teachers in Hong Kong's schools. Providing English classes in our schools cannot be intended simply to enable local children to speak just like their teachers as an end in itself.

The intention is surely that they be equipped to communicate in that language internationally, such as by working in an international firm here where they may need to work alongside foreigners, or to contact people in several other countries, or perhaps to go abroad to study or work. They may need to use English as the second and only common language of both communicants.

When I was, long ago, a schoolboy in England, our French mistress had a marked Scottish accent. As a result, my own pronunciation was for years the non-standard Scottish-French she modelled for us. It was only when I later spent a lot of time in France that my French pronunciation became more standard - and thus more comprehensible outside her classroom.

Certainly, it is a good thing that there is at least one native-speaker of English in each school, to help provide English lessons. Especially at an intermediate or higher level, it is best to learn from a native speaker, chiefly so that he or she may provide an appropriate model of correct usage, particularly on pronunciation.

I remember hearing one local English teacher speak about a 'wardro-bee', for example - so illustrating the point that a non-native speaker would need to have a very high standard of English to be able to pronounce correctly many of the tricky words in English.

Let us consider what type of English these pupils should experience. While originally the NET (Native English-speaking teachers) scheme recruited mostly British teachers, these days they rightly spread the net for NETs far wider.