New Year Resolution

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

Suspect X

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.

Ambition

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!'

Two Former Students of Mine

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.

Pre-Christmas Celebration

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.

ESEA Conference

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!

Singapore

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.

90% OFF

Signs like "20% off, 50% off or even 90% off" are seen everywhere....

Can't you believe that? Yes, everything is so cheap and bargainable, but will you buy something superfluous at the time of economic slowdown?

It seems that everyone does plan carefully before they go shopping excluding somebody who is extremely well-off or hardly affected by the global financial crisis.

However, do all of them need to be so frugal as if they were broke tomorrow? In my opinion, for those who work in a field which is relatively stable such as education and government sector, they can still buy whatever they like or need since they afford to do so. Oppositely, for those who become jobless or unfortunately lose a lot of money in their stock or bond investment, they may think about how to save for the worst such as not eating out so frequently nor buying any brandname products. I bet Hongkongers need more confidence under this adverse situation. Surely, things will become better tomorrow!

Are you still young?

'Are you still young?' is an interesting question that many people have asked themselves or have been asked by others. Then, what is the answer?

You may say, 'I don't know. It's because whether one is young or not is not absolute.'

Definitely it is. For instance, if you are 35, and most of your friends are 20 something, of course, you are the oldest. In another case, if you are 40 something but you work in a profession which most of your colleagues are over 50, you are no doubt very young or probably among the youngest.

Back to the question, it's actually easy to know whether you are still young or not. You don't need to look at the mirror and see if you have wrinkles around your eyes or mouth. There is also no need to count how old you are by this time next year. Simply think about if you still have idols.

Why? It's easy. No matter how old you are, if you still have idols, it means that you know how to appreciate others. But if you realize that you have no idols, it is not because you are too jaded. Instead it means you probably know the world better than anyone in the world and you no longer have this 'capacity' to appreciate others. Then, it is very likely you are no longer young, sadly speaking. I do hope that the picture I presented here isn't too pessemistic, but it is a fact or a stage everyone will arrrive at after a couple of years! I think learning how to appreciate others is an art which may be difficult for some people to master!!

HAAL Sea Cruise

This morning, HAAL committee organized a sea cruise outing in Sai Kung. All participants met around 11 am and then we headed for a place called 糧船灣, an offshore bay near Sai Kung Pier. The boat ride took 40 minutes. We got off the boat and rode on a sampan to reach the seafood restaurant located on another side of the island. The weather was perfect though it was a bit windy. Grace and I had fun and good time. We felt a bit relaxed. What's more was that I could chat with my colleagues in IEd that we seldom talked to each other as we are busy and have very different teaching schedules. Thanks HAAL for organizing such a great day for all of us!

A Young Teacher

Do you believe someone was a born teacher? I am not sure. Some people can be trained to be a good teacher but some were a really born teacher. Yesterday, I observed one of my students for her final year teaching practice. This young lady, practising her teaching in one Tai Po primary school, is a bit different from others. Actually, the school she was allocated to is a not a Band 1 school. I bet students there are average and well-behaved. Against my expectation, once I stepped into her classroom, I realized that she could make her students quiet and settled down without yelling and screaming. Instead, she just looked at the whole class for two times and remained aloof and calm. Simply her gestures and eye movements could control the students very well and they were also obedient. This process just took her fewer than 1 minute!

Then, the lesson went on and she taught comparison of different people. The pupils she taught are at P3 level who are still very naughty and inattentive in class. Regardless of these disadvantages, she played two games with the students to illustrate how to use adjectives comparing old and new friends and asked them to do pair work in a very disciplined fashion. Usually, according to my experience, primary school pupils can get very excited and out of place once they are assigned to do pair or group work. But this young lady could make her students do whatever she wanted so easily without any discipline problem. Is she talented? Very likely. Is she experienced? No. Is she charismatic? I guess so. Is she a good teacher? Wait and see. Do we need teachers like her? Surely.

Shopping in Japan

This time, I would like to talk about shopping in Japan. During my trip to Japan, I went to two big outlets. I've mentioned one called Gotemba Premium Outlets in the previous entry; while the other is called Mitsui Outlet Park. During the past decade, 'outlet' culture has become more and more popular in Japan though I am not saying that shopping at malls or shops is not unwelcome. The major features of these 'mega'-outlets are three-fold. First, they all sell brandname products, but probably not the most updated ones. Second, some of these items such as handbags or shoes are less expensive than the regular prices listed elsewhere. Third, they tend to cater needs of all walks of life from toys, ladies' wear to men's wear. Because most of these outlets are located in a bit remote areas, they are normally big in size and some areas are solely reserved for picnic. Dogs are also allowed in these mega outlets. I witnessed Japanese families having their packed lunch after shopping in some open areas.

Gotemba Outlet targets at high fashion. To name just a few, Gucci, Prada, D&G, Ralph Lauren, Bally and Armani can all be found in this outlet. For Mitsui Outlet Park, this one is more down-to-earth and aims at office ladies. Brandnames such as Nike, Adidas, G-shock and some cosmetics brands can be found in this mall. Though Mitsui Outlet is much smaller than Gotemba, the items of the former are more reasonable and affordable. In addition, Mitusi is located near one of the JR stations, so it is much more convenient. Apart from outlets, shops in Japan are full of beautiful products but their prices are relatively more expensive than those of Hong Kong. Think thrice before you shop in Japan!!

