bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

HK$200m language programme will not have a political outcome, adviser says
The success or failure of the high-profile HK$200 million scheme promoting the use of Putonghua to teach Chinese will not be used to determine future language policy in the city's schools, the head of the government's language advisory body said this week.
'This is not a pilot test to reinforce a long-term policy,' said Michael Tien Puk-sun,  chairman of the Standing Committee on Language Education and Research (Scolar). 'It is a support measure. It will not influence language policy.'
Mr Tien made the comments  on Thursday following the deadline for  applications at the end of last month for the first round of the scheme.
The scheme, which was unveiled last October, is to offer three years of support to up to 160 schools, selected in batches of 10 secondaries and 30 primaries over the next four years.
Schools admitted to the scheme need to commit to teaching at least 50 per cent of Chinese lessons in  Putonghua in at least five classes initially.  In exchange they are to receive financial support and advice from  local and mainland experts.
The scheme has been criticised, however, for being politically motivated rather than being based on sound educational principles.
Fears have also been raised that Cantonese could be marginalised.
But Mr Tien stressed that schools would not be forced to switch to  Putonghua if they wished to continue teaching in Cantonese.
'This cannot be imposed from the top down,' he said. 'It has to be done voluntarily.'
He also rejected suggestions that the scheme could produce deceptively successful results if it included only schools which were strong in Putonghua teaching and if  schools streamed classes so  only their best students were taught in the language.
'We are not worried that schools will paint a beautiful picture to hard-sell this to society.'
He  said learning in Putonghua and learning Putonghua well were two separate concepts. Although some believed learning in Putonghua boosted students' composition skills - as the grammar and structure of modern written Chinese was closer to Putonghua than Cantonese - this was not yet corroborated by solid evidence.
'Many professionals tell us that there is not yet a consensus on whether learning Chinese in Putonghua directly benefits students' Chinese learning.  But it definitely helps their learning of Putonghua.'
Mr Tien said merging Putonghua classes with Chinese lessons would 'save time'.
'Students have to learn Chinese and they have to learn Putonghua.  There are only 24 hours in a day.'
But Scolar's professional advisers had stressed that there were a number of provisos that needed to be met before learning in the language would be effective - most importantly teaching staff needed to have a high level of competence in the language and students needed to have already attained a certain level of comprehension.
'If you don't have all the conditions met, then using Putonghua will be less effective than using Cantonese.  It is easier at primary school than at secondary.'
Mr Tien said 151 schools had applied to join,  including 22 secondary schools and one through-train school.
The committee would announce which schools had been accepted  late next month.
About half of the schools that had applied were already using Putonghua in  Chinese-language lessons.
But even though there were more than three times as many schools applying as there were places available in the first year of the scheme, Mr Tien said the figure demonstrated Hong Kong was 'still at the early stage' of teaching Putonghua.
He admitted local schools had not done this particularly well until fairly recently.
'The fact that only 150 out of more than 900 schools applied to the scheme proves that many schools are still not yet ready,' Mr Tien said. 'If 700 schools had applied then it would be a different story.'
Although the scales were currently weighted against Putonghua, he said there would be a 'tipping point' at which change and improvement would suddenly come very rapidly.
'In the initial stages it takes a lot of effort to get any movement.  But once you get to that tipping point it gets much easier.
'Unfortunately we don't know exactly what stage Hong Kong schools are at right now.'



Putonghua scheme 'not linked to policy'