Principals Speech for launching the English Week

5
th
March 2007

Dear teachers and boys,

Good morning! Today is the beginning of our English Week. I would like to take this
opportunity to share with you some of my views on How can we learn English effectively.

Learning a language often requires both effort and time. You may have to double
your effort and triple your time when learning a second language. However, when you find
that you are able to master the target language at ease, the satisfaction you have is
beyond words. What I am referring to is, of course, English Language.

Learning English is difficult but necessary, particularly when you are living in an
international city like Hong Kong where people of different nationalities meet for
sightseeing and business investments. Globalisation is, in fact, bringing more people who
speak different languages together and is turning English as the common language for
communication. We may be hearing more non-native speakers speaking English and a
wider range of the 'New Englishes' around the world. Therefore, the English learners
today should be less worried about sounding exactly like a native speaker but rather more
concerned about how to use English effectively for meaningful communication.

How can we learn English effectively? Sitting at a table looking at your notebook is
not the best way to study English. The best way to learn English is to immerse in an
English speaking country. But if we dont have the opportunity to stay overseas for the time
being, we can create an English-speaking environment in the school campus ourselves.
With joint effort, creating an environment conducive to English learning is not difficult at all.

I often hear students say, I cant speak English well!. It may be true at the present
moment. But the self-fulfilling prophecy proves that what we think is what we get.
Therefore, if you tell yourself, "Ill try my best to practise my English everyday in every
way, you will soon see greater improvement not only in your English but also in your
confidence.

The English Week offers you a great chance to experience learning English fun and
its high time to remind ourselves Practice makes perfect. May I take this opportunity to
appeal to all English teachers to speak to students in English at all times. Lets promise
ourselves to start talking to one another in English as often and as much as we can
from today on. With the concerted effort of both teachers and students, Im sure we can
enrich the English speaking environment in our school campus. I wish the English Week
every success. God bless.