In good time or in bad time

Lately, something very bad happened in my family. I didn't cry nor complain anything. What I think is to look forward. I'm still optimistic and positive though there is no laughing matter this time. Grace and I have been married for almost 8 years. We were and are still very happy about our life. In these years, we encountered a number of 'ups and downs' both in our careers and personal life. But in most people's eyes, our roads are still very smooth. However, this time, I know we truly meet some challenges, especially me. I am always very lucky and loved by many people. But, this time, I really have to meet this 'challenge' with Grace and learn how to overcome barriers in life. We are no longer young and we should understand that life is not at all easy! I believe more we have gone through, more wisdom we might gain eventually. This is life which is full of happiness as well as challenges...

The First School Visit

Today, I did my first school visit in this academic year. What a coincidence! In the last academic year, my first school visit and actually my 'real' first one in my career fell on the coldest day in January 2008. I remember on that day, it was only 8 degrees Celscius. And today, when I headed off to the school, it rained cats and dogs. Perhaps, heavy rain or freezing weather is with me whenever I have my first school visit. Who knows?

Sightseeing

In Japan, I visited two famous tourist spots. One is called Hakone 箱根, formerly a national park owned by the royal family and now a holiday resort for both Japanese and foreign tourists. The park, embedded in a big forest with artificial planted pine trees, surrounded a beautiful lagoon called 蘆之湖 where Grace and I could get on board and enjoy a light breeze of autumn (you can see the scenery from the pictures next to this entry). The sea cruise took us only 15 minutes to travel from one side of the lake to another and we could overlook the day view of Mt. Fuji. According to the local people, it's hard to see the full view of Mt. Fuji as it was usually covered by rain or 'thick' cloud almost throughout the year. If one can see the full view of Mt. Fuji, he or she must be very lucky on that day. Actually, on the second day of our visit, I could see the full view of Fuji from a shopping outlet called Gotemba located at the bottom of Mt. Fuji. I thought I was lucky on that day!

The second place I visited was called 'Kyoto gate side' which was very near the Hakone lagoon. In the old days of Japan (around 1600 - 1700), there were two tribes of people who were governed by two big military leaders. As these leaders conquered their own lands and properties, they designated their own borderlines near the centre of Tokyo, today's Hakone. People, living at the east of the gate, were called 關東人 and those living at the west of the gate were called 關西人. These two groups of people could visit each other but whenever they travelled from one side to another, they had to go through what we call today 'customs' or 'checkpoints' and showed necessary identification documents. It's an interesting place!

Tokyo

Last few days, I had a short trip to Tokyo, Japan. The purpose of this trip was to take a break out of my hectic teaching and administrative schedule. In addition, Grace and I will be very busy in the next couple of months.

We attempted to select a hybrid tour, blending the special features of both 'free tour' and 'package/guided tour'. During the first two days, we mainly followed Tommy, the tourist guide travelling around the outskirt and downtown of Tokyo and then on the last two days, we planned to go to the places we preferred. In general, the trip was relaxing and eye-opening because Tokyo is a gorgeous and lovely city for everyone especially those who like beautiful things and people. Everyone on the street, regardless of gender or social classes, is clean, tidy and well-attired. Apart from people, places are clean and easy to find as the city planning was comprehensive. With highway, JR (trains) and metro, one may get access to any places they like without any trouble. The wide coverage of JR and metro can make people arrive at every single destination they want! When Grace and I took the JR, we had to be extremely carefully as there are tons of JR sub-lines interwoven throughout the city!

Will tell you more about the places I visited in the next entry.

To write more and more to write

A few days ago, I asked some of my Yr.4 students if they had a habit of writing blogs or using facebook. Almost of them said yes, but some of them told me that they found it difficult to write blog entries as most of the time nothing special occurred on a day-to-day basis. Then, I inquired, 'Do you read newspapers? or Do you have a part-time job? You must want to express your own opinions towards something you deem unacceptable or nonsense. Talk about it. Put forward your stand no matter whether you agree or disagree with the issue.'

One lady said, 'We don't know how to start.' I further explained, 'First, you must have inspiration. For instance, if you attended a lecture you thought you didn't understand, think about why didn't understand and what you could do about it. You may write a few lines about this event. Or if you were ill-treated by someone such as the waitress in a cafe, talk about it. There are so many things you can discuss in your blog. And more you write, more you find it more you can write!'

After I said that, some of these young men and ladies felt very puzzled. They asked, 'Is that true if we write more, there will be more inspiration.' My reply is, 'I can't say for sure, but you could be inspired from various sources such as reading, sharing, observing, thinking... Input is around us and you won't live a life without any stimulus. Am I right?'

Having talked for about 10 minutes, I said, 'Go home and write few more blog entries to express yourself! Writing more is good brain gym for your minds.'

