Shung Tak is an EMI school. She has used English as the Medium of Instruction ever since her establishment 50 years ago. Her colleagues had fought a hard battle to earn this EMI label in 1997 when the Hong Kong SAR government decided to implement the policy of using mother tongue, that is Chinese, as the medium of instruction throughout the territory. Of course, the government met opposition from elite schools and in the end, only 100 schools were allowed to retain their practice of using English as an instruction medium. Among them are many government schools! How hypocritical! Government schools do not implement government policy! What a laughing stock!
Shung Tak was left out. She was caught unprepared because, paradoxically her principal, Mr. Malcolm Long is a native English speaker. Therefore, the district education officers of Yuen Long did not get along well with him because of the language barrier. So, nobody told him anything about this shift of policy and if the in-take of your school falls below a certain level, your school is not suitable to teach in English. Shung Tak failed to obtain this license to teach in English in the first round. By that time, Mr. Long had retired and Mrs. Mary Poon, a retired civil servant from Curriculum Development Council, became our new principal. She was our godsend. Under her leadership, we fought back in an appeal and regained the EMI label until today.
In order to provide our students with an authentic English environment for their immersion, many different activities have been organized and have established a tradition. For example, there are two "English for All Day"s a week on Mondays and Wednesdays. Students are supposed to conduct every intercourse in English except, of course, for Chinese subjects such as Chinese Literature and Chinese History. This is easier said than done. Shung Tak is fighting a losing battle because the use of English within Hong Kong society as a whole is diminishing. Though the Government has implemented a Native English Teacher (NET) scheme for every school in Hong Kong for more than 10 years, to make money, more and more gweilo (foreigners) appear in Chinese drama series speaking fluent Cantonese instead. Our students spend most of their time at home, travelling in public transport or chatting with their classmates and friends, speaking in Cantonese. It is admittedly difficult for them to switch channel in school no matter how much you emphasize the importance, the utility and the joy of using English. Your advice, plea and coercion all fall on deaf ears. When you are around, they switch channel and speak in English. When you turn around, they switch back. It is really frustrating and I can appreciate the same frustration experienced by Isaiah, Jesus and Yahweh.
Isaiah aired the frustration of Yahweh when he declared the following.
Because I know that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead brass,
I declared them to you from of old, before they came to pass I announced them to you (Isaiah 48:4-5a)
Israel was stubborn. Therefore, Yahweh patiently taught time long long time ago. However, it did not work. Therefore, Yahweh changed tactics. He performed some new tricks, hopefully Israel would respond.
From this time forth I make you hear new things, hidden things which you have not known.
They are created now, not long ago; before today you have never heard of them,
lest you should say, `Behold, I knew them.'
You have never heard, you have never known, from of old your ear has not been opened.
For I knew that you would deal very treacherously, and that from birth you were called a rebel (Isaiah 48:6b-8).
Furthermore, He came to them in person in order to teach them.
Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
"I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go.
O that you had hearkened to my commandments!
Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;
your offspring would have been like the sand, and your descendants like its grains;
their name would never be cut off or destroyed from before me." (Isaiah 48:17-19)
Like the teachers who work so much in order that our students may profit, our students are like the Jews who did not repent. They just did not listen to you. Jesus had the same frustration when he said the following.
But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places and calling to their playmates,
"We piped to you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn." (Matthew 11:16-17)
As a teacher, I worry much more about their performance. That explains why we give tests and exams to force them to work hard. Beyond that, there is not much we can do. Of course, it is our mission and we cannot give up easily.
My sweet Lord, when will they ever learn? When will they appreciate our effort and work for their own salvation? We pray for their repentance. Amen.
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