How I Learned English in Wah Yan College Kowloon Yu Fong-ying (’61 grad)
--- anecdotes from a diminishing memory trove
1. Preamble
Tens of thousands of students have learned the subject English and graduated from Wah Yan College Kowloon in its 85 and counting years of existence. What is the merit of one student writing about his individual, and more likely than not, idiosyncratic, experience in learning English over 50 years ago? The learners, the teachers, the teaching methods – they are all different today, and will be different tomorrow. What useful purposes would such an account serve other than indulgence towards the nostalgic reminiscences of a senior and maybe his peers?
In reply, I would say first that recounting my learning experience more than half a century ago, from 1955 to 1963 to be exact, would add a little to the informal folk history of Wah Yan College Kowloon and of education during that time in Hong Kong. There is a stronger, personal reason. Under the influence of Mr. Patrick O’Flanagan, my English Literature teacher in Lower and Upper 6 Arts, I studied English in the University of Hong Kong and took up teaching English as a career from 1966 on. Been at it for 46 years and counting, though after about 30 years of class teaching and one immigration, I turned to tutoring students one on one. (In this way, I cannot hope to emulate the record of Mr. Francis Kong who taught English classes in WYK for some 45 years, 35 as a teacher, 1960-1995, then as a volunteer teacher after his retirement. He passed away in 2005.) I want to see the learning of English from the perspective, if not vantage point, of some knowledge of teaching it. I want to connect the past with the present, or make sense of the past in the light of the present, thereby gaining a deeper understanding of my experiences.
I hope to be as close to what happened, or my memories of what happened, as the reminiscences of an elderly man can allow, and to separate re-construction from construction as far as possible.
2. From Tak Ching to Wah Yan
I went to the Tak Ching Girls School primary section in Sham Shui Po, near my home and affiliated to the secondary section of the school across the road. Little boys in the district were accepted into the school, so they tagged along, often with their sisters. I too tagged along with my elder sister to Tak Ching 德貞, in 1949. It was a Chinese primary school. I had no recollection of studying any English there, but I must have. There was a primary six public examination which acted as a screening test for pupils. Those who passed it would gain a place in a secondary school, and Chinese, English and mathematics formed the triumvirate of examined subjects. I must have done reasonably well in that exam, for the Principal, Sister Ngai 魏瑪利修女(bless her!) of the order of Precious Blood, wrote a letter of recommendation 
to Fr. Patrick Toner (1910-1983), Principal of Wah Yan College Kowloon (1952-57) in the summer of 1955, and Fr. Toner (bless him!) took me in, or just took pity on me, and I became a Wah Yan boy. I had to repeat primary six. The repetition of a school year was the price to pay to transition from a Chinese primary school to an English-medium Anglo-Chinese secondary school. (The term “Anglo-Chinese” originated from similarly named schools in Southeast Asia where Christian educators evolved a system of bilingual education in which both English and the local dialects are taught in school.) The extra year at primary six was to enable students to learn English well enough to use it as a medium of learning. That year was well spent in readying myself for an English-medium secondary education. With a one-year age advantage, I was able to do quite well at the end of the year and so the transition to Wah Yan was effected smoothly. There were students who were admitted to Primary 6 from Primary 5 of other schools, for example, Tak Yan 德仁, an Anglo-Chinese primary school where many of my classmates came from and where English was taught from about Primary 3 up. Some students from English primary schools could join Form 1.
3. Medium of instruction
Since Wah Yan is and always has been an English school, the medium of instruction then as now was English. Such an environment would be
called “immersion” nowadays. All the subjects except Chinese and, in the earlier forms, Biblical Knowledge, were taught in English. Looking back, I do not think the school was always English-speaking. Cantonese was used by Fr. John Moran in teaching Form 2 B.K. [1].Within the classroom, there was at one time a campaign of “five cents for speaking Chinese in class.” But such a draconian measure broke down sooner or later. And outside the classroom, there was little English spoken, unless one was talking to a Jesuit father or an English-speaking teacher. Students did not converse in English, and no rules prohibited the use of Chinese on campus ground. As I was not a Catholic or active in sports and school clubs, my interaction with the fathers took place mostly in class. The English-speaking teachers were Mr. Wilkinson, Mr. Aras, Mr. O’Flanagan, but the majority of the teachers were Chinese.
4. English for academic purposes
A lot of English was learned through the English textbooks and examinations in English of the school subjects. Sometimes it was very pleasurable, 
like singing English songs in Music lessons under Mr. Alexander Wong: “Auld Lang Syne,” “Beautiful Dreamers,” “Santa Lucia” and the unofficial school song “When Irish Eyes are Smiling,” heard dedicated to the fathers whenever there was a charity drive. These undoubtedly internalized a fair amount of English in us. “’Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.” (Home, Sweet Home by John Howard Payne, 1823). There you have an idiomatic three-clause sentence, inverted construction, the subjunctive, vocabulary, poetic abbreviation, alliteration, and rhyme all rolled into one tune; and easy to pick up. In geography and history lessons, we had to learn strange place names and people names: Rio de Janeiro, Costa Rica, Madagascar, Uruguay, Edinburgh, Bethlehem, the Bastille, Richelieu, Luther, Napoleon, Pharisee and so on. In the science subjects, names of laws and elements and scientists abounded -- Galton, Pythagoras , Eureka, Marconi, Archimedes’ Principle, tungsten, phosphorus, uranium, to name only some.
We encountered English and took it in strides in the variety of subjects we studied. I used a cheap English-Chinese dictionary to look up words for I could not afford the best learner dictionary around in those days, The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, its first appearance in 1948 (second edition 1963). In more language-saturated subjects like history and geography, we did a good deal of exercises in English. Biology and chemistry had lab reports, and in many subjects, we had to make notes. But it is my contention that we learned English principally through English as a subject in the classroom and through our daily encounters with the Jesuit fathers, though in the latter case, the experiences of the students might differ quite widely. Learning catechism from Fr. Moran must be an intensive exercise in English too (See the case of my classmate Gabriel Lau in [1]).
I shall concentrate on the subject English in the following account and cover the many aspects of school life pertinent to the learning of English.
5. The subject of English
I can see in the Form 4 (1959-60) report card which I still keep and treasure – a blue, rectangular, cardboard-paper, folded-to-the-centre “REPORT” – the way the
subject of English was configured. Prominent as “Group I,” English was divided into 作文Composition, 文法Gen. English, 默書Dictation, 國文 Literature, 讀本 Reading, 背誦 Recitation, 會話 Colloquial. Not all the components were assessed in all the examinations. In the Christmas Examination of 1959, only the first three were examined; in the following Easter Examination of 1960, only two, Gen. English and Recitation; in the Final Examination of 1960, six, the first five and the sixth and seventh combined. General English, as the Chinese translation declared, was grammar. I think it materialized as the general-purpose textbook and grammar books and grammar exercises. Literature is poetry and novels. Reading is mainly reading comprehension with attendant exercises on vocabulary and précis, and Recitation is reading aloud short passages and sometimes poems, rather than recitation from memory. Colloquial was Oral classes, timetabled once a week in some years. Dictation was either prepared or extempore. There was also Penmanship in Primary 6 and Form 1; in Form 1D it was taught by Mr. Laurence Tam the Art teacher.