Tips to save money for conference trips

Lately, I've read Paul Matsuda's blog entry about how graduate students (doctoral students) go to conferences without spending too much money. The following is some of the tips he shared:

Paul mentioned that students should combine their personal trip with conference trip, having a conference in a place where they also want to visit and making the distinction between work and holiday fuzzy.

Second, Paul remarked that students should save money for dinner rather than spending too much on breakfast or lunch. He said that students could simply grab some water or bread in convenience store and use the money for conference dinner or dining out with some famous scholars. He further added that such strategy could make the trip more fruitful, mingling with some famous scholars and discussing about some significant issues in the field.

Third, Paul also stressed that graduate students could get grants or funds to sponsor their trips as there are openings of scholarship or sponsorship for conferencing in different institutions. Or they may join some competitions such the best teaching award or the most successful young scholar scheme to finance their budgets to conference trip... (this strategy may be easy to Paul...)

Fourth, he suggested that graduate students should find a partner to share out expenses such as hotels or shuttles for the conference trip. Sharing expenses on the trip is the best strategy to save money!

I think all this advice is based upon Paul's personal experience over the years and what he heard from others when he participated in various conferences both in the States or other countries.

Part-timers

In response to Paul Sze's latest entry, I do agree that most Hong Kong teachers, whether they are in primary or secondary sectors, are very keen on updating their knowledge. The story he narrated about an ex-lawyer, now a school principal complained about the reluctance of teachers taking up further studies is both biased and inconclusive. For instance, those part-timers in my institution I supervised last year told me that they didn't need to study PGDE (SKP) again but they did so because they wanted to be more competitive in the market. They further added that there was no harm if they could teach one more subject in schools. Some said it would be easier to change schools or find another job. I still remember one lady I supervised was doing PGDE in my institution as well as MA in Chinese in the other one. I asked her if she could manage to study two part-time courses at the same time. She replied, 'I want to learn more when I am still young and single. Upon my graduation, I can teach Putonghua, Chinese language as well as English language. How nice!' I was impressed by her perseverance and strong will power to pursue her studies in such a Draconian condition. Imagine if we study two course at one go, it means that we may need to go to university for at least 2 to 3 evenings plus one Saturday afternoon. This single case may not be generalizable to all Hong Kong teachers, but I am sure, in one way or another, teachers are willing to attend courses in order to cope with the forthcoming challenges in the field of education.

Over is the First Module

Tonight, I finished teaching my first module in this academic year, a Yr. 4 module titled 'Studies of Discourse Analysis'. Let me do a brief self-evaluation. In general, I performed much better than last year and could help students connect the theoretical underpinnings of 'discourse studies' with their real teaching in the field experience, especially the last component - classroom discourse. Most students expressed that this part was relevant to their practicum as well as future career such as teacher talk, verbal interaction patterns, questioning behavior and the like. Very soon, I will pay school visits to 11 students of this group and hope that they like their teaching practice and enjoy being with their students though some grumbled over students' disciplines and their low academic abilities. Well, this is life, let's face it!!

Is sleeping a luxury?

How much sleep do we need every day? Some people will say they sleep at least for 8 or 9 hours per day. Is that possible in Hong Kong when everyone is complaining that having enough sleep is a luxury?

When I joined the teaching profession 13 years ago, I could go to bed around 11 pm and get up round 6 am as the previous school I served got an early timetable. Life was good as I still had 7 hours' sleep.

Few years later, I enrolled in a part-time PGDE program, meaning that two evenings were occupied for attending classes. Surely, on those two evenings, I would go home late and sleep late as well. During my PGDE study, I slept around 12 (midnight) and wake up around 6. It came very natural that my sleeping hours were reduced by one hour.

Now, having a family of my own, I need to sleep later than before. First, both Grace and I had to do some housework such as cooking and doing laundry though the cleaning jobs were outsourced already. With more responsibilities both in the job and family, I usually hit the sack around 1 and get up around 6:30 to catch the staff bus to office.

What will happen 5 years later? I am just worried about the deteriorating situation. Do I sleep even less if I have children or have other commitments in my profession. Can't imagine at this time!!! But one thing is sure that there are tons of side-effects having insufficient sleep such as poor memory and high blood pressure.

How can we get more sleep? I think the only answer is we should be more self-disciplined. Do not watch TV non-stop and try to finish all undone businesses as soon as possible. Having a habit to go to bed early will also make us wake up earlier... Easy said than done...

Am I alright?

Last night, I went to see my family doctor 'again'. Once she saw me in the clinic, she said, 'Why have you patronized me for so many times lately? Do you miss me?' She is a funny lady, anyway. When I counted how many times I visited her in these few minutes, I couldn't believe it. Twice in July, once in August, twice in September and once, so far, in October.... (touch wood), the picture seems so scaring. I asked myself what was the problem. Though every time I was diagnosed either cold or flu, I shouldn't overlook my health problem. In the past, I saw my doctor once or twice in a year. What is the signal? Is it a sign of ageing? Did I have insufficient sleep? Did I overwork? Or simply I am stressed out. I don't know the reason. Actually, I have a habit to take vitamins as they are good to my health. I really have to think about it! What I mean 'to think about it' is to self-evaluate where my problems are .

