Hong Kong’s primary language is Cantonese, and uses such Chinese language extensively: newspapers and news broadcasts, medium of instruction in school, session at the legislative hall, and just about everywhere. Therefore, it is understandable that there is demand for foreign English teachers to aid the local education system in maintaining a good level of English literacy in the city.

Although Hong Kong is a former British colony, as evidenced by bilinguals signs visible everywhere, I experience some degree of difficulty communicating with certain groups of people because they prefer to talk in local tongue. In another former British territory, Singapore, English is widely adopted and I had no problem chatting with locals in English. But this is probably because the Lion City is using English as major medium of communication.

Now, a Hong Kong professor has raised the idea that English language should be taught not necessarily by native English speakers (typically from US, Canada, Australia or New Zealand) but by multilingual teachers.

Andy Kirkpatrick, chair professor of English as a professional language at the Hong Kong Institute of Education, says, “It’s a revolutionary shift that we’re arguing for, and it’s that the multilingual way becomes the linguistic model for teaching kids English here, not that of a native English speaker.”

Almost 90 per cent of English teachers in Hong Kong schools are native Cantonese speakers who went to formal training to learn English. Although often criticized for their relative deficiency in terms of English standards, Kirkpatrick believes they provide the right model in English teaching. That’s because these teachers share the same linguistic background as their students; they can easily share their struggles learning the second language.

Conversely, they should also know a better approach than their native English counterparts, as they used to be in the same situation as the local children they are teaching. Another possible pitfall is that native English speakers bring with them their accents, which local students tend to focus on emulating rather than speak the language in a manner easily understood in a global audience.

English schools are often stereotyped as run and manned by native English speakers, as evidenced through brochures and websites depicting Caucasian people smiling as if to say, “you’ll definitely learn the right English with me”.

In other countries, such as Korea, native English teachers don’t have to be fluent in the language to be qualified, but with the population speaking Korean language almost exclusively, it’s not surprising, and to me it’s looks amazing, to see native English teachers speak the local language to interact with students.

One might think this is a good subject to argue the value of native English speakers, who are paid much higher than their local counterparts. But doesn’t it bring more motivation to be a student of a native English speaker to learn the language, knowing that this is the only way to communicate with your teacher? Foreigners easily learn the local language if this is the only medium of communication available. Americans or Russians may need to speak Mandarin to be able to communicate with most mainland Chinese people. Otherwise, the availability of a universal language such as English, coupled with one’s propensity to stay at his/her comfort zone, may stifle effort to pick up the language. Take it from me, who didn’t manage to pick up Cantonese because I was comfortable speaking English to people, while Chinese colleagues wanted to speak to me in the universal language.

Prunounciation may be far from perfect – I don’t even know what’s the perfect pronounciations -but as long as students practice correct usage, that’s already a sign of progress. But perhaps to others, progress may be defined as sounding like native speakers when communicating the English language.