6. Pronunciation and spelling
My first distinct impressions of beginning the journey to learning English have to do with pronunciation. “How should I pronounce the Un in Un Chow Street (元洲街)?” It was one of the first lessons given by Miss Lee (Mrs. Ko later), our Primary 6 English teacher, and she asked each student the name of the street where he lived. Well, I knew the word “under.” It begins with “un.” So when it was my turn to name my street, I said aloud, “Un” (as in “under”), “Un Chow Street,” as if there is something unchow and not chow! Without any look of surprise or despair, Miss Lee gave the correct pronunciation, “une” which was close to the Cantonese pronunciation anyway. So lesson number one, English spelling can be tricky, but one clue lies in the Chinese equivalent word. So it was with Wah Yan 華仁, Sham Shui Po 深水埗, Nam Cheong Street 南昌街, Ap Liu Street 鴨寮街, Lai Chi Kok 茘枝角and so on (but strangely, Pei Ho Street for 北河街 – the influence of Beihei Park 北海公園?). I soon caught on to the spelling and pronunciation of my classmates. 王顯誠 is Wong Hin Shing, 胡可滿 is Wu Ho Mun, 馬啓輝 is Ma Kai Fai, and so on, similar sounds in English and Chinese but only one tone in English. From this, I could take out the vowel or vowel + consonant(s) endings of words and assign sounds to them, the –ong, –in, -ing, -u, -o, -un (two possible sounds!), -a, -ai and so on. Then there are the Chan’s and the Chen’s, the former Cantonese and the latter Shanghainese (all northerners were Shanghainese to us).
7. Textbooks – General English and readers
Miss Lee was always well-dressed in cheongsam, dignified and unruffled. She it was who had the Herculean job of leveling up a gaggle of uneven pupils with diverse standards to a passable standard by the end of Primary 6, thereby enabling them to take on learning through English in Form 1 and after. Her English was pleasant to listen to and clearly enunciated. With her calm and no-nonsense manner of teaching, she commanded respect and demanded learning. The textbook used was English for Malaya. At that time, Hong Kong had no English learning textbooks of its own. The first lesson began with “a man, a pan, a man and a pan” with illustrations. The rhyme was catching, and the phrases easily formed a chant: de dum, de dum, de dum dum dum dum. There was mention of “yam,” “coconuts” and “elephants.” It was only a few years later that we had English for Hong Kong (?) written by Mr. Allen Atherton and published by OUP. As the fifties ebbed and the sixties flowed, the number of students going to English schools increased, and the market for local publishing of English textbooks expanded. A retired English subject inspector, Mr. Tingay, wrote stories of adventure for Hong Kong and S. E. Asian students, one we read was called The Cave of Cheung Po Tsai (張保仔), with the legend of the pirates thrown in. He even came to the school to give a talk. There was another story about the Amah Rock (望夫石), by him or another writer. The indigenization of English textbooks had begun.
8. Pronunciation – intonation
One day in Form 1, we were on a story in English for Malaya. It concerned a monkey which climbed up and down a coconut tree. The story took some interesting turns and then there was the sentence: The monkey cried, “There, there, I can see my heart up there!” We were asked to dramatize the story and it was Patrick Tai Chun Leung’s turn to come out demonstrate. He was a Tak Yan德仁boy, and his English was very good. He put on the look of a monkey and pointed at the ceiling above the blackboard and exclaimed, his intonation excited and wavy, his voice high-pitched, and his gestures expansive and pointing up. The Vienna Boys’ Choir was in town at that point and his voice reminded us of their high-pitched reaches. The whole class burst out laughing, some even imitating him in mockery. But it was Patrick who had the last laugh, for the teacher (it might be Fr. Toner) commended him highly for his beautiful intonation, which sounded funny to some of us. That episode stood out in my memory for what it says about the importance of the ups and downs of the pitch that makes up intonation. To get it right, one has to leave the tonal habits of the mother tongue and be prepared to sound strange.
9. Pronunciation -- final consonant clusters
In Form 2D, I had two English teachers in succession, Fr. Timothy Doody and Fr. Thomas O’Neill. The picture I have of Fr. Doody is that he smiled a lot of the time. But for some reason, the memory box also served up the line “a smile on the face of the tiger”! Perhaps he taught us that limerick; he was certainly not unkind. He had an unforgettable way of teaching pronunciation. His mission was to rescue clear speech from learners who pronounced English barbarously. He had us copy out “Ten Holy Rules of Pronunciation” which he chalked clearly on the board, to be learned by heart, not unlike the Ten Commandments. In particular, he had to save the final consonants from timid boys who would not pronounce them aloud. He would come into class and draw a mound of earth with a tombstone erected in front of it. On the tombstone was written (with white chalk on blackboard in those days) the name of the deceased, one “ECHO.” What he meant was that in words such as “mild,” both consonants in the final consonant cluster -ld should be sounded and be audibly and recognizably different from the -l in “mile.” In “stalk” and “hawk”, the -lk should be different from the -k. He was strict on the -ed endings of past tense verbs: “washed,” “walked” and “waded.” He asked us to exaggerate them. “Walked” was “wa-ll-ke–de.” He would call upon one of us to stand up and read a passage. If one missed the consonant endings in part or whole or did not sound them loud enough, he would invite the offender to come up to the blackboard and bow three times to the tomb of ECHO, all the time saying in Chinese “Yat goak gong, yi goak gung, sam goak gung (一鞠躬, 二鞠躬, 三鞠躬)” (bow once, bow twice, bow three times). After proper respects (but alas often not the last) were paid to the lost soul, the boy would go back to his seat and say the words again. Because of this unusual way of dramatizing the importance of final consonants, the lesson struck home. I would practise saying words like “asked”(ars- -ke -te) and “slipped” and “tightened.” And I would appreciate the lesson many years later, when I tried to use minimal pairs – kill, kiln; catch cash; bulb, bulge – to bring home a similar point. Fr. Doody concentrated on the final consonant clusters for effect; the lesson was to benefit all consonant clusters wherever they might crop up. And there were nine more rules, though I regret to say I cannot call to mind any other. (
10. Pronunciation – silent letters and vowel + consonant(s) endings
At a later stage, I learned the silent h through English-Chinese equivalency, or rather the lack of it. Bonham Road at mid-levels on Hong Kong Island, as we all know, is 般含道 in Chinese where the h is sounded. At first I thought that was just like the place names and people’s names I learned earlier until one teacher pointed out the error in the Chinese transliteration, and warned us to be careful about the silent h and other silent letters. Sure enough, in books of geography and history, we came across Durham with a silent h, and Warwick with a silent w, Gloucester with a silent ce or s. So when I saw the name of the footballer Beckham translated as 碧咸, I said to myself, “It can’t be right, I learned the silent h in school.”
