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The Permanent Secretary for Education, Mr Raymond Wong, said at the opening ceremony of the Reading Fair 2010 today (April 24) that the Education Bureau (EDB) fully supported schools to implement their whole-school language policy.
"The whole-school language policy, which consists of school-based support measures, should not merely focus on how much English teaching is adopted by schools.
"The key issue should rather be the coherence and entirety of the overall curriculum planning under the New Senior Secondary Academic Structure, as well as language education, which includes reading strategies.
"Only by doing so can students' learning effectiveness be safeguarded and their proficiency in both Chinese and English be developed," he said.
To support schools to implement their whole-school language policy, the EDB had invited primary schools to apply for the English Enhancement Grant Scheme for Primary Schools. The bureau would also apply to the Legislative Council for additional funding for the Language Fund, Mr Wong added.
The funding, he said, would enable secondary schools to launch or enhance their school-based initiatives under the English Enhancement Scheme in order to dovetail with the fine-tuned medium of instruction (MOI) arrangements. This will further strengthen the effectiveness of cross-curricular English learning.
On measures to support schools in implementing the fine-tuned MOI arrangements, Mr Wong said the EDB would continue to provide diversified professional support to schools and teachers.
"We will organise briefing sessions and workshops on raising teachers' awareness of teaching non-language subjects in English in early May and will be launching training courses for serving teachers from June onwards," he said.
He said the Reading Fair 2010 had combined two major themes - "whole-school language policy planning" and "reading across the curriculum". This year's event was held following the success of the Reading Fair held in 2009 and last November's Knowledge Fair 2009. It was also the second sharing session the EDB had organised to support schools and teachers in the implementation of the fine-tuned MOI arrangements.
Mr Wong noted the collaboration within the education sector and the abundant resources devoted by the EDB to promote reading. He also said that students had to learn the skills of "reading to learn" to enhance their overall learning effectiveness and capacity for life-long learning and whole-person development.
He said, "Although Hong Kong students' reading literacy ranks high in many international assessments, we still need to continue to reinforce our efforts in strengthening language education, promoting reading across the curriculum and enhancing home-school co-operation in order to help students achieve life-long learning.กจ
More than 300 primary and secondary school principals and teachers participated in the Reading Fair 2010. The Chairman of the Standing Committee on Language Education and Research, Professor Cheng Kai-ming, gave the welcoming speech while the Associate Dean of the Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, Professor Tse Shek-kam, delivered the keynote speech.
The event featured 12 parallel sessions where schools shared their experiences in promoting reading. Some secondary schools shared their strategies in promoting reading across the curriculum to support diversified MOI arrangements.
Ends/Saturday, April 24, 2010
Issued at HKT 09:55
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