THE LANGUAGE SUPPORT ACTIVITY PROGRAMME OF
ROSARYHILL SCHOOL
By Betty Suen
Student: Madam, how can I improve my English?
Teacher: There's no short cut. You have to read more, write more, listen more and speak more English.
Student: (wondering in his mind) But how...?
Advice is a dime a dozen; it is useless unless we pave them the way and walk it with them taking them by the hand.
We teachers are well aware that class time, even when made full use of, is so limited that there is hardly enough time to cater for the various aspects of language use. So we try to conscript as much of their non-class time as possible to increase their exposure to English.
GETTING STARTED
At the beginning of each of the two school terms, the class representative will buy for the whole class enough 4" x 6" index cards to be used as Record Card for the activities that they will do during the term. Then, students will be informed of the minimum requirement for each of the language activity (as shown in the Appendix) so they have some idea of the amount of work they are expected to complete.
New students like Form 1 classes are explained in great detail the rationale of this activity. In particular, the point of honesty cannot be overstressed not only in the F. 1 classes but also in all classes. They will be told that it is easy to cheat but they will only be cheating themselves of the chance to learn. Still they have to be constantly reminded of this and their progress frequently monitored.
Students, being students, cannot all be expected to be conscientious in completing their assignment. Many of them wait till the last week and try to do it all at one go. Each term is therefore segmented into 3 periods and they have to finish one-third of their work within each segment.
A room is essential for the successful execution of this programme as students are to speak English under teachers, supervision and read aloud to teachers during lunch time.
Most important of all, the concerted effort of the whole English panel is indispensable. Teachers have to share the conviction that their time and effort are for a worthy cause. Only then can their co-operation be secured. Teachers will in turn impress upon the students the need for them to take the activity seriously and convince them that they will indeed benefit from it eventually. A timetable of teachers on duty in the lunch hour is then prepared.
READ MORE
At the beginning of a school year, Form 1-3 classes are taught how to do extensive reader as well as how to write a story summary. Then they should be able to read on their own books of their own choice. They are encouraged to read more than the minimum amount if they want more than just a pass mark.
They are told to read at least a certain number of pages a week if they wish to complete the minimum requirement and they have to write and hand in the story summary of the pages they have read in the following week.
The number of pages to read in a week should be flexible. They can read more if they find the book interesting and they have much free time that week, but a few pages will suffice if it is a week loaded with tests. However, since the story summary is a standing assignment, they have to read every week and hopefully, soon form a habit of reading.
Books are made available to them so they have no excuse not to read. Besides the school library, we have a department library and a class library is set up in every class at the beginning of term.
Story summary is only checked to make sure it is faithfully done but not expected to be corrected. Students are told to keep it to about one page long and submit it with the other part of the weekly standing assignment, the weekly journal. They know that if they do not do the story summary, the reading they have done will not be counted and the journal will not be marked.
On the day the whole book is completed, the particulars are entered into the Reading Record Card and signed by the teacher. If they find a book too difficult or boring, they can stop any time.
Avid readers who can read more than 1000 pages in a term will become members of a prestigious society, the Thousand Page Club. They will be awarded a badge and a story book of their choice as prize and their names will appear on the Honour Roll displayed in the English Language Room.
WRITE MORE
It is found that our students have very little written homework on English. Writing is therefore made compulsory in the form of standing assignment to be submitted every week: a story summary of the reading they have done, and a journal entry of an account of an incident they have experienced in the week.
There is no Record Card for writing but students are advised to do their assignment in an exercise book, which they will find worth keeping as it is a record of their growth in the use of English as well as in life experience.
SPEAK MORE
A. Reading Aloud
Students are to read aloud 5 times in a school term, 3 times to the teachers on duty in the English Language Room and 2 times to their own English teacher in or out of class.
For Form 1-3, specific paragraphs are picked out from the comprehension passages of their course book to be prepared with the teacher's help during lesson. They are expected to practise reading until they are ready to read to a teacher on duty in the lunch time. Teachers will write "Fair" "Good", or "Very Good" as an assessment of their reading. If they are found to be inadequately prepared, they will be taught how to read better and then told to try again.
Form 4-5 students will prepare the dialogue part of the CE Oral past paper as reading material.
B. Speaking
They can choose to speak with their classmates, schoolmates, outside friends, even family members either face to face or on the phone and have the topic of their talk and the duration written on the Speaking Record Card and signed by the speaking partner, They will not get any marks if it is done, but if it is not, marks will be taken off.
Another possibility is to practise in the English Language Room under the supervision of the teacher on duty. They go in pairs to the room at lunch time to speak in English. They will note down the time they arrive and the time they finish speaking on the Record Card. The teacher on duty will walk about to give help as well as to check if they are really conversing in English. On slack days, the teacher joins the students in conversation.
We learn from experience it is impossible to have students talking to teachers. We tried; even non-English teachers' help was enlisted, but willing teachers were swarmed and eager students had to be turned away, creating ill feelings left and right. Finally we come up with this alternative and it is found to be working well.
LISTEN MORE
Students are to listen to English spoken on the radio, TV, songs and movies and enter the particulars into the Listening Record Card. No questions are usually asked to check on then or any marks awarded, but if a blank card is submitted at the end or the required amount of listening is not done, they will be penalised with deduction of marks.
At times we do wonder if all our time and efforts will ever pay off as no observable result can readily be seen. On the other hand, we know for certain that if nothing at all has been done, the level of proficiency of our students would, if anything, only be lower. It is this conviction that keeps us going.
APPENDIX
Minimum requirement for each activity per term:
Reading:
| 1st Term | 2nd Term |
| F.1 | 200 pages | 250 |
| F.2 | 250 | 300 |
| F.3 | 350 | 400 |
| F.4 | 400 | 500 |
| F.5 | 300 | 300 |
Reading Aloud: 5 times
| Speaking: | 20 minutes in Language Room |
| 2 hours with friends |
| Listening: | 12 hours per term |
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