The vowel + consonant(s) endings I probably learned from Fr. Doody too. To distinguish the final consonants like -n vs -m, one often placed them in contexts like -in vs –im vs –ip vs –it vs -if and so on. I made a list of such endings with the five vowel letters, e.g. with a, there are –ap, -at, -ak, -ab, -ad, -ag, -am, -an, -as, -ang, etc. In this way the different endings when combined with different preceding consonants yield words of different sounds. Again, the distinctions among the sounds apply equally well to initial or medial groups. I remember considerable effort being paid to “light” vs “night,” “low“ vs “know” and so on.
The final e deserves a mention. In many cases, when a word ends in e and is preceded by a vowel + consonant, thus, vowel + consonant + e, the vowel will have a sound same as the sound of the vowel letter, e.g. the -a in “made” is an a sound, m + a + d; in “precede”, the -cede is c + e + d. But there are some exceptions like “come,” “rebuke.” I learned this practical rule of thumb from one of my teachers, probably Mr. Hilary Lee Hoi-chow [2].
11. Public speaking
As Principal (1957-60) after Fr. Toner, Fr. Herbert Dargan gave an address in the new school hall on Speech Day. I must be in Form 3 then. I attended the evening meeting because I was an usher. Fr. Dargan has been described by Fr. Morrissey in this way: “The tall figure and features of Herbert Dargan had an air of authority and the appearance of an intellectual.” His letter to the Irish Provincial on 28 January 1960, the year he became Rector of the school, reveals “his priorities and hard-headedness” [3]. I was at the back of the hall on that day, and listened to his speech. He was tall and dark, a gaunt face with high cheekbones and deep-set, bespectacled eyes. In his flowing black robe, he appeared to me rather like Dracula. But there was no doubting he carried an air of authority about him. And what a speech! To my ear, the English was beautiful -- scholarly and measured. The pace, rhythm and words had me spell-bound. Later, when I got hold of The Shield which contained his speech, I read it over and over, savouring the phrasing and the sentences, imitating his voice and manner of delivery, imagining myself to be addressing a large captivated audience. It was to be some twenty years later that I had the occasion to be addressing a hall full of students in an assembly as an invited speaker. Fr. Dargan’s speech set a standard to which I would aspire when my turn came.
12. Reading comprehension
A textbook that served us well is Comprehension and Precis Pieces for Overseas Students by the experienced teacher, teacher trainer and textbook writer L. A. Hill, first published in 1950 and reprinted numerous times. And its sequel, Further Comprehension and Precis Pieces for Overseas Students, by Hill and R.D.S. Fielden, 1956, was used in the next higher form. We used the first one in either Form 1 or Form 2, more likely Form 1. The back of the book carries this description of it: “This book contains thirty pieces of 250-300 words, each followed by exercises, for intermediate Secondary School students and adults preparing for the Cambridge Lower Certificate examination. The exercises test comprehension, written composition and ability to make a summary.” Ten of the pieces are excerpts from other books, sometimes slightly simplified, and twenty written by the author. They are written in an easy flowing style with idiomatic phrasing. The subject matters have a lot to do with British scenery and way of life. One example, written by Hill, will have to do.
EVENING
Evening is here. The sun has just set behind the green hills to the west of us. They sky is still red around the point where it disappeared, but this brightness soon fades. All around us we can see the farm workers walking slowly home from the fields, tired after a hard day’s work. The heavy cart horses which have been pulling ploughs and carts during most of this hot day pass us with a ringing of bells on their way to the stables and a well-earned rest. From the village we can hear the voices of the women and children quite clearly. A girl is singing an old song which her mother and grandmother, and their mothers and grandmothers before them, have been singing ever since the village first came into existence. [4]
For the first two questions, we had to give a word or phrase similar or opposite in meaning, or to explain the meaning of the underlined word or phrase. We were required to give a word or phrase that is as equivalent as possible, one that can fill the place of the underlined and keep the meaning and grammar of the sentence intact. Thus some answers that are acceptable would be like for “set”– sunk (note: past participle), “point” – area, “fades” – disappears (note: present tense singular verb), “All around us” – Everywhere (note: adverb), “well-earned” – good, “clearly”– loudly, “came into existence” – appeared (note: past tense). This practice of equivalency cultivated in us a sense of part of speech, verb tense and agreement, and context. The exercises expanded our range of expressions. The comprehension questions ask one to “give short answers to these questions, using one complete sentence for each answer.” The one-complete-sentence requirement cultivated in us syntax and conciseness. The related comprehension question for the passage above is “Why was the cart horses’ rest well-earned?” The last question is like this: “State briefly, in two or three sentences, what the writer says about the bell. Do not use more than 50 words.” That is, one third of the original. The précis question is undoubtedly the most challenging, but with practice, we acquired the rudiments of summary.
I loved the passages. At around 300 words, they were manageable, and could be read again and again. They account for much of the charm, even lyricism, of the book. Though about half the passages have to do with things British – Crossing the English Channel, The Good Master (from Black Beauty), A Visit to a Port in South Wales – they are not that culture-bound, as can be seen in the passage about the English village above. A German or Chinese village might see such an evening.
The passages too lend themselves to the task of reading aloud. Standing up and reading audibly to the class was a frequent exercise and we learned the exact pronunciation of new words and their meaning through this and the teacher’s questions.
An advocate of ESP (English for Specific Purposes) might see these passages as ENSP (English for No Specific Purposes), and the content as far removed from the harsh society that was Hong Kong in the mid-fifties. But education is more encompassing than the strictly utilitarian and the here-and-now.
13. Vocabulary
I used to keep a note book in which I recorded new vocabulary items, but the practice was desultory. There were some single sentences made from some new words, but no serious effort was put into vocabulary building. I often put a Chinese equivalent against a new English word, especially with my own books, always careful not to be seen for it was frowned upon. We were exhorted to use simple words and phrases to explain more difficult ones. But we had plenty of practice in that in Reading Comprehension.
I still have my little The Gospel According to St. Luke, the Knox Version, with me, studied in the sixth forms, and there I find I penciled against “in entreaty” 懇求, “blasphemously” 褻聖. But there are also English explanations: “beckon” – make a sign, “lightly (given)” – easily, “publican” – tax collector. These owed their existence most likely to the teacher of the gospel, Fr. Anthony Farren, who was headmaster then. So there were really no strict rules I followed. We did not have word lists to memorize. But there were two books circulated among classmates which had various collections of words like the names of adult animals and baby animals (duck – duckling, swan - cygnet, bear – cub), country, people and language (Poland, Pole, Polish), currencies (rupee, dollar, shilling), male and female (lion – lioness, ox – cow, gander – goose), animal sounds (cat – meow, sheep – baa, donkey – bray), prefixes and suffixes, propositions, abbreviations, and other interesting sets. They are First Aid in English by Angus Maciver, and The Student’s Companion by Wilfred Best. They played a small part in enlarging the vocabulary stock; otherwise they were treated as useful references or objects of curiosity. Proverbs, as I vaguely remember, were learned or expanded in the fifth and sixth forms, taught by the Translation teacher, Mr. Li Yiu-bor: “Look before you leap.” “Judge a book not by its cover.” And the perennial “A bird in hand is worth two in the bush.”
