ENRICHING ENGLISH LANGUAGE ENVIRONMENT

        Citing proficiency in the English language as a must for all students in an international city like Hong Kong, to effectively pursue higher studies or compete in an ever-tougher job-market, the Catholic Education Office (CEO) conducted a workshop on “Enriching the English Language Environment in Schools”.  English language ability should also be considered important, simply in terms of keeping pace with world developments in the 21^st century.

        More than 90 Catholic school principals, vice-principals and English teachers attended this workshop in the hall of St. Margaret’s Parish Centre, Happy Valley, on 22 September 2005. The workshop aimed at focussing attention on developing a learner-friendly environment in schools, where students can come to appreciate English as a means of communication and learning, rather than simply another subject on the curriculum to be grappled with.

         The CEO invited the Chatteris Educational Foundation to conduct the workshop on the theme “Enriching English Language Environments in Schools”. The seminar stressed the responsibility of school principals in creating a favourable English-learning environment, but noted it is also necessary for staff members to share the same vision in placing importance on the learning of English.  Presenters pointed out that this is not only the responsibility of English language teachers, but everyone on the teaching staff must be convinced and must cooperate.  It is important for the whole school community to commit itself to this vision.

        The workshop stressed the importance of each school examining its own particular environment and assessing its suitability for English-learning, as this reflects the cultural reality of the students’ day-to-day lives.  Consequently, schools need to be extremely creative in their approaches.

          During the workshop, participants took part in discussions on different ways of encouraging students to use English outside the classroom as well as during lessons. English-speaking days were suggested, or even English-speaking weeks, where students and staff would be encouraged to speak only English in all their encounters, in the playground, the corridors and in every day-to-day situation.

          It was suggested that during those designated times, notices on the school boards could be in English, announcements at assemblies, and even an English-speaking radio channel, broadcast through the school public address system, could contribute to changing the physical, cultural environment to enable students to learn in a more natural and relaxed fashion.

          The workshop encouraged schools to examine the home language environment of their students as this determines to a large extent the attitudes they bring to school with them and is vital to understanding how to create an appropriate learning environment on campus.

         The workshop also addressed the importance of taking English-learning out of the study atmosphere and suggested movies and songs as a simple method of helping students to enjoy learning in a more socially oriented environment.  English is a modern, living language and exposure to natural, conversational speech and song makes a good environment for learning. 

          Participants in the workshop discussed the possibility of conducting experience-sharing sessions on an inter-school basis.  They pointed out that with the current flexibility in government funding for education, schools could give consideration to availing of the services of non-profit organizations to assist them in promoting this and to sponsor creative and up-to-day English enrichment programmes for their own students.