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Christmas has gone already; now it's great time to think about New Year Resolution.
I would like to make three wishes:
1. Everyone is happy and stays healthy
2. The economy of Hong Kong will recover soon
3. I can travel to different places in the coming year
Wish you a Happy New Year
On Christmas day, Grace and I viewed a Japanese movie called 'Suspect X'. The movie was rated Grade B in most film reviews columns published in either magazines or newspapers. I was astounded by such a low rating. To me, I would rate it as Grade B+ or even Grade A- movie. Why? The answer is that the film has a wonderful plot.
The movie only involves 7 major characters: one Physics professor working in university, one high school mathematics teacher, one divorced lady with her teenage daughter, one ex-husband of the divorced lady and two inspectors. The story takes place near the suburb of Tokyo.
The film started with the ex-hushand visiting the divorced lady, extorting money from her and even blackmailing her he wanted to stay with her again. Of course, arguments and fights were inevitable. During negotiating with her ex, the divorced lady attempted to strangle him with the help of her daughter. In fewer than 10 seconds, the ex- was choked to death. While three of them were struggling, their next door neighbour, the math teacher discovered something was happening. When the door bell rang, the divorced lady was so frightened since she didn't know what to do and her daughter burst into tears non-stop. Holding her breath, the lady opened the door and said she was fine. But the math teacher said that something wrong had happened. He further requested, 'Let me in or I can't help you!'
After a few days, the two inspectors were assigned to investigate the murder case. They suspected the lady was the murderer. However, the lady could provide good alibis for the evening of the murder case. The murder case actually happened at the waterfront near the Tokyo river on 2 December, around 7 to 10 pm according to the police. Why was that? The lady and her daughter went to a movie and then they visited one karaoke lounge until 11 pm on 2 December. Why?
Actually, the math teacher was also interrogated because he was very suspicious of giving a hand to kill her ex-. Unluckily they didn't get much out of this math teacher, the next door neighbour of the lady...
The two inspectors were very perplexed when they almost got no clue though they knew the lady was the murderer. Eventually, they sought assistance from the professor who is good at logic and reasoning... Coincidentally, the professor knew this math teacher since their formative years at university because both of them are genius in their subject disciplines, physics and mathematics respectively. Only the professor went on doing research in university and the math teacher had to take care of his diseased mother.... But the professor knew who designed such a great master plan behind the scene... Who is the killer?
I should stop here. I think though the movie is a simple one, its every part is thoughtfully and skillfully interwoven. Every single line spoken by the characters is inter-related. Excellent. It is a real fantastic movie.
Last year, a student of mine, studying in BEd(P) program, told me she planned to teach at tertiary level instead of primary level. Then, I asked her why she wanted to teach at tertiary level. She said, 'I don't have patience. And I can't handle kids.'We continued our conversation and I asked her, 'What's your plan after graduation?''I will further my studies such as pursuing a Master degree in Arts upon graduation in IEd.' After a few weeks, she did come to see me again and invited me to be her reference. I agreed. Now, she is taking her MA in Chinese University, our next door neighbour. Two weeks ago, I saw this beautiful lady again and asked her the same question:'What's your plan after finishing your MA?'Against my expectation, she said, 'I would like to teach in secondary school for a few years first...'I replied, 'That's good. Now you are qualified.'Actually, I talked to a lot of my BEd students and a handful of them said they would like to work at tertiary level. I think it's a good sign that they all aim high rather than low. Being ambitious or aggressive is a good thing in nowadays society. However, what my student miss is that they don't explore if there are any discrepancies between their interests and capacities and their dream job. The majority of them simply perceive that once they have appropriate qualifications, they could get a job at tertiary level. They don't understand that without relevant experience or professionalism, they can't hardly get a job at any tertiary institution. According to my understanding, those who mention they want to work as a college teacher can't even manage classroom discipline well. Some can't even deliver a lesson properly. Imagine if one can't even teach a group of P4 pupils well, how can they manage to teach students with much higher IQ and expectation?Most of my students think that teaching is an easy job as long as one got good English proficiency and obtain several degrees, he/she can teach!! Is it the case? Yes, to some only but may not to all. How about other essential features of an effective teacher such as having a flexible, resilient, cheerful, optimistic, open-minded, conscientious and charismatic character? The suggestions I would like to give my students is that they should build a good foundation on what good teaching is regardless of which level they teach! They must have sufficient hands-on experience and learn how to teach well day after day. They should remember 'Rome wasn't built in a day!'