On the whole, words were learned in context. The literature portion of the English syllabus as well the wide range of subject textbooks provided much fodder for vocabulary building. But I would say that up to Form 5, my range of vocabulary was quite narrow. The passive vocabulary far outstripped the active one, as evidenced by strong dictation marks and much weaker composition marks.
14. Poetry
I acquired a sense of the rhythm and intonation of English largely through the study of poetry; more importantly, I gained pleasure from it. As I grow older, poetry (Chinese as well as English), among all the literary forms, has become more and more appealing to me, and the first seeds of this attachment were sown in the lower forms in WYK. We had as the first textbook The Overseas Poetry Books, Book Two, edited by Dennis Herbert. It is in two parts, providing two levels of study. The very first poem (Anon) serves not only as an invitation to what’s in the book but also as an affirmation of the value of reading.
O for a book and a shady nook,
Either indoors or out;
With the green leaves whispering overhead,
Or the street cries all about;
Where I may read all at my ease,
Both of the new and old;
For a jolly good book whereon to look
Is better to me than gold.
“Almost all the poems in this book, ‘both of the new and old,’ are about the ‘great, wide, beautiful, wonderful world’; or about the creatures; or about man, its most wonderful creature; or about God the Creator” [5].The ebb and flow of the sounds and the pace are different in different poems that we learned:
Whenever the moon and stars are set,
Whenever the wind is high,
All night long in the dark and wet,
A man goes riding by. (Windy Nights, Robert Louis Stevenson)
Abou Ben Adhem (may his name be blessed!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An angel writing in a book of gold. (Abou Ben Adhem, Leigh Hunt)
Does the road wind uphill all the way?
Yes, to the very end.
Will the day’s journey take the whole long day?
From morn to night, my friend. (Uphill, Christina Rossetti)
Poetry, by its inclusion in the syllabus, worked its way into those who responded to it. One poem in particular, The Owl and the Pussy Cat, taught by Fr. McCarthy, left an indelible impression on me.
15. Poetry and humour
“The Owl and the Pussy Cat went to sea,
In a beautiful pea green boat.
They took some honey, and plenty of money.
Wrapped up in a five pound note…”
So goes the marvelous nonsense of Edward Lear. Every time I came across these lines, the image of Fr. Richard McCarthy would spring to mind, for he it was who introduced us to the poem, contained in The Overseas Poetry Books, Book II. It was probably in Form 3 (1958-59) that Fr. McCarthy taught us that poem. He was an impressive presence, stocky, round-faced with glasses that held lenses so thick they made his eyes seem narrow. He had a sonorous voice that carried to every corner of the classroom, delivered with forcefulness and clarity. Coming from him, the conversation between the Owl and the Pussy Cat was a wonder to hear. Never mind the words we did not understand: mince, quince, bong-tree, tarried. Few of us knew what a “pound” looked like and what a “shilling” was worth. But Fr. McCarthy brought the poem to life, in an amalgam of humor and absurdity. And the wonder grew, for as he read, he looked perfectly Owlish to me in his round-rimmed glasses! No wonder the poem has stuck like some kind of wonder-glue. Another time, he introduced some Gilbert & Sullivan to us in a grandiloquent tone. “I am the very model of a modern Major-General. I've information vegetable, animal, and mineral. I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical, from Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical,” I can still rattle off that much of the lyrics of “The Pirates of Penzance” today, thanks to him. Other memorable poems he had taught are “Before Sleeping” (“Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Bless the bed that I lie on”), the romantic “The Sea” (“The Sea! the Sea! the open Sea!”) and the dramatic “Inchcape Rock.” The pursuit of literature was starting to germinate in me.
16. Fear
But Fr. McCarthy was able to put fear into us as well. One day, he walked into the classroom with a fearsome look, very red in the face, engorged veins visible, and glowered at the class. He was about to return our homework to us! Without saying a word, he threw a few exercise books down on the raised platform far away from where he sat. We all bowed our heads without looking up or round. He scolded us roundly for our slovenly work. We held our breath. Then he went through some of the points of the exercise again. Fr. Coghlan said to me that Fr. McCarthy (both of them from Limerick) loved to be dramatic. I must confess I did not see it that way then. But in general, Fr. McCarthy was friendly to us, even warm and caring. He gave counsel to one of our top classmates about what to do upon graduation, and he advised going to university. The classmate took his advice, went to do medicine at Hong Kong University and became a well-known physician. Classmates would visit him when he transferred to Wah Yan College Hong Kong the next year.
He was my form master and English teacher in Form 5 (1960-61); however, such are the vagaries of my memory, I can recall little of that year. The casting away of offensive shoddy homework might well be a dramatization no less impressive than Fr. Doody’s “ECHO.” Be that as it may, one thing is sure: I was always careful in doing Fr. McCarthy’s homework, i.e. English. And the efforts paid off, for I managed to get a credit in the subject in the School Certificate Examination, putting me among the 83 students who did the same [6].
17. Writing and the term of fame and shame
As for writing, I remember doing some controlled composition. One day, a teacher hung on the board a poster “On the Beach” with beachy objects and associated words printed, and we were each asked to make a sentence then write an essay based on the collective output. Fr. Doody would set out an imaginary and imaginative scene in one or two sentences and asked us to make up a story. One such example was “When he awoke, he found a dead body lying on top of him.” Or some similar wording. The five-paragraph expository essay format with thesis statement, topic sentences, a hook and a conclusion was not taught. Often we were just given a title and asked to compose a story out of it.
In Form 4A, Mr. Wong Tuen-po was our form master and English teacher. He was a kindly gentleman, affable, even-paced and completely unflappable (come to think of it, a lot of the teachers had this quality of calmness and going about the business of teaching in a purposeful unperturbed way.) Little did we know that he was to retire the year after, the year we graduated from Form 5, after serving the school most faithfully for over 30 years [7]. The particular event that fastened itself to my memory was a composition class early on in the school year. We had been assigned an essay to write as homework. I forgot the exact title, something to do with describing a lesson in the classroom. I had been racking my brains for ideas and expressions to describe the atmosphere of the classroom. Beside me was Little Women, by Louisa M. Alcott, which I had read, and this long sentence caught my eye: “It was a comfortable old room, though the carpet was faded and the furniture very plain; for a good picture or two hung on the walls, books filled the recesses, chrysanthemums and Christmas roses bloomed in the windows, and a pleasant atmosphere of home-peace pervaded it. ”Pervade” – a new word to me, so I looked it up in a dictionary and found that it was indeed a word I could use. So I transferred it to a short sentence of my own something like this: “A tense atmosphere pervaded the classroom.” That caught Mr. Wong’s eye. When it was time to return the composition to us, he called me out to the front and stood me beside him. He put one hand on my shoulder, and with the other held my composition, and read it out aloud, in that unhurried voice of his. He paused after the word “pervaded” and repeated the sentence: “A tense atmosphere pervaded the classroom.” He smiled and said the choice of word was good. With what inner joy I bowed my head with a reddened face! I went back to my seat, happy that I had checked the use of that word and that I used it transitively – “pervade a place.” How powerful one vocabulary item could be!
