Week Ten - Personal

Hong Kong Stadium

Hong Kong is famous for many things.... the amazing Victoria Harbour skyline, some of the tallest skyscrapers in the world and a booming economy with many of the top businesses and businessmen from around the world. Before coming to Hong Kong I had researched exactly what I wanted to do during my time here. Visiting the Peak with its amazing views of the city was obviously important, seeing the surrounding islands such as Lamma and Lantau Island was very high on the list, however number one was securing tickets to the most exciting and enthralling rugby weekend on the sporting calendar! When I told my close friends and relatives last year that I was coming to Hong Kong the vast majority of them told me the same thing: That I had to get tickets to see the Hong Kong Sevens! When I realised I was being given the unbelievable opportunity to study in Hong Kong for 5 months the weekend of the 25^th March was eagerly marked down in the diary as an extremely important time during my studies here! 

Superman and a priest on their way to this years sevens!

Fiji score yet again!

The Hong Kong Sevens is organised by the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union and is held annually in the last weekend of March, commencing on Friday evening and finishing on Sunday. Twenty Four teams play in the sevens, ranging from the heavyweights of rugby such as New Zealand, Australia and Fiji to the minnows like Mexico, Malaysia and England!! Initially we had struggled to get tickets for the event, however after many phone calls and constant checking on EBay we thankfully managed to get our hands on two tickets. For spectators, the atmosphere is electric and as we found out the South Stand is the place to be. Hordes of rugby fans dress up in anything you can imagine and dance for the duration of the day. I decided to get involved by wearing a superman costume and Michael decided to go as an Irish priest!

The final between England and New Zealand!

The weekend was brilliant and the quality of rugby on show was superb. A brilliant tournament was rounded off by the fact that England were beaten in the final by New Zealand, which not only was great as I love to see the English lose but it also gave the opportunity to see the New Zealanders perform their famous HAKA. The atmosphere and the rugby certainly made this Hong Kong Sevens weekend one to remember!

Week Nine - Professional

St Patrick's Day Celebrations!

Look at both girls' faces! Says it all!

This week I had a group presentation on Tuesday in my assessment class. We have been working up to this presentation for quite a while now, with many smaller sub-tasks to complete before actually presenting to the class. We had been asked to create an assessment tool in our groups which would be suitable for educational purposes, and my group had decided an end of topic test on electricity would be suitable for both the Hong Kong Curriculum and also the Northern Ireland Curriculum. It was important to ensure that our test was reliable, valid and accurate, and that it could be used to inform the teacher of where individual children were in their learning and what needed to be done to improve the teaching of this topic. It was interesting to see how the Hong Kong Curriculum is much more specific than the Northern Ireland Curriculum, stating detailed and precise areas for learning such as ‘reading and calculating voltage, electrical conductors and insulators, and series and parallel circuits.’  However, our own curriculum places much more emphasis on children developing thinking skills and personal capabilities through the more general topic of ‘The World Around Us.’

The assignment made me appreciate the importance of using many different types of questions within an assessment tool as it is essential to increase its accuracy and reliability. Children are given different question types such as multiple choice, binary response, cloze procedure and extended supply response (open ended questions). In using these different types of questions the teacher is constantly considering Biggs’ SOLO Taxonomy, which looks for children to progress from surface level thinking through uni-structural and multi-structural questions, to deeper thinking through relational and extended abstract questions. The children are given the opportunity to show they fully understand the topic by using higher order thinking skills to answer some of the more advanced questions on the test. It was fascinating to see how the Northern Ireland and Hong Kong Curriculums differed in their levels of specificity; however they complimented each other well in making this assessment tool for this assignment. Through this group presentation and from looking more closely at the way the Hong Kong Curriculum is structured, I have recognised how valuable the Northern Ireland Curriculum is in promoting higher order thinking skills and developing children who can problem solve, predict outcomes, justify their reasons and think independently. I feel it is extremely beneficial for teachers to gain an insight into primary curriculums from around the world as it not only highlights improvements which can be made in our own, but also the strengths our own curriculum has.

The amazing dolpin show

On Monday we enjoyed a day out at Ocean Park which is a theme park situated near Aberdeen in the south of Hong Kong Island. It is the seventh most popular theme park in the world and I certainly enjoyed my day in the 27 degree sun! The park also has an unbelievable aquarium and panda habitat which is home to rare red pandas and giant pandas. Luckily we arrived at the panda habitat during feeding time so we got a great view of the amazing animals! The highlight of the day was the “Sea Dreams” dolphin show which tells the story of how animals and humans can live together in harmony.

The Giant Panda 'Jia Jia'

The other Panda 'An An'

Week Eight - Personal

Two months done....how time flies! This week marks the halfway point of my trip and when I reflect on the experiences I have had and the people I have met, I know that if I had to leave Hong Kong tomorrow, I would leave a very happy man! I have had the incredible opportunity to experience a new way of life and culture unlike anything I have come across before, and the amazing thing is I still have another two months of it to enjoy! I can honestly say that Hong Kong is a fantastic place full of opportunity, charisma and beauty, and I am so happy and grateful to have had the opportunity to study here.

My Birthday Cake!

My table for the dinner!