Help

Yesterday, a senior colleague talked to me for a while. Actually, she wanted me to do her a favor by helping her with data collection. The task seems pretty easy as she needs some teaching materials from my students who are going to do their teaching practice in the next 8 weeks. Sounds easy. I said, 'Sure, no problem.'

As both teacher and researchers we all know how difficult it is to collect data in schools or in colleges these days. If you can help others, you are after all helping yourself because one day you may need help from others as well. It seemed to me when this colleague left my office, she was so elated and I felt happy either.

Relaxation

In response to Icy's latest blog entry, I think we all agree that doing sports regularly is good for us. Apart from sports, what should we do in order to reduce stress. Stress here refers to pressure from family, work, emotion, financial situation, love relationship and so forth. The following is the ten suggestions:

1. To cry (it may be effective but don't do it in public!)

2. To play sports (you may refer to Icy's blog)

3. To go shopping (you may consult Grace who is an expert in shopping)

4. To drive on highway (if you need to buy a car first, consult my colleague, Ben who is an expert in cars!)

5. To sleep (Good though, it costs nothing and it's good for misers like me)

6. To eat (if you are big enough, forget this option! Because when you gain on weight, you may become more stressed out)

7. To travel (lately I find that this method works very well to me, but it's expensive)

8. To take a bath for a few times (but make sure that you have oily skin, otherwise you need to see a dermatologist)

9. To gossip (you can do it even you are extremely relaxed)

10. To do housework (while you are planning to fire your maid or when you no longer tolerate her!)

University Ranking

A new round of global university rankings was announced. HKU, ranked 18th last year, becomes 26th in position this year. Besides, HKUST, which newly joined the league table, ranked 39th among the best 50 universities around the world. When interviewed, one of the HKU spokepersons expressed that the 'downgrading' of HKU ranking was due to the fact that there is insufficient research funding to finance various research projects in the university. He further explained that unlike other universities in the North America, both federal government and private sectors will sponsor university research projects. Having heard about such comments, my first response was that there is no need to panic though the ranking of HKU dropped from 18th to 26th. First and foremost, HKU has a long history and it is so well-established in Asia, the new ranking will not diminish its appeals after all. I am sure most students and parents still regard HKU is the best in Hong Kong. Second, all universities in Hong Kong should no longer await research funding solely from the government especially those disciplines like applied sciences and computer engineering. University professors should not stay in their castles on the peak. What they should do is to think about how to use their project proposals to allure sponsorship from enterprise or well-known entrepreneurs. If those projects are beneficial to the well-being of society and enable businessmen to make money, it will not be difficult to get funding from private sectors.

Vested Interests

Tomorrow, there will be an election of Staff Member to the Institution Council (highest level of management board in the institution that I serve). According the codes of the institution, there should be three staff members, regardless of their ranks, elected to form the constituent of the Council. Since one of the members is about to finish his term, there are two eligible nominees seconded by three colleagues. One is the Associate Dean and another candidate is an instructor working in the language centre. As the election day is around the corner, the election campaign also started last week. However, it was also the beginning of a nightmare. Two candidates, out of their good hearts and intention, vowed how to protect the interests of "teaching staff" as if this group of staff were underprivileged in the academic community. To be exact, a tug of 'junk mails' war polluted our email accounts for more than four days. Every day, when I logged in my own account on the staff intranet, I could see the names of these candidates. In view of this intense situation, the ASAXXXXX, Staff Association of my institution, then joined the warfare and promised that they would fight for the academic track migration of TF and instructor ranks. In addition, they will fight for private offices for some 'teaching staffs'.

I bet you have enough of this. If you were me, I reckon you knew what I really needed was a harmonious working environment where politics could be reduced to its minimal and a collaborative spirit where everyone can work hand in hand to train our future teachers to serve the community.

Observation

Do you observe people? Or you are always observed by others without being noticed!! The former is just normal behaviour, especially eyeing something beautiful; for the latter, I need to say 'Congratulations' to you because you must be very good-looking or attractive. Let's have a look to see if you agree with the following:

1. If you want to know whether a man is tasteful, look at the socks he wears.

2. If you want to know whether a lady is elegant, look at her hands.

3. If you want to know whether a person has good health, look at his/her hair texture.

4. If you want to know the personality of a guy, look at his handwriting.

5. If you want to know whether a person is reliable, look at his/her eyes.

6. If you want to know whether a couple has good relationship, see how much they care about each other when there is a catastrophe.

7. If you want to know whether a person is happy, look at his/her expressions when they wake up in the morning.

Lifelong Commitment

When my doggie was sick, Grace and I would be in great trouble. This is what our experience told us. Two years ago, he had the problem of skin disease and he felt extremely itchy all the time. Then, we took him to the vet. Medication was a great challenge to both of us. Imagine to feed a 3-year-old naughty doggie with capsules! We sweated all over our bodies after we finished. It was no kidding. Worst still, we had to wash him with a special shampoo which could kill the bacteria on his skin, but the liquid itself was pretty raw and irritating in texture. Bathing him in a tub meant he splashed water all over the floor in the toilet.

