About RCES
Rational Communication Educational Society (hereinafter referred as Society) is a local non-profit-making charitable organization (under Section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance), which aims at promoting rational communication through collaborative research projects.
Dr. HO Man-sing, President of the Society is a former Associated Professor of the Department of Chinese Language, The Hong Kong Institute of Education and former Chinese subject panel chairman for secondary schools. He had also worked as an overseas expert consultant for the Curriculum Planning and Development Division of the Ministry of Education, Singapore and external examiner for the Masters program in East China Normal University and Sichuan Normal University. Dr. Ho is currently the vice president of the Macau Chinese Language New Curriculum Research Group, a committee member of the Chinese Language Higher Education Association, the general secretary of the national volunteer teaching research of the Chinese Language Higher Education Association and the Chinese course consultant for various primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong. He has worked with more than two hundred schools in Hong Kong in the Joint Chinese Language Education Institution-School Partnership Scheme since 2004.
The Vice President of the Society, Dr. NG Chi-kwong (PhD in Language Education) is an experienced language educator. He has served in The Education University of Hong Kong, the Education Bureau and has worked as an educational publisher and a teacher in primary, secondary and international school. He has an in-depth understanding of rational communication and language education.
Message from the President
Based on the successes and feedback of the 12th Speaking Contest for Hong Kong Students in February, 2018, we have been making every effort in planning the 13th Speaking Contest.
Although speaking and listening skills had been incorporated in the syllabus of Chinese Language during the 1970s and 80s, their importance have not gained much recognition until these skills were included in the HKALE in the 1990s, which was then followed by the HKDSE and TSA in subsequent years. Thanks to the vision of the Hong Kong Government and the support of local educational organisations, the assessment of speaking and listening have been included in Hong Kong schools since the 1990s, which was considered an educational pioneering move, when compared with the situation of our counterparts such as Mainland China, Taiwan and Singapore.
With the aim of broadening students’ horizons, enhancing their critical thinking, communication and social skills, the Department of Literature and Cultural Studies of The Education University of Hong Kong (formerly known as the Department of Chinese, Hong Kong Institute of Education) has been collaborating with The Rational Communication Educational Society to organise speaking contests for Hong Kong students since 2006, which has been highly acclaimed and commended by educators, parents and students. With the active participation of 120,000 attendances from nearly 380 secondary and primary schools since 2006, this territory-wide contest has gained much recognition. Participants are able to receive verbal and standards-referenced feedback from experienced adjudicators for reference.
The primary years, especially the junior primary years, is the golden time for nurturing students’ oral and listening skills while the secondary years plays a vital role in strengthening and consolidating those skills in the students. In response to this, our Cantonese, Putonghua and English contests are tailor-made for the needs of primary and secondary students. All the contest items are well-designed with reference to the relevant assessment criteria of HKDSE and TSA to promote biliteracy and trilingualism. It is encouraging that our contests are widely acknowledged as the platform for numerous students to sharpen their language proficiency and collaborative skills.
Finally, I would like to thank our team for their devotion and the continuous support from the local schools.
HO Man-sing
President