This week was the Robert Black Halls Spring Dinner and everyone got dressed up for a meal at a restaurant in Tai Po. The whole evening was great and I was able to try some more new and interesting Chinese cuisine – sometimes I find it is better not to ask what is being put on your plate! I had my first taste of shark fin soup which is traditionally served at weddings in Asian countries. However as the number of sharks has drastically decreased over the last number of years, shark fin soup is becoming an expensive restaurant dish, so I was happy to be able to say I have tried it!

The Halls Spring Dinner

Some friends from halls - it's the year of the rabbit so that explains the ears!

I am a very sporty person as many of you will know, and I like to try my hand at anything. Basketball is a sport which isn’t widely followed in Northern Ireland and I have to admit I had never really had much of an interest in it. Basketball is the most popular sport here in Hong Kong and wherever you go you are almost certain to see basketball courts filled with eager teenagers. I have now attended two basketball games which the IEd university were playing in and I have to say, basketball is an extremely exciting sport. The university have come close on both occasions; losing narrowly a couple of weeks ago but winning in extra time by 1 point on Saturday evening! Sport is a great way to meet and build relationships with people and I have enjoyed experiencing and taking part in new sports such as sevens rugby and basketball. I came to Hong Kong with the mentality that I would get involved in as many activities as I possibly could, as sport allows me to feel part of the university here, whether I am watching IEd play basketball or going to sevens rugby training.

I celebrated my birthday on Wednesday of last week and it was great to get some presents and cards from home! I even received some flake meal biscuits which I have been craving since day one! Needless to say all the sweets and chocolate have been eaten and I will be sending a request home soon for more to be sent out!

7 seconds left and this was to make it 49-49! What happened next....?

An exciting finale ends in a win for HKIEd!

Plans are starting to take shape for my teaching placement in Hong Kong. I hope to be teaching at the end of April and into the month of May in the Jockey Club Primary School, located on the university campus. Hopefully over the next few weeks I will meet with my class teachers to determine what they would like me to teach over the course of the month.

Week Seven - Cultural

Outside the temple

Hong Kong has an extremely wide variety of religious groups, including Taoism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and many more. The most widely followed religion here is Buddhism and I have to admit it has always been a religion which is very strange and unfamiliar to me. I was aware before I came to Hong Kong that it was a religion which is followed by many in the Asian countries; however I knew very little about the practices, beliefs and the key features of Buddhism. In my Hong Kong history and culture class we looked at the various religious groups in Hong Kong and we spent some time studying Buddhism in Hong Kong and the effect it has on the lives of the people here. It is thought that there are approximately 700,000 people who combine the practices of Buddhism and Taoism in Hong Kong, making up approximately 90% of the religious population here. There are more than 600 temples in Hong Kong and one of the most famous is Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island, home to the renowned ‘Big Buddha’ statue, which I had the pleasure of visiting over a month ago. Buddhist organisations and temples in Hong Kong have long been involved in social welfare and education in the city. The Buddhist’s Association of Hong Kong operates a dozen primary and secondary schools, and elderly homes, as well as centres for the youth and children in Hong Kong. Buddhism is a very complex religion and beliefs and practices may differ between Buddhists. Practices may include the development of mindfulness and practice of meditation, the study of scriptures, cultivation of higher wisdom and discernment and in some cases renouncing conventional living and becoming monastic. The religion has an important place in the lives of many people here and I believe it is important for me to learn about the beliefs of others, regardless of how different they may be to my own.

One of the many Buddhas

Man praying at the temple

 

 

 

On Friday I visited the ‘Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery’, which is a temple located close to the university in Sha Tin. As the name suggests it is home to over ten thousand statues of Buddhas, however it is not actually a monastery as there are no resident monks. Local people were burning incense, praying and meditating in the inner temple. It is interesting to see firsthand Buddhism being practised as I feel it is necessary to learn about the different religions and cultures of the world. However, it was also sad from a Christian perspective to see the hold which Buddhism has on the people here. I believe that sometimes in Northern Ireland we can be very closed minded and perhaps we often prefer not to find out about other religions of the world, as they may be so different to our own. However, through living in Hong Kong I feel I am becoming more interested in gaining knowledge about the different religions of the world, as it allows me to talk to people about how my religion and beliefs differ to theirs. 

This week Michael and I made it through to the finals of a singing competition (we are still wondering how) but we decided to get the crowd going and have a go at “Greased lightning” from the film ‘Grease.’ The crowd seemed to enjoy our tuneless but energetic rendition of the song and somehow we were awarded runners up in the competition! Our camera woman says that a video should be coming soon!

On Wednesday Michael and I went to sevens rugby training for the first time at the university sports facilities located off campus. We were pleased to get our first chance to play a bit of contact rugby on a real grass pitch, however the pitch was a lot harder (like rock hard!) compared with what we are used to playing on at home! My knees are still recovering!! After years of trying to convince others that my place on a rugby field is actually in the backrow, I was told that I was big enough in Hong Kong to be a forward in sevens.... it was the highlight of my trip so far!

We went out with some of our friends on Thursday evening to one of our favourite places to eat, the peak cafe in Soho.This is the halls football competition and each team has their own individual kit. It took a long time and a lot of persuasion from my team mates for me to put the shirt on as Arsenal are a team I despise, but it had to be done!!

Flat 1 - The best team with the worst kit!!