Feedback
1) Report one thing that you have learned in this course up to this moment.
2) Ask a question which you would like answered before the end of this course.
 
   
1) One thing that is going well in this course
2) One thing that needs improvement; and a suggestion to improve this item

Peter is a form 4 student.  He started playing instant messaging such as MSN messenger, Yahoo Chat, and Gmail chat, etc. 2 years ago.  He was an excellent students when he was in form 1 and 2.  He joined a lot of school activities and had good academic results before he started playing instant messanging.  But now, he always sticks with the computers and lacks the motivation on studying.  Therefore, I strongly support that there are negative impacts on language development with the use of instant messaging.  In this essay, I am going to discuss in two main reasons in supporting this topic.  First, it obviously has negative impact on spoken language.  On the other hand, it also has negative impact on written language. 


In the view of spoken languages, instant messaging blocked students social interaction.  As you all know, numberless of instant messaging softwares are available on the Internet.  It is easy for students to find anyone to chat with.  It is no longer to make a phone call, to date someone, if you want to chat with them.  People lack chances to have conservation with mouth but with “hand.”  They can chat with other by just typing in words but not speak.  When time goes by, people may not know how to speak fluently.


Another more important point is that instant messaging will weaken people’s writing skills.   On the Internet, efficiency is the most important idea.  Therefore, people will try to chat with the most effective way by using “short form”, or using their own style of languages.  They will not care about the spelling of words and grammar usages.  For example, they use “u” to represent “you”, they use “no” to represent “know”.  This kind of informal language usages must have big influences in the future language development, especially for youngsters.  They may easily use this kind of languages in formal written language.


To conclude, I always use instant messaging in communication.  However, it is surely having negative impacts on both written and spoken languages development, especially for the youth.  Therefore, people should always force themselves to use formal language structure while chatting so that their writing knowledge will not be easily affected by that negative impact.  Also, try to be more outgoing, try to chat with other face to face to improve your speaking skill rather than just chat with your hand. 





 
CityU should do the majority of its teaching in Cantonese?

Plus (For)    

Minus (Against)

  • Better comprehension of content areas

    • Higher exam scores

      Higher rankings

  • More Opportunities for foreigners to learn Cantonese

    • Better cultural understanding
  • More students from the Mainland
  • More exchange students who speak Cantonese or want to learn Cantonese

     

  • Lots of publicity and fame
  • More quality, Cantonese-speaking teachers
  • Fewer ELC teachers
  • Fewer exchange students because many do not speak Cantonese
  • More students from CMI schools
    • Drop in academic level
  • Fewer students from EMI schools
  • Fewer opportunities to improve one's English level
    • Cannot meet international academic and language standards
    • Damage the international image of Hong Kong
 

Interesting/Important

  • The Cantonese language is tonal-based, and unstressed.
  • Generally, Cantonese people speak English only to foreigners.
  • Cantonese is already used frequently by teachers in CityU classrooms

  • Would Beijing approve of this?
  • Could start a trend in universities and primary and secondary schools, a referendum on English in Hong Kong
  • Fewer English-speaking applicants and more quality Chinese applicants?

 

1) Think of arguments for (plus) and against (minus); also thing of some interesting or important points that you would like to mention
2) Enumerate some of the consequences (short-term and long-term) of your arguments
3) Can you think of other arguments based on your interesting and important points?

The MTR should sell a pass which allows unlimited travel for a month on all MTR lines. 
Local primary and secondary schools should have the option to choose Putonghua as the medium of instruction.
The government should expand tertiary education to allow more Hong Kong students to study at university. 
Hong Kong Disneyland and Shanghai Disneyland should offer similar rides and games for visitors.

Plus (For)    

Minus (Against)

 

Interesting/Important