2002 Annual Conference

Advancing Mother Tongue Education:

Local and International Experience

Sub-themes:

• How to Achieve Quality Education Through the Implemetation of Mother Tongue Education
• How to Improve Mother Tongue Education and Second Language Learning
• How to Enhance Learning Through Languages: Mother Tongue and English
• What are the Language Policy at Different Countries on the Medium of Instruction

• Professor Gert Rijlaarsdam, President, International Association for the Improvement of Mother Tongue Education; Professor, Graduate School of Teaching and Learning, University of Amsterdam & Utrecht University (The Netherlands)
• Professor Li, Ying-che, Chair and Professor, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, University of Hawaii at Manoa
• Professor Amy Tsui, Chair Professor, Department of Curriculum and Educational Studies, The University of Hong Kong
• Dr. Nirmala Rao, Deputy Head, Department of Curriculum and Educational Studies, HKU

Opening Address:

• Professor Mark Bray, Acting Head & Chair Professor, Department of Curriculum and Educational Studies, HKU

Content :

Before the hand-over to China in 1997, Hong Kong was a British colony. At the time, the majority of the secondary schools were using English to teach various subjects. With the implementation of firm guidance in schools in the 1998/99 school year, the proportion of schools using mother tongue instruction increased from 12% to 75%. Consequently, teachers in these schools are facing a lot of new problems in the change. Examples include a lack of teaching materials written in Chinese and worry about how to effectively use the mother tongue language to enhance the learning of the students as well as to maintain the standard of students in English. Medium of instruction has always been a controversy and debate among Hong Kong people. On one hand, using mother tongue to learn, students can learn more easily with the removal of the burden of the language barrier. On the other hand, Hong Kong is an international city, where English is of utmost importance. Most parents and people in the commercial field prefer schools to use English as the medium of instruction.

In this conference, we will invite world-renowned experts in mother tongue education to come to share with us their experiences. Some of the speakers will come from various countries, including the Netherlands and the United States. The educational systems in these countries have successfully developed many students who can manage to fluently speak several different languages. Thus we can probably learn much from them. This conference also provides a forum for local scholars, school principals and government officials to have a chance to discuss with the international experts. We hope in this conference to further our understanding on the improvement of mother tongue and second language education.

Language

The first session of the conference will be conducted in English and the second session in Cantonese or Putonghua. The Q&A session will be conducted in Cantonese, Putonghua and English.

Organizing Committee

The conference is organized by the Support Centre for Teachers Using Chinese as the Medium of Instruction, Department of Curriculum and Educational Studies, The University of Hong Kong.

Registration and Inquiry

Dr. Tse Shek Kam (852-2241 5167)

Mr. Lam Ho Cheong (852-2241 5375)

CMI Centre

Room 401, Hui Oi Chow Building, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong.

Phone: (852) 2857 8294

Fax: (852) 2517 4403

Email: cmic@hkusua.hku.hk

Website: http://www.cmi.hku.hk