But soon after my minute of fame, I took a bad tumble. At the end of the first term (Christmas), I received a failing grade in Composition, 25%, written in red (passing percentage 40). That meant I failed the subject English, and that automatically put me in the failed group, and I ranked 36th out of 37. Overall, with all the subject groups combined, I still received a “Failed” written in heavy ink. Yet, not all was lost. In his kindness, Mr. Wong dropped me a saving grace, for in the Remark section, he put down, “Very unsteady in Eng. Comp. Sometimes writes quite good essays.” How thankful I was for that second half of the remark! I would like to think that he too remembered and cherished that moment when a student demonstrated the appropriate use of a single item of vocabulary. Later I learned from him that I failed because my exam composition was “off the topic.” Even though I had to face my father’s stern face on presenting the Report to him, in the final examination, I passed Composition with 51%. I append the relevant parts of the Report (Appendix II) for the record and for the humbling lessons learned.
18. Grammar books
We had the series Brighter Grammar 1, 2, 3 by Eckersley in the lower forms, I think. The books were written in a simple style with some comic illustrations and simple graded exercises. The tone is bright, but I do not remember much about them.
Then in Form 5 we had High School English Grammar and Composition by P. C. Wren (1875-1941) & H. Martin, written in the early part of the twentieth century. The book was for students and teachers in India and made up in a traditional way, and would make a good textbook for the Grammar and Translation Method.
The grammar part of the G & T Method has been described by Hill as follows: “start with the regular nouns, then go on to the irregular ones (e.g. man/men, mouse/mice, formula/formulae, datum, data, etc.), then to pronouns, then to adjectives and so on. … After morphology had been dealt with … to syntax, which dealt with word-order and with the use of the different parts of speech discussed under morphology – when to use each case of the noun, when to use the past tense, when to use the subjunctive, how to form the interrogative and negative, and so on. Everything was arranged in a strictly grammatical order….” [8] I remember we began with parsing, the traditional way for analyzing Latin and English. The lesson was to separate subject from predicate, then identify the parts of speech of the words in the sentence, then say which is the subject, which the verb and which the object or complement etc. There was declension of nouns and conjugation of verbs too. All that was rather intimidating but we only worked through some exercises in some chapters.
19. Grammar drills
The book that really drilled English grammar into me is the exercise book English for Chinese Students written by two teachers in Diocesan Boys’ School, B. J. M. Monks and D. I. Luard. It was first published outside Hong Kong in 1934. The seventh edition, 179 pages, 1951, in which a new section on précis writing was added, was the one we used. The contents follow the traditional classification, so “The Article, Nouns, Adjectives, Verbs, Participle, Gerunds or Verbal Nouns, Transitive and Intransitive Verbs, Difficult Verbs, General Revision of Verbs, Adverbs, Prepositions, The Complex Sentence, Direct and Indirect Speech, Miscellaneous Points of Idiom, Punctuation, Pronunciation, Derivation, Vocabulary and Word Building, Wrong Sentences, Exercises in Composition, Precis Writing.” You can see how comprehensive it is. Explanation is kept to a minimum, but there are exercises a-plenty. They constitute drills that make repetition a way to achieve retention. This is as close to the Drill Method as we did get, for we did not have oral pattern drills. The exercises require thinking and cover the traditional categories (parts of speech, mood, verbals, clauses) as well as vocabulary and word usage, idioms, guided composition and précis. The authors even included literary pieces for précis. I think we went through most of the grammar and vocabulary exercises of the book in the upper forms. As a teacher, I still tap it today for ideas and exercises.
20. Literature
Literature, as part of the English subject, consists of poetry and novels. The novels I read or studied are listed in Appendix III. Collectively, they can be described as light classics with a small letter c. We read some of them in simplified graded form. It was only in higher forms that originals were studied. These include Great Expectations, Pip’s boyhood only; The Lost World with the redoubtable Professor Challenger; The Hound of the Baskerville also by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Pride and Prejudice was studied in Form 5.
I was not an avid reader of books outside the set texts. There was a short spell with Fr. Doody in Form 2 when we had to report which outside book we had read the week before, but the requirement was not followed through. There were too many things that engaged my attention besides reading, chief among them football, music and fooling around in the school campus well into the late afternoon. Only in the sixth forms did I frequent the British Council library, an oasis of a place with friendly staff and a great source of books and references. I went to the one in the old Shiu Hing Building in Tsimshatsui as well as the one in Gloucester Building in Hong Kong. Mr. O’Hara, Ceylonese, and his wife Mrs. O’Hara, Chinese, treated kids politely, and their speech had the English R.P. (Received Pronunciation) accent [9].
21. Oral English
An Oral class was scheduled for some forms. In the School Certificate Examination, we had to take the new Oral English examination in a face to face interview with an examiner. That posed no great hardship for students of an English-medium school with quite a number of Irish fathers. I do not remember much about the activities of oral classes. Some pictures were hung up on the board to be described; paired conversations were practised. In our school environment, we did hear a good deal of English, in announcements, circulars, teaching and classroom interaction. Good pronunciation was emphasized in lower forms. Reading aloud took place in Reading Comprehension lessons. Dictation was a regular part of English. There was no Listening Test then.
22. Extra-curricular – debating and drama
The school had a large variety of clubs some of which specifically promoted good speaking like the Debating Society and the Drama Club. The school also participated in the Speech and Music Festival and Inter-Schools Quiz. Jimmy Chow of Form 5B joined the school team of four in such a quiz on “Home Cleanliness” in 1961 [10]. Plays were staged, much of the organizing work borne by a drama enthusiast, Fr. Toner “(who, if informed that the world was coming to an end next week, would insist on its being heralded in by a class-play in the meanwhile.”) [10] As for debating, in 1960-61 there were “8 debates in all, 3 of these being with other schools” (including one against Maryknoll Convent) [10]. Raymond Chan, a boy from Tak Sun, excelled in debating and drama. His English was so good we thought he spoke it at home, something never confirmed. The Shield 1961 carried these comments about other classmates in 5B, “Ng Siu Kim showed great progress in his manner of speaking, on this occasion, using his strong voice well.” “Harry Aitken was making his first appearance representing Wah Yan and made a very credible speech despite the understandable nerves on such an occasion.” [10] I never took part in these clubs or activities, as my main interests were football, ping-pong and music.
23. Extra-curricular – classical music, pop song and films
Our daily passionate playing of football engendered a core group of students who happened also to be classical music enthusiasts. In 1957, they formed the Classical Music Lovers Association (CLA for short). I was one of the beneficiaries of their generosity for I had no records, gramophone or musical instruments of my own. I became an associate member and took advantage of the opportunities to listen to good music and pick up some musical terms along the way, English, French, Italian and German to boot: ballade, natchtmusik, concerto, sonatina, crescendo, baton, maestro, Pathetique, Persian market, scherzando, allegro (also the name of a poem by Milton) and so on. There is an account of that formative influence on us on the WYKAAO website [11]. Its influence on our English was not big, but reading about concerts, composers and conductors were all grist to the mill to an Anglo-Chinese education. The five musicals produced from 1955 to 1963 showed us English in a new dimension, as did the one Cantonese opera in English I saw.
