| A global concern about migrant children is that migration creates a certain kind of psychological distress which adversely affects these young people's self-esteem. In Hong Kong, the intake of new arrivals from Mainland China has increased to 150 per day (i.e. over 54,000 per year) since 1995. Local studies suggest that the major psychological problem encountered by these newly arrived children and adolescents is that they often possess low self-esteem. The researchers involved generally attribute the sense of inferiority of these young arrivals to poor socio-economic backgrounds, adverse living conditions, inadequate family and peer support, communication problems, being placed in a lower class at school, difficulties with English, lack of familiarity with social facilities, and discrimination or rejection by local people. Whilst they see an urgent need to address these children's self-esteem problems, few recommendations have been made on how to do so in the school context.;This study followed a qualitative and naturalistic case study design which enabled the researcher to explore whether a school English Enhancement Programme (EEP) could have any positive impact on migrant students' self-esteem, and in particular, which elements in the programme could have a positive influence on it. Thirteen Secondary 1 migrant students in a Hong Kong secondary school and two tutors were interviewed regularly by the researcher. Also, both the students and tutors were asked to record their progress and/or their feelings about the course in their diaries and teaching journals respectively after each lesson. Additionally, three external examiners were asked to comment on students' changes with regard to their self-esteem during the intervention. Three cases were reported in detail to illustrate the impact of the EEP on the subjects' self-esteem and their confidence in using English at different stages of the course.;The findings are that the EEP appears to have made a considerable impact on the participants under optimal circumstances. A majority of them showed a noticeable improvement in their self-esteem and confidence in speaking English. Both the case studies and the general findings postulate that outings, encouragement from tutors, peer support and games in the EEP have a positive impact on migrant students' self-esteem. |