Last summer, he suffered from diarrhea for almost two months because he drank some unclean water. Actually, pets do not need to drink boiled water. Because the weather was terribly hot and he had probably drunken some contaminated tap water, then he had a horrible attack of diarrhea! We had to change diapers for more than 6 times in a day! He also lost 2 pounds in this incident but he weighed only 13.5 pounds before he had a stormy stomach.

Last week, Grace and I discovered that he got inflection of the lower part of his nose. As he frequently rubbed and licked the inflected area, it became swollen after a few days. At first, we were worried it was a tumor. But after the diagnosis, it was just inflammation of his nose and again, feeding him 6 different types of medication two times a day would take us ages and the entire treatment lasts 12 days.

In the past, we felt very annoyed whenever my son was sick. Now, I have learnt that we need to accept illness is part of our life. If he is sick, take him to the vet and try to feed him with the most appropriate medication. Well, there is no time panicking and no use crying over spilt milk. Then pray. I have learnt that this is our responsibility and lifelong commitment to take care of him, feed him and raise him until he dies.


Thanks to my mentor. I've learnt from her how to live a life without too many complaints as I am very fortunate already.

Ten 'First Time'

The first time...

1. The first time you wore a graduation hat and threw it in the air after the congregation was over

2. The first time you got on the plane

3. The first time you kissed a guy or a lady you fell in love with

4. The first time you received a pay cheque and went out on a spree

5. The first time you passed your driving test after you failed more than 5 times

6. The first time you moved in an apartment or a house you bought on mortgage

7. The first time you heard your son or daughter crying in hospital

8. The first time you had promotion in your career

9. The first time you did not go to work in your life

10. The first time you cried when your grandchild came to the world

Hip Size vs. Intelligence

According to a latest medical research study, there is significant correlation between hip size and human intelligence. The findings of this study reveal that if one has a bigger hip size, his/her IQ is almost 30% higher than their counterparts with relatively smaller hip size. Having read the research report, I felt a bit excited and hilarious for those who are always worried about their big body shapes because this group of people tends to have lower self-esteem. Sure, we should be health conscious and shouldn't be too fat; otherwise, we may have a lot of health hazards. However, in Hong Kong, people are 'figure conscious' rather than 'health conscious' since they try to make themselves underweight by using tons of methods like self-induced vomiting, laxatives and plastics surgery... The list is endless. Though I am not very convinced with the statistical figures presented in the medical research I mentioned earlier on, I am very happy with the implications drawn from the study, that is, those being supersize still have their own worth, at least intelligence wise. What do you think?

Do teacher trainers have holidays?

The title of this blog entry actually modelled after Paul Sze's one blog post written in July. He talked about whether teacher educators or those working at tertiary level had 'holidays' in summer. The story he wrote was quite interesting and illuminating for those who are particularly hardworking like you or those who have contracted 'workaholics'. My response was yes and no. When I worked in school as an English teacher, I did have regular holidays such as Chinese New Year holidays and Summer Vacations though the latter lasted only around for 3 weeks because most secondary teachers in Hong Kong are caught up with some administrative commitments. Of course, students can enjoy a full summer holiday.

Having worked in the tertiary sector, I realized that I didn't have a real break in summer. Why? In theory, there is annual leave and I can take leave as long as I have no teaching duties. However, the nature of my work is ongoing and the schedule is very packed as well. For instance, when I finish a module, I will mark students' assignments. Then, if I was assigned to teach a new module in the coming academic year, I need to do some readings and research in order to prepare the course well. In my case, it takes me about 1.5 to 2 months to prepare a brand-new module with 30 contact hours. No doubt, the preparation time could be flexible and it depends how familiar I am with the subject knowledge of that module. Apart from marking and teaching preparation, I may continue my research project in summer. I have to do a review of literature, prepare the manuscripts, analyze and write up the findings and so forth. More than that, I need to take some library courses to upgrade my research skills and read some books to enrich my knowledge. Lifelong learning is equally important in the field of teacher education. Virtually, I have no real break. Therefore, I'm planning for a break later next month when I finish part of my teaching in this semester.

Spoiled Kids

On Wednesday, typhoon signal no. 8 was hoisted and the EDB announced there was no school for all full-time students. Though the EDB's annoucement was a bit general, it was easy to understand that the 'no-school' directives were only applicable to kindergarten, primary and secondary students. Then, how about tertiary institutions such as university and community college full-time students? Well, for every tertiary institution, they have set up their own guidelines on typhoon policy. For instance, in the institution that I work in, classes will not be suspended if the typhoon signal no. 8 is lowered for more than 5 hours. I bet for all tertiary students, they can refer back to an official document titled 'Student Handbook' for the program in which they enrolled. However, what astonished me was that some 'tertiary students' complained to the EDB about the ambiguous 'class suspension' announcment on Wednesday. Here, I would say this group of so-called 'university students' should learn to be independent and shoulder their own responsibilities. After they graduate, nobody will tell them whether they need to go to work if there is a typhoon. Instead, they should be proactive and inquire where they can get to know the typhoon policy. In many tertiary institutions, there are clear instructions in print or on-line to inform students under what circumstances classes will be suspended and when they will reopen. From now on, don't blame others and read the student handbook you have misplaced for ages!

