“By three methods we may learn wisdom: reflection, imitation and experience”- Confucius.
This week, tragedy and sheer heartbreak descended on the walls of room 830, as rather stupidly I decided to carry my laptop with one hand. This move soon transpired to be my biggest mistake of my stay here so far, as my grip loosened, and the laptop plummeted to its death on the hard floor beneath me. Although this story may sound a little dramatic, it was very true, and I was without a laptop for the week. As I composed myself and began to really think if I actually needed it, I realised, that Hong Kong was the electronic capital of the world, and sourcing a computer repair shop, for a competitive price was not a difficult task at all!
It really hit me this week how advanced technology has become over the years, and I am constantly amazed at how easy it is to stay in contact with people on the other side of the world via Skype or applications on the iPhone. It also occurred to me how the very culture of Hong Kong is shaped by technology, with almost everyone having a smart phone (mainly iPhone 4Ss) in their possession. There was one occasion whilst waiting on a train, when Heather and I witnessed a young child crying in his pram. I was very shocked when the child’s mother handed him her iPad and he proceeded to open up the game ‘Angry Birds’, his crying subsided rather quickly around this point. If I was asked three months ago to compile a list of what constitutes or what defines a countries culture, technology would almost certainly not have made the cut. Being here though has really opened my eyes, and not talking about something which plays such an important part in the lives of the people who live here would be naïve of me.
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| Heather embracing the Hong Kong culture... |
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| I was even able to Skype with my cat this week! |
We experienced rain in Hong Kong for the first time since arriving here this week. We were warned in church by a man originally from Ballymena that when “it rains in Hong Kong…it really rains”. Sure enough, it did. I took the opportunity (laptop free) to sit in my room with the windows opened and to enjoy the sound of the rain as it bounced off the road outside. It was surprising to discover that the sound of rain was actually something I missed about Northern Ireland, and it was lovely just to think about ways in which the Hong Kong culture and N. Ireland’s differ. Since being here I have developed an appreciation for my own culture and that of other people around me, and I feel this is such an important value to have to pass onto the children in my future classroom.
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| Rain: the view from my room (apparently it doesn't photograph well). |
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| A rainy day in Central! |
We were also really excited to go to the Hong Kong Jockey Club Primary School (located on campus), this week and to receive some information about our block placement that will be commencing around this time next week. It was a great feeling to be within the walls of a primary school and we are counting down the days until we can begin our teaching! The school itself has around 500 students, and is similar in set-up to secondary schools in Northern Ireland, in that they have different teachers for different subjects. Interestingly, the children remain in the same classroom throughout the day, and it is the teachers who come and go from each class. This will take a little getting used to, and I feel this will make it a little harder to really get to know the children in each class, as we will only be spending a selected amount of time with them. I am definitely going to make the most of my time in the classroom, to really get to know the children so that I can tailor my lessons to meet their own individual learning styles and needs.
The teacher who I am paired with, Mrs Candy Mak, told me that Hong Kong primary schools are very focused on assessment, mainly due to the pressures of regular examinations, and from the pressures of parents who seem very hands-on in the education of their children. It was also useful to learn a little about the Hong Kong Curriculum, this knowledge will only deepen as I see it in practice for myself next week. I’m really looking forward to seeing how Northern Irish schools differ from Hong Kong ones, and I’m hoping that the children will learn a lot from me also.
Baai baai! (bye bye!)
Andrew Scott
