Week Eleven - Cultural

The weather has been fantastic this week in Hong Kong and some of my friends and I decided to take advantage of the sun and go for a barbecue on Friday. We headed off to Clearway Bay which is situated in the outer Kowloon area of the city and is well-known for its beautiful beaches and picturesque headlands. We were surrounded by local teenagers at the beach, all having finished school for the day and obviously having the same idea as us to have a relaxing evening in the sun. There must have been at least 40 young people around the age of 15 or 16 and they were cooking food, having fun on the beach and enjoying themselves. 

After a while of cooking and chatting the topic of conversation between the international students (most of whom are from central Europe) got round to how if we were sitting in the exact same scenario in our respective countries, it would be very likely that the teens around us at the beach would be drinking alcohol and causing some unwanted disturbance. Now I know that the thought was a sweeping generalisation of youths in European countries, but to me there is a certain amount of truth in what was being discussed. We are all well aware of the poor publicity the youths get back home and certainly in England from time to time, however from what I have seen and experienced here, there never seems to be the same issues in the press or in society in general. Back home in Britain it is well documented that there is a real ‘teen drinking culture’, with reports showing that many young children get drunk around the age of just 13 or 14. From my limited experience here in Hong Kong this just doesn’t seem to be an issue. Teenagers and youths are afraid to get in trouble with the authorities, and there seems to be a certain degree of innocence among the young people of Hong Kong. When we have activities organised by the halls committee here, such as the spring dinner, games nights or just times when we get together as a group, alcohol is something which is never present and having it doesn’t seem like something which they view as necessary, if they are to have a good time. It certainly has been one of the cultural differences which I have enjoyed seeing in Hong Kong. Something I have also noted about the youth here is the very obvious respect the young people have for their elders. This is shown in small ways such as always giving seats up to those who are older on the trains and buses, regardless of the length of journey. The innocence of the Chinese young people and the visible respect they have for their people is something which I hope Hong Kong never loses, because in my opinion, the small things like this are what make a country stand out for all the right reasons.

Clearwater Bay Beach

Ola lighting the barbecue

Barbecue done.....great day

I had my first experience of being unwell during my trip here in Hong Kong. I was sick for most of the week and you take for granted how much you get pampered and ‘looked after’ by your mum when you’re sick at home! We don’t have any toasters here in halls (I have honestly never craved a nice slice of toasted veda as much!) so I had to resort to making toast on the frying pan because the Chinese food didn’t really appeal to me while I was feeling so sick! But I have recovered from my illness and I was well enough to visit the village of Stanley on Saturday. Stanley is a nice coastal village which has a very close resemblance to a coastal resort in Europe. Bars and restaurants line the sea front and I had the opportunity to have my first fish and chips since I left Northern Ireland.... I am not exaggerating when I say this, but it was the best fish and chips I have ever had!!! 

Stanley Beach with our friend Tuomas

Tuomas and Michael sporting some questionable shades....

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.