Game of Writing

As a novice academic in the field, I have experienced the joy of publishing and presenting my papers as well as the sorrow of being rejected in publishing my manuscripts. Three years ago, my mentor and one very well-respected scholar told me that I had to balance the bright and dark sides of the 'game'. They said, 'If you play in this writing game, you need to comply its rules. However, there is no guarantee. This game could be very brutal to your professional life or could be very helpful in your career.' At that time, I had no clue what they talked about and thought that this piece of advice was a riddle. Now, having joined the field for some while, I comprehended the underlying meanings of their advice and learned how to 'balance' the joy and sorrow of publishing. Obviously, at the moment, I do not write for money nor career advancement. Instead, I would like to try different things before I am too old. In addition, I want to explore my potentials. To me, there is still a long way to go in the area of publishing but as long as I enjoy what I am doing, I have no complaint and won't regard this game as a pain in the neck!

All-In-One

Yesterday, I had a multi-purpose family gathering which not only celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival, but also served the following purpose(s):

1. my niece's first birthday;
2. my brother-in-law's nth birthday;
3. my father's 65th birthday;
4. Mid-Autumn Festival with my mother-in-law;
5. Mid-Autumn Festival with my parents

Actually, there were 15 people in the gathering. This 'multi-purpose' event is very economical and efficient. First, we can save a lot of time because usually I need to celebrate the Festival twice (one with my own parents and another one with my mother-in-law). Second, in September, it is the birthday of three of our family members, i.e., my father, my brother-in-law and my niece. So this kind of all-in-one celebration is good for everybody in terms of saving time and money. Why not? We were very happy during the banquet.

'I Try My Best'

Whether one said 'I chai my breast' or 'I try my best' does not really matter! What matters is whether one is brave enough to confess their wrongs and promise to make improvement.

An infamous phrase 'I chai my breast', spoken by a newly elected politician and now widely broadcast on You Tube, has become talk of the town. The problem I reckon is not his mispronunciation but his problematic attitude. This politician shouldn't say, 'Yes, my English is poor as I graduated from CU.' First, most CU graduates that I know can speak very fluent and accurate English like my sister-in-law. Second, he shouldn't blame anyone but himself if his English pronunciation is not good enough. What he should do is to apologize to the public as he was elected by them and promise he would make improvement on his pronunciation. Third, he set a very bad example to the youngsters that there is no big deal to pronounce English incorrectly as long as people can understand each other. He should be more conscious of what he said as he is a high key 'celebrity'.

Personally, a politician especially a young and inexperienced one should be humble and constantly update his/her knowledge in order to be ready for serving the community.

Deceased Bloggers

I just read from the news that two famous professional bloggers in the States, Russell Shaw and Marc Orchant, died recently. Why? It's because they were both excellent and prolific bloggers who used to write blogs to earn their living. Who employed them? From big corporations to famous artists. They were so busy that they spent most of their time, not 9 to 5, probably 9 - 12 am every day to write blogs for others including ads, travelogues, autobiographies, reviews, etc. No need to worry! We won't write blogs and die like Russell and Marc as they died of extreme fatigue and heart disease. These two big shots were productive bloggers as well as writers. For us, if we simply use blog as a platform to share our personal and professional life with other bloggers, we won't die so easily (even if we wish) due to blogging. On the contrary, there are tons of advantages I have already mentioned in one of my previous entries. So, keep on writing, enjoy the process of writing and share our writing with others!

Retirement

My dad retired in January this year who is now 65. Actually, he already had his "first" retirement 6 years ago. Having rested for a year, he grumbled retirement life was too dull, so he job-hunted again and found a decent but demanding job in a very big cleaning company to work as a supervisor. His leadership was good but he had to work long hours. Anyway, he enjoyed the job but as time went by, he said that the workload was too overwhelming for him. Hence, he decided to step down this year and went to the States with my mom for 1 month. He is pretty laid back now and can sleep in as he wishes.

My mom just retired last month. She didn't want to but she had no choice because of some workplace politics that she couldn't cope with! Well, I said to her one day, 'It's time to step down though you don't wish to because you're 60.' She complained some of her ex-colleagues said some nasty words to her and made her feel hurt. I explained, 'If you get angry with these meaningless words, your EQ is not really high. Though you are the no. 1, people still speak behind your back.' She then told me she didn't want to step down in an ungraceful way. Then, I assured, 'Retirement life is not at all terrible. Now, you have more free time to talk to dad and you can go swimming together. If you feel bored, go shopping and watch Korean DVDs.'

What I learn from parents' retirement is that if we plan to retire or are about to reach the retirement age, we need to 'prepare' for life after our retirement. Without careful planning, it's hard for anyone to transit from hectic to tranquil life. Participating in community and contributing to society would be a way out for all retirees. My mom called me this morning and said she wanted to further her studies in an elderly community college. Why not?

