Recognition

We all need recognition in one way or another. Why do I say so? Recognition, to me, is not some material prices such as a gift or a certificate; instead I am referring to a kind of motivation which drives me to excel myself in the next task. For school pupils, he/she needs to work hard and eventually their report cards showing their good performances over time will naturally become a kind of reward or recognition. For adults, he/she may not really want praise or some material awards when they have done well. What they really want, I reckon, is a sort of recognition which is to testify their high quality work or professionalism. Recognition, so to speak, sometimes, is even more significant than pay rise or promotion though I am not saying that we don't care about promotional prospects if there are any.

Yesterday, the deputy department head and the team leader of one PD course of the department invited me to join the team again as the team leader said my teaching was rated very high both by the participants and EDB. My first reaction was excited, despite not moved to tears and obviously this is a kind of recognition of my work no matter how challenging it is. I was happy not because I am vain, but I would say if people recognize my hard work and professionalism, it is a reward already and much more superior than anything in the world. There is no need to be granted a trophy, a recommendation letter or a present!

Farewell

Chris, one of my favourite HKU lecturers, will leave Hong Kong tomorrow. Though it's a big loss to HKU, I should say congratulations to her as she has further careeer advancement and can stay with her whole family together. Two colleagues in IEd and I attended Chris's farewell cocktail as three of us are her students. The occasion was lovely and touching. Chris thanked all colleagues, supporting staff and students over the past nine years, but we also thought that we should say thanks to her as she contributed so much to HKU. I am one of the persons who benefited most from her such as attending her classes, doing research with her and so forth.

Actually, when Chris flies back to Australia, she has more quality time with her family and she will build a big house over the seaside. Leo said, "Another property!" She also talked about she would come back to Hong Kong frequently, continuing some of the ongoing research projects. That's why she said, 'Don't feel surprised when you see me hang around in the campus.' She is always so humorous. Some guests presented souvenirs to her and I bought her a very useful gift. I think Chris's farewell is temporary. Some of the guests planned to visit Chris in Australia. That's a good idea.

Last But Not Least

The last email I received from Rosina was in the mid of April. Though I couldn't disclose what she exactly told me, I would say at that time, her situation was rather critical and was undergoing chemotherapy which actually turned her into an ailing person as the dosage of those shots were really heavy.

What I felt touched is that she cared about me even when she was very sick, she still encouraged me to keep going and advised what I should do! At the moment of frustration, she told me to look ahead as there was no use in turning back. It's true.

Rosina, rest with peace and honour. Your absence is definitely a great loss to the Faculty.

I promise I will work hard and keep on doing well.

Good Old Days

This afternoon, I received an email which I wish the message were fake...

My favourite teacher, Rosina passed away.

I don't know when I should start. Perhaps, I should start from 3 September 1998 when I had my first PGDE lecture taught by her and Albert. Since then, I was inspired by Rosina's teaching methodologies and her lively personality.

After PGDE, we still kept in touch. I remember how elated she was when I told her I got married with Grace. Of course, she thought I was old enough to settle down. She did attend my wedding banquet though she was extremely busy at that time.

It was Rosina who encouraged me to study my MEd. She said, "If you want to get promotion, you must study MEd."

When I was studying my MEd, Rosina was also doing her PhD. We had a lot of academic dialogues and she gave me a lot of good suggestions on doing a research degree. After that, we had an opportunity to do a SBA project together. Each of us wrote a chapter and presented at a local conference. Unluckily, she had an operation at that time, so she couldn't attend the conference. But I knew she wanted to come though she was already very sick.

Last year, I visited her twice during the Mid-Autumn Festival and I remember I brought my doggie to her apartment as she likes dogs. Grace, Rosina and I had moon cakes and some "wife" cakes that I bought from a famous local bakery. We chatted non-stop until midnight. I couldn't figure out this was the last occasion that I bought her moon cakes.

I will remember all the good old days we had together. For instance, tea time in your office, shopping in Central, tuna fish you bought me and Shenzhen tour with three 'beautiful ladies'...

Buffet Lunch

This afternoon, I had lunch at a hotel in Admiralty. I've patronized this restaurant for a few times. Grace was responsible for booking the table. The restaurant was quite full, probably Saturday afternoon. The food was superb and I particularly liked the desserts such as Peach Mousse, Apple Tart, British biscuits, chocolate cake, cheese cake and so forth. I think what made a difference was not the food. Instead, Grace and I celebrated the eighth anniversary of our first date. The day was 22 July eight years ago. But why 10 August? It's because I was very sick on 22 July and couldn't even walk out of my apartment! And today was the make up celebration.

Beijing Olympics

The long-awaiting Beijing Olympics eventually started last night. The opening ceremony was stunning and dramatized. I learnt about it from the news and luckily I could still get a glimpse of the last part of the ceremony, transporting the Olympics flame. I guess this time, the organizing committee wanted to give the whole world a surprise that we could light the Olympics flame in the sky. The episode was touching as well as symbolic, implying that PRC is open and welcomes others to witness her success. It's also time for the world to accept PRC and expect a reborn of a brand new PRC.

Portfolio

On 31 August, I have to submit an assignment titled 'Portfolio' as it's part of my course work before I turn in the whole thesis. In this assignment, I need to write about 10,000 words on various topics which I should agree upon with my supervisor though there are clear-cut guidelines to instruct what I should do. In the first place, I was not thinking about the word limit. At the post-graduate level, I can 'fill up' these 10,000 words very easily, but I insist content does count! What I am planning to do is to include some artifacts which I deemed useful and meaningful about my studies. I will divide the assignment into three parts. The first part is to show some of my achievements in the past years; second, I will be showing some work which I have just finished to demonstrate the learning process that I've experienced; third, I will showcase some work which I am doing right or you may call it 'work in progress'. Having linked my work from the past to the present, I can truly reflect the writing process and what I have achieved so far at this point of learning.

