I am studying 3 modules here at the Hong Kong Institute of Education and they are assessment, managing difficult and reluctant learners in the classroom and also Hong Kong History and Culture, a compulsory module for all international students. So far I have found them to be extremely relevant to my teaching studies in Stranmillis, also providing me with additional information and strategies on how to develop as a teaching professional. They have given me ideas of new approaches to aspects of classroom assessment, such as innovative formative assessment procedures, and also enabled me to experience how the curriculum in Hong Kong compares to the Northern Ireland Curriculum.
I have found the modules to be extremely interactive and very much based upon group work. Class discussion forms a major part of the teaching here at the University, with international students such as myself encouraged to give insight into how different classroom issues relate to our experiences back in our home countries. The lecturers always seem to value our input, and it is often interesting to see how similar the education systems in Hong Kong and Northern Ireland are. I feel group work is helping me to become a much more proficient communicator as I am communicating with people who study English as a second language. I have to remember to be clear and concise when I speak, and group work is a great opportunity for me to practice my communication skills before I start my teaching placement here in Hong Kong.
In my Hong Kong History and Culture class, I have a group presentation on Wednesday of this week. As a group we have decided to tackle the issue of the growing wealth divide between the rich and the poor in Hong Kong – a topic I have found to be particularly interesting and also very surprising. Hong Kong has the biggest wealth gap in the world, with a staggering 1.2 million Hong Kong citizens considered to be under the poverty line. In a country where wealth and money is everywhere to be seen, many people struggle to have a decent quality of life despite the fact that most of them work and contribute to society. At the moment there is no minimum wage in Hong Kong, which is one of the main reasons for the great divide as many businesses pay their workers very little money. As I walk around the streets of Hong Kong Island and see the lavish lifestyle of many people, the fact that Hong Kong has so many people who struggle to ‘get by’ is even more astonishing.
I had an interesting conversation this week with a primary school teacher who drew my attention to a controversial book which is becoming extremely popular here in Hong Kong. It is called ‘The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother’ by Amy Chau. The book is viewed by many as an outline for Chinese parents on how to raise their children so that they are essentially better than Western children! It goes into great detail as to what parents should expect from their children both in a social sense and also academically. Some of the ‘guidelines’ Chau indicates in the book are that ‘any grade under an A is unacceptable’ and ‘that the child should be the number one student in every subject except for gym and drama.’ These are only a few of the rules she has stated, however I was shocked to hear that many parents in Asia endorse her views. The teacher I was talking to explained how generally in Hong Kong too much pressure is placed on children from a young age, and consequently many of them view themselves as failures in their education.
The conversation made me more aware that as a prospective teacher it is vitally important for children to gain confidence in their ability, in order to succeed at school. If children are not given encouragement and are constantly labelled as failures because they achieve less than the top grade, they will never reach their full potential, and perhaps more importantly, enjoy their education.
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