Last Friday, I met Joe, one of my former students in secondary school. I was Joe's Form Three Class Teacher. Actually, he called me 'Mr. Lam, Mr. Lam'. Then, I looked around and remember this familiar face. He doesn't change much, only taller, more handsome and more mature than before. He was a good student according to my memory. Now, he works as a visual art teacher in one secondary school in Tai Wai. Interestingly, I bet he would become a cartoonist as he is really skillful in drawing comics and animation... Last time I saw him was ten years ago when we met at his big apartment in Toronto. Joe emigrated with his family almost 13 years ago. Now, his English has improved most and he told me, 'I want to work as an art teacher, that's why I come back to Hong Kong.' He also planned to study PGDE in the next academic year. Another student I met today is called Samuel. Basically, Samuel is not my student as I didn't teach him personally. However, when he studied in a BEd program at CityU years ago, he came back to the previous school that I worked in as a student teacher and of course I was his mentor. I supervised him for around 2 months. Then we became friends. This afternoon, he told me he has been working in school for 9 years. Time flies!! After that, he told me that he was promoted to assistant panel head two years ago and becomes a SGM this September. What great news! I am not surprised with his promotion because since Day 1, Samuel is a very enthusiastic teacher and what I appreciate him most is he really spent time with his students. No doubt he is an extremely patient person. Some of his students got a very good result in CE though the school that he works is just a Band 2 school. He now works as a Form Teacher of a Form 6 class. Apart from being the panel head, he has so many administrative duties to take up such as the team head of Teaching and Learning Team. What's more he is studying his master degree at CityU. Actually, my colleague David taught him before, and Becky Kwan is also teaching him one module. The world is really small. Work hard. Samuel.
On Wednesday, I dined out with a bunch of my course mates and our si fu. We actually had a pre-Christmas gathering as we were all busy with our work or studies. It's good to sit down and had some personal and academic sharing. Last year, we had a new member called Iris and this year, she becomes a mother of a baby girl. Iris is a nice lady and she is studying her MPhil. This year, we have two new members: one is Lawrence. For Lawrence, we knew each other for 3 years since we took Fiona's course. I also remember we made a presentation on assessment in our si fu's course. Now he becomes the Panel Head of St. Louis Secondary school. Congratulations! The another one is called Maggie, a young lady from Mainland who is a yr. 1 PhD student. Of course, old friends like Simon and Darren, we chatted a lot about our jobs and studies. Last but not least, Jessica, who just finished her confirmation seminar, looked much better as she told us she prepared for the confirmation and upgrading seminar for half a year. That's life! We all had great time on that evening.
Time flies. ESEA Conference is 13 years old already!Next year, Manila will be the host and the year after next will be Hong Kong (HKIEd).After the conference, I was involved in the committee business meeting representing Hong Kong institution. In the meeting, several points were raised such as length of individual paper presentation, hosting institution of 2012, inviting other interesting institutions to join ESEA. Actually, the Chairperson proposed New Zealand to chair the 2012 conference. However, we all considered the expenses incurred and whether the event could attract any local participants as the context of this conference is about English(es) in South East Asia.In addition, the Northeastern Normal University located in Jilin Province showed interest to join ESEA committee as one of the professors there said the university is able to organize international conferences since the capacity of holding international conferences is the prerequisite of joining ESEA. There were few more good suggestions concerning how to make the conference a success and I learnt a lot from the meeting and get acquainted with the representatives of University of Malaysia, Sakina and the institutional representative of New Zealand, Roger. He was so kind to offer me a ride to my hotel!
Last week, I attended a conference in Singapore titled ESEA 2008 Conference. It is the second time I visited Singapore. My last visit to this place is 2004. My feeling this time is that Singapore has changed a lot. First, several MRT extension lines were completed, meaning that the public transportation network is even more comprehensive than before. Second, overlooking from the famous tourist spot, Merlion Park, I realize that the skyline is so different as a big ferris wheel and some new hotel towers were erected as backdrops. Third, both streets and shops are packed with people. Though economy of Singapore has been in recession since last quarter, festive spirit and holiday mood are still prevalent. Christmas decorations are all around for sale and Orchid Road was embellished with tinsels and Christmas bells.
This time, I stayed in a huge university campus located on the west of Singapore. Actually, the campus was built in a forest and the area is almost like 2 times as big as Chinese University of Hong Kong, the biggest university in town. The guest house I stayed is called Nanyang Executive Centre (NEC) in the Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Part of NTU is NIE, National Institute of Education which is a teaching training institution like HKIEd. The NIE campus is a bit far away from downtown. Taking MRT from downtown, it took me 35 minutes to Boon Lay, the last station of East-West Line and then I had to change bus no. 199 to the campus. Though there was a lot of travelling, the experience of living on university campus is different from staying in hotels as I could experience more localized lifestyle in the vicinity of Boon Lay area where a lot of undergraduates hung out. Because of living very close to local areas, I took this opportunity to visit a place called Holland Village which is a complex including both food centre and shops which sell ethnic accessories. The place is both tranquil and combine both Western and Eastern styles. It has bars and steak houses as well as traditional Chinese food stalls where satay and grilled prawns are served. Overall, this business trip made me unveil the other aspecs of Singapore.