Honeymoon

Before I flew to Bali, my aunt told me that I might have another honeymoon with Grace. Of course, she was joking! No doubt, Bali is a good choice for couples to have their honeymoons. Grace and I had our honeymoon seven years ago. Guess where we visited. Japan. Wrong. Europe. Wrong. Hawaii. Wrong. We actually went to Dubai, one of the Middle East countries near Iran. The major reasons we chose there was that I wanted to visit a place which has hot weather. I don't like snow to be honest. In February, except Australia, Middle East countries are good choice. Another reason was that I wanted to see desert. It was also my first time to see desert in front of my eyes. I played surfing on the sand. Cool, right! We also had Arabian dinner and boat ride at night. In February, the weather is almost perfect in Dubai. The max. temperature is around 30 degrees Celsius and it is a bit cool at night, around 15. There is zero pollution and the place is extremely safe as people there are all millionaires. The living standard is not expensive too. If you want to have your honeymoon or simply to relax, do consider Dubai, a rising star in Middle East.

Itinerary

On 31 July, Grace and I headed off to KL of Malaysia. There is only one direct flight from HK to Bali, Indonesia and it was very difficult to book the flight. Having had no choice, we chose Malaysia Airline, but this was an indirect flight. First, we flew to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), spending 3 hrs 40 minutes on the plane. It was the second time I visited KLIA which is a truly international airport comparable with Hong Kong International Airport. Then we waited for transit for 1 hr 45 mins. After that, we flew to Denpasar Airport in Bali. This international flight took us another 3 hrs. Actually, Bali is located in Southern Hemisphere, lying near Java. It is very close to Darwin in Australia. I can't believe I have flown to Southern Hemisphere for an Asia conference.

Bali has a population of 3.5 million people and it is slightly larger than Hong Kong. There are two major cities namely Denpasar (the capital city) and Singaraja (the northern city). The place we went to is the capital city and the district I stayed is called Sanur, the southern part of the island. As the public transport is not very well developed there, visitors mainly take taxis and some 'mini-vans' which only accommodate 3 -5 persons to go to different places. Gasoline is cheap in Indonesia because it is one of the oil-generated countries. One thing is amazing that only in Denpasar, there are ten non-comprehensive universities. In Hong Kong, there are only 8 government-funded universities. Perhaps, you may think Indonesians believe in Muslim. Actually, over 94% of Indonesians believe in Hindu. Therefore, I could eat pork in the hotel, but it tasted very differently. Bali is a good place for relaxation as its pace is very slow and the living standard is relatively low. What do you think? Want to fly to Bali immediately.

English Proficiency

During my stay in Bali, I talked to some local people such as staff in hotel and restaurants. I realized that though people in general are not very educated, they can speak English fluently or I may say accurately. According to my understanding, English is a foreign language in Bali and most students may not receive a lot of training in both written and spoken English. However, tourism is a booming industry in Bali and a lot of school leavers will learn English after they graduate in order to make themselves competitive in the job market. A lady, called Yani, told me she attended evening school so that she could find a stable and well-paid job in hotel. Hence, communication with local people is not a problem. For example, in the hotel that I stay, almost everyone can speak English fluently including the housekeeping people.

When I flew back to Hong Kong, I was thinking if teachers could make learning English as an incentive or a lure, perhaps English education in Hong Kong may not be a failure. I attended a talk on Day 3, given by Dr. David Carless. When he mentioned Hong Kong children learnt English since they were three, all the audience expressed disbelief and astonishment. But I would say earlier may not be equivalent to better! Most Hong Kong students learn English at their young age, but it seems they also hate English much earlier than other pupils in other countries. It's because they learn English to tackle exams rather than to learn it for fun! I think it's time for Hong Kong educators to think about what the problems are. There is no use crying spilt milk. We should find out all possible solutions. Small-class teaching may be the first step to untangle the problem....

Asia TEFL

Last few days, I attended the 6th Asia TEFL Conference in Bali. This is my first time to attend this conference and I saw a lot of scholars and teachers coming from various countries such as Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, India, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Laos, Thailand...

This conference is like a party and it's so much fun to know what is happening in various teaching contexts. For instance, on Day 3, there is a series of featured speakers sessions in which several experienced teacher educators talked about teacher education in their own countries such as Korea, Japan, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand and Malaysian. In addition, there are tons of concurrent sessions in this three-day conference. In order to make sure I spent my time wisely, I was very selective and focused when I chose the talks I intended to attend. For instance, I chose those seminars which are relevant to ESL and EFL writing. In Korea and Taiwan, a number of sessions talked about students' responses in direct and indirect feedback given by their teachers. These are mainly quantitative studies. Some scholars from Thailand and Malaysia talked about portfolio-based assessment which is also my area and the application of teaching portfolio in the field of teacher education. In China and Japan, some scholars talked about how to digitalize writing in the EFL contexts such as using weblogs and wiki.

At the same time, several scholars coming from Hong Kong also presented their papers on this occasion. For instance, David Li and David Nunan on Day 1, Tony Hung on Day 2, David Carless, David Coniam and Andrew Tse on Day 3 plus some doctoral students from HKU and CU.

It's so much fun! But the schedule of Asia TEFL conference is a bit crowded and packed. Well, it's a social gathering for scholars to meet each other yearly.