Co-teaching

In the NSS teaching team, my colleague, Tim Taylor proposed to have co-teaching in the upcoming cohorts of NSS PDC. This proposal is definitely a good and innovative one. First and foremost, both of us agreed to teach the areas according to our specialisms. For instance, Tim will be responsible for the introduction of curriculum framework and planning the new senior English curriculum for CMI and EMI schools. He will further talk about how to integrate language arts components into the mainstream curriculum through the I-S-A model. For me, I will be in charge of teaching and learning issues of the NSS curriculum such as deductive approach to teaching grammar and genre-based pedagogy to teaching writing. In addition, I will lecture on assessment issues in NSS such as the implemenation of alterntive assessment in the EFL writing classroomand and how AfL can be adopted in the local context. The division of labour sounds both promising and efficient to both me and Tim as he is specialied in curriculum planning and self-access learning while I am interested in assessment and AfL. I really hope that our collaboration will be a successful one and most important of all, our participants can find the PD course useful and practical and apply what they learn in IEd to their teaching contexts.

Yr. 4 students

Yesterday, I taught a new cohort of Yr. 4 students. This year, what makes a difference is that two international students have joined our group and they come from the northern part of Thailand. Initially, they were a bit shy. Having discussed some issues in the tutorial, they warmed up and shared their opinions with some of the Yr. 4 students. I am sure with their backgrounds, Gip and Yui can integrate into our class without any problem. Another interesting thing is that in this cohort, there are only 4 gentlemen who are all very nice and brave to speak up. Though they are the miniority, they are very serious and sincere in their learning.

My first impression of this group of students is that they are all very attentive and eager to learn. That is a good sign. As their module lecturer as well as DPC, I think I need to give them extra support both academically and professionally as soon they will do their teacher practice. They still have a lot of worries and concerns in relation to real teaching. I am confident we may get along well.

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.

Bali

Tomorrow morning, I will fly to Bali, a romantic place for couples. This time, I go there not for romance but for work. That's why I have a mixed feeling. On the one hand, I will present a paper on my research area on Day 2; second, I take Grace to Bali as well. I am not sure whether she likes it or not. Anyway, she wants to go. What I worry is that she may feel bored when I am not around. Well, she is not a kid and she can enjoy herself by participating in some water sports, doing spa or simply stay at the pool. I will join her once I finish all my work.

What I like most about this kind of working holiday is that I can truly get away from my work in Hong Kong. Well, at least I can forget my work for a short while. In addition, whenever I go for a conference, I must have enough sleep as my lifestyle can become very disciplined such as getting up at 7 am, having breakfast at 7:30, attending the first session at 9:00 and so forth.

After I come back, will tell you more about Bali! Bye.

The Dark Knight

Yesterday, I saw a movie called 'The Dark Knight'. I wanted to see it because I thought it was about Hong Kong. Having watched it, I was a bit disappointed about the scene shot in Hong Kong. The episode lasted for less than a few minutes. Most of the action scenes were shot in the studio. But the audience could see the beautiful skyline of Hong Kong Island and the IFC, the tallest building in Hong Kong. The night view of Hong Kong was also superb, but again the scene was terribly short.

About the film, everyone can tell what it is about. A bad guy, Mr. Joker, blackmailed Batman and turned the City into chaos. The Good Guy fought with the Devil. However, this time, the theme -heroism - is a bit twisted in such a way that heros, no matter how righteous they are, will do something hideous to safeguard their own reputation in the dark of the city. Thus, the dichotomy between Good and Bad interwined and there is no longer clear-cut distinction between them. I am not a fan of Batman, but I would say this movie is portrayed from a much more humanistic perspective than previous versions.

Comments: ***** (5 stars) Highly recommended

The film is almost 2.5 hours long and you need to book the tickets as there is always full house. I watched it at Palace IFC, a very spacious and cosy cinema. It's my favourite!

I want to be...

'I want to be...' is a common and interesting composition topic for primary school pupils. When I was very young, I wanted to be a policeman. Thus, at the age of 19, I did apply for the post of police officer. Though I got a pass in the written test as well as the fitness test, I couldn't pass in the interview. My dream never comes true! At the age of 20, I did not think of being a school teacher. In my early twenties, I thought I was a bit purposeless. Having joined the teaching profession, my attitude was, at that time, a kind of wait and see because I promised I would quite before 30. I can't believe that not only do I still work in this field, but I also actually work as a teacher trainer who gives training to both pre- and in-service teachers. What made me have a drastic change in attitude is the training I received at HKU. When I studied my postgraduate certificate of education ten years ago, I was inspired by a group of tutors whose teaching skills were excellent. They were so nice and energetic and taught me a lot of new ideas which I could really use in my daily practice. Whenever I look back, my PGDE tutors did influence me a lot and made me another person. I have to take this opportunity to say thanks to those who have inspired and assisted me so much. Now, when I think about the topic 'I want to be...', I really want to be 'a person who can positively influence others.'