In reviewing the role played by English pop songs and films, I would say they had a small role in bettering my English. They made it more idiomatic, more modern and less bookish. There was a streak of puritanical thinking in me and some other students then that if someone listened to a lot of pop music or played the guitar or went to dancing parties, he was a “teddy boy” up to no good. I was not one because I was either busy studying or busy playing in school. But songs were heard over radios and blared out from shops so we came to know the weekly “hit parade.” Crooners like Pat Boone, Ricky Nelson, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole were not unfamiliar names. Among the tunes around the time that have stuck in my mind like enchanting refrains are “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” (1939), “White Christmas” (1954), “Three Coins in the Fountain” (1954), “Love Letters in the Sand” (1957), “A Very Precious Love” sung by Gene Kelly (1958) and some others. I was not moved either by the Elvis Presley fever or by Beatlemania.
As for films, I’ll quote my friend Wong Hin-shing: “I do remember I went to see a lot of movies (British and US and Cantonese) with Richard (summer vacation after F4) and you (summer vacation after F5), almost several times a week during those summer vacations. Don't remember all the titles, but definitely ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ (Peter Cushing & Christopher Lee) - we studied the novel by C. Doyle in either F4 or F5. And of course there was Garson-Olivier's version of ‘Pride & Prejudice’. And ‘Prisoner of Zenda’ (Kerr and Granger).” “The Ten Commandments” we went to see during school hours; a special dispensation was given by the authority. “Ben Hur” (1959) we also saw, in our own time. “The Bridge on the River Kwai” (1957) was memorable. A black and white film about student life in Cambridge University, “Bachelor of Hearts” (1958) starring Sylvia Syms and Hardy Kruger oddly stood out, partly because it was about a famous university, and also because Kruger spoke with a German accent (as a German student in England) while Syms with an Oxbridge accent. That, and Roman Holiday (1953), and Casablanca (1942), and Pride and Prejudice (1940), and Little Women (1949) introduced to us such a pageant of beautiful ladies and handsome men – Greer Garson, Elizabeth Taylor, Deborah Kerr, Audrey Hepburn; Montgomery Cliff, Stewart Granger, Cary Grant, James Stewart – to name only some of the greats – that our romantic fancies were tickled quite. (“’If love were the only thing, I would follow you – in rags, if need be – to the world’s end; for you held my heart in the hollow of your hand! But is love the only thing?’” – Kerr to Granger, or Princess Flavia to Rudolf in The Prisoner of Zenda).
But pop songs and films were on the whole only a very small part of English learning.
24. English Literature – Mr. O’Flanagan and recitation, The Gospel According to St. Luke
In Lower 6 Arts, my form master was Fr. Toner, who was the headmaster that admitted me into Primary 6 in 1955; my career in Wah Yan was about to come full circle. For the Ordinary Level examination of the G.C.E., set in England, I chose English (Composition, Gen. English, Literature), Chinese (Composition, Literature, Translation), Chemistry, History, Geography and Biblical Knowledge. During the first few months of Lower 6, I had tried to switch to Science without success. So I settled down to do Arts, a less desirable option then. In Upper 6 Arts, I took English Literature, Chinese Literature, Chinese History, History and Biblical Knowledge, in other words, four Advanced Level examinable subjects, excluding B.K.
I think it was in these two years that my English took a firm step forward. There was quite a lot of writing in those subjects, and English Literature was demanding in regard to reading and writing. We had to read some literary criticism, university-level books like Bradley’s Shakespearean Tragedy (second edition 1905). It was that subject that brought me into contact with my mentor, Mr. Patrick O’Flanagan. We studied Macbeth, Wuthering Heights and a good deal of poetry. He encouraged us to memorize poems, and I duly did some, like the first stanzas of “Ode to the West Wind” by Shelley and the lyrics of Tennyson. It is worth pointing out that recitation as a technique in learning a language that is not much used in the society one is in is a workable technique, provided that there is comprehension along with the repetition. There might be some merit in rote learning, but my feeling is that once one has got a handle on the meaning of a piece, then reciting it in a new persona gives one a good hold on the language and the context. An instance where rote learning seemed to apply to my learning of English is in the study of prepositions: “discussion on,”” in recognition of,”” applied to,”” insist on,” etc. Seeing that rote learning played quite a significant role in our learning of Classical Chinese, I do not want to be dogmatic about the subject.
Mr. O’Flanagan had a direct influence on me in several ways. He instilled in me a love of English literature; he helped me achieve distinction in the subject (the first time in his six years of teaching, he was pleased to tell me); he helped me financially to buy some expensive university textbooks; he guided me by correspondence throughout my university studies; and largely because of his teaching, I became an English teacher upon graduation. For those interested in his views on literature, please see “18 Letters from Mr. Patrick O’Flanagan” on the WYKAAO website, Features section [12].
I should also acknowledge the benefit of accessing the elegantly written handouts of Mr. Thomas Lee of Diocesan Boys’ School through Wong Hin-shing, who went to do the matriculation course there.
My study of Macbeth in Upper 6 informed my teaching in an evening school, my first classroom-teaching-without-training-or-permit just two years later, while a student at the university [13].
Other than English literary works, a book that had considerable impact on me is The Gospel According to St. Luke, in the Authorized Translation of Monsignor Ronald A. Knox (1888-1957). Knox’s majestic style breathes through the translation, right from the first paragraph. The tone – at once sincere, cautious, confident and respectful – has haunted me to this day.
Many have been at pains to set forth the history of what time has brought to fulfilment among us, following the tradition of those first eye-witnesses who gave themselves up to the service of the word. And I, too, noble Theophilus, have resolved to put the story in writing for thee as it befell, having first traced it carefully from its beginnings, that thou mayst understand the instructions thou hast already received, in all its certainly.
And the following drives home to me more than style:
And a question arose among them (the disciples), which of them was the greatest. Jesus, who saw what was occupying their thoughts, took hold of a little child and gave it a place beside him, and said to them, He who welcomes this child in my name, welcomes me; and he who welcomes me welcomes him that sent me. He who is least in all your company is the greatest (Chapter 9).
A textbook about the French Revolution by the French historian, Georges Lefebvre, translated into English, was used in Upper 6 History, the teacher Fr. Cryan. The English was difficult but stylish and we had to study it in great detail. It too would have left its mark on my learning of English.
25. Review of The Mikado
It was in Upper 6 (1962-63) that I finally achieved the distinction of contributing to the school magazine The Shield, my one and only featured appearance there (besides the yearly class photos and the picture of me and Ma Kai Fai playing marbles just outside the sandy football ground in Primary 6). It was my last year in Wah Yan, the school presented another Gilbert & Sullivan light opera, The Mikado. The producer was Mr. O’Flanagan, musical director Mr. Wilson Hsueh and director Fr. Egan. I went to see it like all the previous ones. Before the day, February 21, 1963, Mr. O’Flanagan asked me to write a review of it. That was an order I could not refuse. The day after watching the opera, I hurried to the British Council library, consulted a few tomes on English operas, and read in particular those which mentioned The Mikado, looking for words. As I was quite enchanted by the whole setting and performance, I lifted favourable adjectives and phrases here and there and included them liberally in my article. The result was a landmark for me. The article appeared in The Shield 11 (1963), pages 60-61, my proud undying link with the alma mater. It is not that good really. Besides the lifted phrases and piling of adjectives, there are sentences like the following, “Our attention was held with unflagging attention.” But my article was printed verbatim. A note of sadness crept in towards the end: “Personally I was more than just charmed by the play. Such another experience will no doubt enrich that precious memory of a quick-passing school life. So to all those concerned in this production, a heartfelt ‘thank you’!”
