21/11/2007 (3) November 6, 2007

Learning Putonghua in primary level 

Nowadays, more and more Hong Kong people work in China and trade with businessmen of China. And this reveals that there is a need for H.K. people to learn Putonghua in order to have better communication with China’s people. To strengthen students’ competitiveness in their future career, students are required to learn Putonghua in both primary and secondary levels.  

However, only 30 primary schools can receive financial support from the government to hire extra teachers and bring in mainland experts. This would negatively affect the Putonghua learning efficiency of students. A Chinese teacher claimed that students who learn Putonghua in higher forms can understand Putonghua but have big difficulties in speaking in Putonghua. She also said this problem doesn’t happen on students who learn Putonghua in lower forms. That means the younger the students, the better they pick up the language.  

In other words, there is a need for the government to provide financial support to more primary schools. Apart from that, government should increase students’ awareness of the importance of learning Putonghua by promoting through different media, e.g. radio, television and booklets.  

Primary schools and secondary schools should also take part in promoting the importance of Putonghua. They should hold some talks about use of Putonghua .After students have the talks, teachers can discuss some main points with the students to find out whether they understand the content of the talks and they agree that learning Putonghua is important. By collecting students’ opinion, schools can set up their own Putonghua teaching strategies which can bring the biggest benefits to students.   

Learning is a self matter so it is important for students to have a good attitude toward Putonghua. Students should speak Putonghua actively and frequently during their Chinese lessens and if they find any difficulties in learning it, they should seek help from their teachers and find information by searching the internet.

Overall,with the help of the government and schools , students can have a good environment to learn Putonghua in their school life so they can speak Putonghua naturely and smoothly when they grow up. This can greatly raise their abilities in competing with other countries’ people in the career market.

                                                       Welcome  for your comments^.^

14/10/2007(2) October 19, 2007

Children have rights to survive

‘Bump, bump, bump’. This voice is not from bombs. It is from three falling bodies. Today, there is one family tragedy again. Two children were pushed out from a building by their mother, then the mother committed suicide. It is hard to believe that the mother could kill her children. It is cruel. However, the fact shows that this kind of event happens more and more frequently. This alarms us that family problems can no long be marginalized.  

Prevention is always better than cure. To prevent this event from happening again, we must find out the root of family problems. Recently, a survey finds that working stress and financial problem will upset the relationship between parent and their children. This is easy to cause violence in home. 

The Government should base on this point and take actions intermediately. First, the Government should provide courses for companies to teach their staff how to handle working stress. Also, it should have more advertisements on television, radio and even MTR advertising board to let parent understand that they shouldn’t draw their stress on their children. Besides, the government should provide more family counselling services, helping them to solve family conflicts, arguments and provide financial assistance to lighten their expenditures. 

With the Government’s help, it is still not enough. Parents should take a deep reflection on how they treat their children. Nowadays, parents almost help their children make up all decisions; they think that decisions which they make are always correct and good for their children. Children simply like puppets, everything of them is controlled by their parents, even their lives. In the news, the mother also has this wrong idea. She thinks that children’s lives belong to her so she helped them to make a vital decision. Her notion is definitely unacceptable. 

When a baby is born, it has a life. It is a separate identity, no one is allowed to take away it’s life, even their parents. The mother was really selfish. She did not consider her children’s wants. Maybe the children want to see more about this world and they do not want to die so soon. Unluckily, they didn’t have any choices. This is unfair for them.

 I hope that parents can take good care of their lovely children now but remember good care is not equal to helping them to make all decisions.It is trying to see things from their views and understand what they feel.Parents, please remember that taking good care of children, is taking care of our future.  

Welcome for everyone’s comment^.^