- 在線時間
- 114 小時
- 最後登錄
- 13-7-30
- 國民生產力
- 4
- 附加生產力
- 2
- 貢獻生產力
- 0
- 註冊時間
- 07-12-13
- 閱讀權限
- 10
- 帖子
- 379
- 主題
- 0
- 精華
- 0
- 積分
- 385
- UID
- 171442
 
|
We do not have any language policy at home. I speak with my children in Cantonese and they can fully understand what I mean most of the time, although they usually reply in English. In fact, I need to encourage them to use more Cantonese at home.
I think there is no need to set up any specific language policy. I know that a lot of local Chinese parents insist on speaking only English with their children at home. In fact, this is even more popular amongst families with children studying in local elite schools (eg DGS, GHS) than those with children in international schools. This is understandable, because local schools do not have the English environment at school.
However, I think being "good at English" requires much more than what parents speaks with their children, and what language policy a school has. "Good at English" (similarly, being good at Chinese, too...) requires much more than merely fluent spoken English. You need to be able to really interact with other people that also speak in English. This means you need to know what is going on in the western world. Whether it is political issues, current news, or even pop culture. You need to know what is happening out there.
The problem with local English education is that, people mainly care the language itself (eg grammar, spelling, etc) and ignore the part that language cannot be considered alone without "culture". Many local elite school students are very good at English language as a school subject and get A at HKCEE or A level but they have not been immersed (enough) into western culture (including pop culture) and thus cannot easily take part in casual real life conversation.
This is a reason why, although most Singaporeans have the rather "strong" English accent, they are so much better when being part of a total English conversation.
Back to the situation in Hong Kong. If you really observe, you will see that most families with children in international schools do not need to apply any language policies at home. Some of the children are in fact extremely fluent in Cantonese (with no gweilo accent) and yet also extremely fluent in English.
I am probably discussing something that is slightly off topic, and slightly beyond the kindergarten time frame. But my views are still, that parents really do not need to apply any language policy at home. Even for a 100% local born child, the time he spend at school (an international school) should be enough for him to build up his English. Education at international schools should provide enough immersion into English, including the culture in the English speaking world in additional to formal language arts/skills (ie grammar, spelling, etc).
I am sure some other people would have different views and would adopt different approaches. I guess each family need to work out something that work best for them. |
|
發表於 08-8-20 17:55