26. Reflections
The above then, from the remote recesses of my memory with their blurred edges, overlapping scenes and merged voices, supplemented by friends and The Shield, 1961 and 1962, is how I managed to lay the foundation for English in Wah Yan, and how it led me to select English as my major study in university. Without doubt, it says as much about my learner ways as about the teaching of English in Wah Yan Kowloon from the mid 50’s to the early 60’s. All learners differ, and my classmates would have learned from other cues and other teachers and other situations; they would certainly have different feelings about different aspects of the subject and the way they were taught. That the narrated scenes and teachers and methods have stayed in my mind for so long means that they have been significant to me, and have a lot to do with my hold on English up till Upper 6.
26.1 School
One key factor in our English learning is that without exception, the fathers and teachers all provided good models of English themselves. The Chinese teachers who taught English, in particular, spoke excellent English, all with an R.P. accent. The fathers of course had Irish accents to varying degrees which we would get used to after a while.
The school was administered through English, but the environment outside the classroom was not dominated by English, except for extra-curricular activities, religious activities and sports where Fr. Finneran loomed like a guardian angel. Still, the atmosphere of a Jesuit school, with English as the medium of instruction and official functions, a great many clubs led mainly by fathers, some set up to promote English speaking, made the learning of English a natural given. The presence of the fathers certainly played a significant role. In 1960-1961, of the 26 classes, 12 had a father as their form master, with Fr. Farren as headmaster and teacher of B.K. in Form 7.
The school was run with the ethos that learning mattered. Those not up to standard had to repeat or leave the school. School Certificate Examination results for each graduate were published in The Shield. For various reasons, of the 162 Form 1 students in four classes, only 130 went to Form 5 in September 1960, or 80% of the entrants. School places had to be competed for, in Form 1, Form 6 and post-secondary, and English was a key subject as it is today.
For an appreciation of the high standard of English achieved by the school, let me quote the School Certificate Examination results gleaned by Wong Hin-shing from The Shield 1962. They show the achievement of the ’61 grads (my cohort) in the subject English: 8.8% got distinction, 66.4% got credit, 22.4% got pass, 2.4% did not have their results recorded [14].
26.2 Teaching
The mid-fifties were a period of considerable change in ELT (English language teaching). The new discipline of linguistics spawned the applied discipline of language teaching, now regarded as science as much as art. Was there a dominant Methodology used during my days in Wah Yan? There was grammar and there was translation, but there was no Grammar and Translation Method. Grammar was taught progressively in the graded Brighter Grammar series, and High School English Grammar and Composition was brought in only at the end of the road; translation was taught only in Form 5 and the sixth forms. Drills there were but not “oral pattern drills” or English in tables [15]. Instead, the essential grammar practice book, English for Chinese Students, contains plenty of challenging exercises in the important syntactic structures of English: active and passive voice, complex sentences, mood, formation of questions and negatives, transformation from phrase to clause and vice versa. It was by doing such exercises that I learned the basic mechanics of how English works. Such practice was compatible with the Structural Approach which emphasized the structural property of language. On the whole, the general teaching outlook could be said to be similar to the Direct Method, with emphasis on the four skills, which “tried to follow the same lines as those which we followed when we learnt our own language as children. It banned the use of translation, and stressed practice instead of theory. Students learn to speak by speaking, to understand by listening, to read by reading, and so on.” [8]
But other than such a general statement, many activities could not be subsumed under it. Fr. Doody and Fr. McCarthy’s dramatization worked for me. Reading aloud in class had its effects. Rules about pronunciation and spelling worked to a considerable extent. Grading of exercises and repetition were effective. Literature, the reading of interesting stories from light classics, played an important role. Dictation was emphasized. Poetry seeped into the crevices of my consciousness. The overhead projector, the tape recorder, filmed classics and classic films – such audio-visual aids were not much used.
26.3 Learning
For me, the learning of English involved affects. A range of emotions associated themselves with learning English: pride, shame, fear, admiration, pleasure from sounds and rhythms and the sweep of words and sentences.
Did I have any learner strategies? I am convinced that the repetition of good speech and good writing, of prayers, of grammatical exercises, of reading aloud, and of prepositions and idioms helped me. In an environment where English was not much actively and meaningfully used by me outside the class, repeated contact with the language could only be had through books. Imitation and a kind of situational role-taking played a part in my own rendering of Dr. Dargan’s speech.
I think an eye for details helped. My obsession with syllabic endings, fostered partly by attention to final consonant clusters, would bring about benefits to spelling, pronunciation and dictation. I also learned a lot about spelling and sounding from my classmates’ names in English and Chinese and from place names.
I was sensitive to rhythm and tempo. Did it have anything to do with Music lessons? Most likely, for we sang songs of different tempo and rhythm. Did it have anything to do with listening to classical music? Maybe, but I was not an avid listener. Music certainly gives greater meaning to words. Once one has listened to Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, the word “moonlight” will forever be enveloped in sounds. Once one encountered “silver threads among the gold,” would that be easily forgotten? However, the major source of rhythm and tempo was undoubtedly the poems I read. I listened a lot more than I spoke.
The direct lifting of words and short phrases from one context enabled me to place them first in rigidly similar contexts, then later in freer contexts of my own making. I also found sets of words around a theme fun to learn.
26.4 Language and acculturation
Language is inseparable from culture. What effect did the learning of English have on my cultural identity? I did learn something about England, English ways and English literary works. But English Culture was not a clearly understood set of values at the stage when we came into contact with it. A “gentleman” was only someone who practised “Ladies first,” like Sir Walter Raleigh laying down his cloak over a puddle of water for Queen Elizabeth I. Because of its history, English is a multi-faceted and multifarious business. It is important to distinguish between getting some knowledge of English and identification with the English. From the Irish fathers, I learned that Ireland and England are different countries. Yeats’ “Easter 1916” showed us a fragment of Irish history. The classical music we listened to is European rather than English. I think I can say we underwent westernization rather than anglicization through the study of English. Catholicism, classical music and popular culture were some examples.
At the same time, in the fifties and sixties, we lived in a Cantonese-dominant culture which was beginning to flourish. I was more at home with Cantonese opera songs than with English pop songs. The subject Chinese gave me as much challenge and fascination as the subject English. The rules that governed our conduct were mainly Chinese: respect for parents and teachers, strong family ties. Years later, when I travelled to England, Scotland and Ireland, I felt quite at home with the place names and some of their ways of life. But I was equally aware of cultural differences between their people and me. In fact, there was in Wah Yan College a happy meeting of the twain, East and West, brought about by a Jesuit education in the East.