Cold and Flu

Yesterday, I felt very sick and had a feeling that I was dying. First, I had a running nose. Second, I had a headache like someone hammering my head from all sides! Third, I felt terribly exhausted and I couldn't stand properly even for a few minutes. Having slept for a few hours, I felt much better. At night, I was still struggling whether I should see my family doctor. But I know her routine. She will ask me some questions about my conditions and then diagnose whether I have a flu or a cold. Oftentimes, she suggests having injection because she thinks I may recover much more quickly. Then she prescribes some medication for me. I don't like Western medicine very much because those medications only make me even worse. After taking them, I feel like a corpse who can only lay on the bed at least for a few days. This time, I tried some Chinese herbal tea which heals patients suffering from cold and flu. I have taken a few packets and feel much better now. Though the effectiveness of this herbal tea may not be as good as Western medication, it fits my internal body system. I would say Western medicine, by all means, is too strong for someone who is not very healthy like me.

Being Single-minded

I would say it is an art to be single-minded whenever you need to complete a task either about your work or about your studies. Over time, many colleagues and friends of mine said to me, "You have to be single-minded; otherwise, you can't finish your studies." All of them are, of course, out of their good intention when they gave me this friendly reminder. I have tried very best to concentrate on my studies whenever I'm free. However, studying a higher degree as a part-time student, I find it very difficult to be single-minded. As a teaching staff in my institution, I have to teach a lot of courses in a year. On top of it, I need to take up some administrative work. All these commitments are mandatory unless I quit. So there is so much ahead of me to accomplish. I haven't counted my family and parents. I feel a bit guilty that I always have no time to talk to them or even see them especially my mom and dad. It is easy said than done to be single-minded! Things won't happen sequentially.

Language and Content Knowledge

Next year, I'm going to teach a course on helping EMI content subject teachers to teach their disciplines in English. It's a challenge as this is my first time to teach non-English subject teachers! I know my job is to teach them how to link the two interrelated notions - language and content knowledge together. Oftentimes, many EMI content subject teachers have encountered a problem - students' low English proficiency. Our job, as teacher educators, aims to coach these EMI teachers how to plan the curriculum and how to inject some English-related pedagogies into their daily teaching practice. For humanity subjects such as history, geography and liberal studies, the nature of these subjects is easier to use English as MOI because students have to read and write English a lot. But for mathematics, it will be quite demanding as some mathematics teachers will say that their students have very minimal opportunity to produce written discourse in the subject. The importance of teaching students English in this specific subject discipline seems to be of low priority. What students have to master is skills and conceptual thinking rather than language abilities. But they forgot most science students have problems in comprehending the questions even though they know how to do the sums. In this case, planning how to teach reading in mathematics would be a way out!

There is so much to learn in the next 6 months.

An Eight-Year-Old Novelist

This morning, I have received an email to which a short novel was attached. You may ask if this is a free e-book. No. The short novel was actually written by an eight-year-old boy who has unlimited potentials to publish his first book. The boy does not only have talents in writing books, but he also likes to write poems and riddles in his blog. Definitely, he was influenced by his mother who is also a prolific writer authoring in a lot of books and journal articles. His mother is always famous in the field of education. I truly wish this kid a bright future in his publishing career.

Gareth,

Work hard and we all support you.

Good luck

R

Travelling

I like travelling and I have visited a number of places in the world. The followinig is a summarization of the places I have been to and the reasons why I like those places. The number next to the places indicates the frequency of visit.

Taiwan (4): I visited Taipei for four times. What I like most in Taipei is its coffee shops and bookshops, for instance 誠品書店. I also love eating beef noodles and steamed buns at 'Yu Tai Fung' dimsum shop. Taipei is a romantic place as I took my wedding photos seven years ago and I plan to have another photo collection for the 10th wedding anniversary!!

Thailand (2): In Bangkok, it's good for shopping though things are getting more and more expensive! I love to eat international dishes at the avant-grade cafe on the seventh floor of Central Department Store in the downtown, Bangkok. It's also relaxing to try the original Thai spa and massage. It's fantastic! The price is very reasonable. I also love to visit the Flea Market in Mo Chit which is opened on weekends only. MBK Centre and World Trade Centre are must-go shopping malls.

Japan (2): I have been to Tokyo and Nagoya. Tokyo is very different from Nagoya. The former is very modern and exciting and the latter is quiet and peaceful.

Malaysia (1): It is a very safe and clean city with a large Chinese population. You can talk to many people in Cantonese. What impressed me most is that most shop assistants can speak fluent English! Twin Towers and KLCC are the modern buildings you must visit.

Beijing (1): I still remember how difficult I climed up the Great Wall because on the day I was there, it rained heavily. However, people told me that there was no need to bring umbrellas to Beijing in June.

Singapare (1): It's also a very clean city with a lot of flowers and trees. I love Sentosa and Little India. Of course, I can't forget Hoi Nam Chicken Rice!!

Dubai (1): I was impressed with the riches. A desert turns into greenery and a wealthy city. I remembered I visited a street called 'Gold Street' which has more than 200 shops selling golden jewelery. It is also exciting to watch camel-racing in Dubai.

Canada (2): I visited Toronto twice. I love watching baseball and in summer, Toronto is a paradise. I could really enjoy driving there.

States (1): I attended a conference when I visited there in June this year, but I will fly to LA to visit my uncle next year.