在香港的教育制度下，政府制定了兩文三語的政策，務求令學生在語文的各方面技巧也維持著高水平。於二零零三年，SCOLAR曾就香港的語文水平作了檢視與回顧，並在其報告「提升香港的語文水平」，提出了一些以英語作為第二語言的具體建議。本文的論述是透過研究以推論語文政策上的提案，包括幼兒教學策略的培訓和教學資源的準備。於二零零一年在香港六秉幼稚園開始了早期 (四致五歲兒童) 英語半浸入式教學實驗，研究發現實驗組的兒童較有信心以英語和測試者交談。在教授英語的技巧這方面，教師也能在短短的數月內有明顯的進步。此外於問卷調查方面，發現大部分的幼兒教育機構都有施行英語活動。有半數機構表示曾聘請外藉英語老師在每星期推行兩至三次英語活動。研究結果反映了教學策略的培訓及教學資源有利幼兒英語能力的提升和促進教師教授幼兒英語的自信心。報告將會引述一些教學資源和教學策略的具體例子。

“變異”(variety)是語言的常規，而且語言與社會是一對共變體。近年來 中國大陸改革開放的社會激變，中國人生活與思維情感的多維化，形成了現代 漢語新詞語湧現的高峰期；其中活躍於人們口頭、帶著濃厚時代色彩的慣用 語，更是異彩紛呈，影響到普通話的風貌。這便給具有一定文化隔膜的香港的 普通話教學提出了新的要求。本文主要探討中國新時期慣用語的語義、來源、 結構、修辭等特徵，以及如何通過現代漢語慣用語的教學使學生掌握活在內地 人口頭的鮮活的普通話。

With the retrocession of Hong Kong to China in 1997, the then Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Tung Chee Hwa, set schools the challenge of fostering biliteracy and trilingualism. Recently, China embarked upon a similarly ambitious policy for some minority groups in the mainland (Feng, 2005). For Hong Kong, biliteracy and trilingualism involved the learning of written Chinese and English, as well as spoken Cantonese (the local dialect), Putonghua (the official language of China) and English (viewed as the major international language). This paper examines the compares the policies in both contexts and finds that them both to be problematic for number of reasons. Finally, it draws upon the lessons learned, plus theories of additive, subtractive and replacive trilingualism to propose more achievable policy goals.

Despite the Hong Kong SAR (Special Administrative Region) government's determination to implement the 'mother tongue education' policy amid strong social resistance one year after the handover, English remains a prestigious language in society. The need for Putonghua (Mandarin/Standard Chinese) is also increasing following ever-expanding trade and other activities with mainland China. The societal demand for both English and Putonghua in postcolonial Hong Kong is important for understanding the SAR government's language-in-education policy called 'biliteracy and trilingualism'. The learning of English is fraught with two main problems: (a) the absence of a conducive language-learning environment outside the classroom, which makes English in Hong Kong more like a foreign than a second language, and (b) tremendous typological difference between Chinese and English on one hand, and considerable linguistic differences between Cantonese and Putonghua on the other. Given the significant phonological differences and, to a lesser extent, lexico-grammatical divergence between the majority's vernacular and modern written Chinese, the learning of Putonghua is no straightforward task either. The dilemmas of the medium-of-instruction (MoI) debate will be discussed by elucidating the main concerns as seen from the respective vantage points of the government and five key stakeholder groups: employers, parents, school principals, teachers and educationalists, and students.
[Copyright of AILA Review is the property of John Benjamins Publishing Co.]