It has been a long and enjoyable journey, learning English in Wah Yan Kowloon and beyond, and I am still a “happy wanderer” adventuring along the English highways and byways. As I tell my students, “In the school of languages, there are no graduates.” I’ll keep wandering.
Notes
[1] See ‘In Memoriam – Fr. John Moran, S.J.’ in “Introduction to the Series ‘In Memoriam’” in the Features section of the WYKAAO website.
[2] For a tribute and an account of how Mr. Hilary Lee taught English to Vincent P. C. Lee (Class of ’65) in Form 1D (only three years after me, same class), see the website of WYKPSA.
[3] Jesuits in Hong Kong, South China and Beyond. Fr. Thomas J. Morrissey, S. J. 2008.
[4] Comprehension and Precis Pieces for Overseas Students. L. A. Hill. London: Longman, 1950, p. 35.
[5] The Overseas Poetry Books, Book II. Edited by Dennis Herbert, M. A. (Lord Hemingford), with illustrations by Gabriel Pippet. London: Longman, 1937, p. 13.
[6] This account is essentially the same as the one I gave in ‘In Memoriam – Fr. Richard McCarthy, S.J.’ in “Introduction to theSeries ‘In Memoriam’” in the Features section of WYKAAO website.
[7] There is a most appreciative farewell to Mr. Wong Tuen-po in The Shield, 1961, p. 42.
[8] Selected Articles on the Teaching of English as a Foreign Language. L.A. Hill. Oxford University Press, 1967.
[9] R.P. is “an accent of English identified by (Daniel) Jones as characteristic of educated speakers in the south of Britain.” Oxford Concise Dictionary of Linguistics, second edition. P. H. Matthews. OUP, p. 335.
[10] The Shield, 1961.
[11] See “A Life-Long Love of Music” in the Features section of the WYKAAO website.
[12] See also ‘In Memoriam – Mr. Patrick O’Flanagan’ in “Introduction to the Series ‘In Memoriam’” in the Features section of the WYKAAO website.
[13] For those interested in a rookie teacher’s experience of teaching English in an evening matriculation school, 1964-1967, please see “Three Memorable Years at Cognitio Matriculation Evening Institute” in the Features section of the WYKAAO website.
[14] Only 125 instances of English grades appear in the school magazine, although there are 130 persons in the class photos. The actual numbers of each grade are 11 distinctions, 83 credits, 28 passes and 3 blanks. Wong Hin-shing cited 3 reasons for the blanks: “(1) failed, (2) did not take English at the SCE examination (very unlikely), (3) inadvertent omission from The Shield 1962.”
[15] English in Tables. F.G. French. OUP, 1960. One example of the Structural Approach.
Acknowledgements
While this is a personal essay, I have sought help to retrieve the past from my old classmates. Our Honorary Archivist Wong Hin-shing generously supplied me with his memories of learning English from Primary 6 to Form 2 when we were in the same classes. I have made use of his memories of Fr. Doody’s innovative teaching: the Ten Holy Rules, the requirement to read stories outside the syllabus and the composition title. Wu Ho-mun and I were in the same classes for 5 years and he too jogged my memory. I also thank Gabriel Lau, Ho Kar-wing and Loo Pok-wing for responding to my enquiries.
It needs be said that the opinions expressed in these reminiscences are mine and I alone am responsible for any errors and prejudices therein.
Appendices
I. My English teachers
Primary 6 – Mrs. Ko Lee Tun-yung (1911-2009), English teacher
Form 1 – Mr. Hilary Lee Hoi-chow (1919-2008), form master and English teacher
Form 2 – Fr. Timothy Doody and Fr Thomas O’Neill, form masters and English teachers
Form 3 – Fr. Edmund Sullivan, form master and English teacher; Fr. Richard McCarthy, English teacher?
Form 4 – Mr. Wong Tuen-po, form master and English teacher
Form 5 – Fr. Patrick Toner, form master. Fr. Richard McCarthy (1921-1995), English teacher
Lower 6 Arts – Fr. Patrick Toner, form master and English teacher; Mr. Patrick O’Flanagan (1934-1998?), English Literature teacher
Mr. Li Yiu-bor (? – 1977), Translation and Biblical Knowledge teacher
Upper 6 Arts – Fr. Martin Cryan, form master and History teacher
Mr. Patrick O’Flanagan, English Literature teacher
Fr. Anthony Farren, Biblical Knowledge teacher
II. My English grades in Form 4
Form master – Mr. T. P. Wong
Christmas Examination, 1959 (pass mark: 40%)
Composition 25; General English 64; Dictation 84
Position in Class 36th/ 37
Remarks: Very unsteady in Eng. Comp. Sometimes writes quite good essays.
Should try to improve maths.
Failed
Easter Examination, 1960
General English 77; Recitation 75
Position in Class 3rd/ 37
Remarks: Improved in Mathematics
Final Examination
Composition 51; General English 79; Dictation 72; Literature 77; Reading/ recitation 84
Position in Class 4th/ 37
Promoted to 5A
III. Some textbooks
(1)General English
English for Malaya. OUP.
English for Hong Kong. (?) Allen Atherton. Hong Kong: OUP.
(2) Grammar
Brighter Grammar. C. E. Eckersley
High School English Grammar and Composition. P.C. Wren and H. Martin.
English for Chinese Students. B.J.M. Monks and D.I. Luard. 7th ed. London: Macmillan, 1951.
(3) Reading Comprehension
Comprehension and Precis Pieces for Overseas Students. L.A. Hill. Longman, 1950.
Further Comprehension and Precis Pieces for Overseas Students. L.A. Hill and R.D.S. Fielden. Longman, 1956.
(4) Literature – poetry
The Overseas Poetry Books, Book II. Edited by Dennis Herbert, M.A. (Lord Hemingford), with illustrations by Gabriel Pippet. London: Longman, 1937.
(5) Literature and stories read, either in class or by myself, some simplified
Black Beauty. Anna Sewell – F. 1, simplified
The Prisoner of Zenda. Anthony Hope – F. 2
Thirty-nine Steps. John Buchan
The White Company. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – F.3
Little Women. Louisa May Alcott – F. 3
Great Expectation. Charles Dickens – F. 4, the early part, the first original book studied
The Hound of the Baskervilles. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - the original – F. 5
The Lost World. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - original
Tom Brown’s School Days. Thomas Hughes - simplified
Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen – F. 4 or 5
Three Men in a Boat, to say Nothing of the Dog. Jerome K. Jerome - simplified
The Cave of Cheung Po Tsai. F. J. F. Tingay. Kuala Lumpur: OUP, 1960.
6) English literature
Macbeth. William Shakespeare. 1606.
Wuthering Heights. Emily Bronte. 1847.
A Pageant of English Poetry. Ed. E. W. Parker. Longman, 1949.
7) The Bible
The Gospel according to St. Luke, in the Authorized Translation of Monsignor Ronald A. Knox (1888-1957). London: Burns and Oates, Publishers to the Holy See, first published 1949. Mine is of the 1958 printing. The full name of the bible isThe Holy Bible: A Translation From the Latin Vulgate in the Light of the Hebrew and Greek Originals.
8) References
First Aid in English. Angus Maciver.
The Student’s Companion. Wilfred Best.