Hong Kong 2

Hong Kong Island contains many tall towers and free standing structures that come close to measurements of the CN Tower in Toronto. Every evening, there is light show called the Symphony of Lights where the buildings light up in time with music.

Hong Kong 1

I am standing on the promenade of Victoria Harbour, which is a natural harbour in the south China Sea region. Across the harbour is Hong Kong Island, which is one of the busiest business sectors in the world. As you can see, there are many familiar name brands that we would recognize in stores in Canada. An average of 220,000 ships (cargo and passenger) enter the harbour’s ports every year. The Star Ferry system will shuttle a recorded number of 26 million people per year back and forth from Kowloon Peninsula to Hong Kong Island.
When

Sharing my ideas in China

Lest you think that I have been living the life of a princess with all my adventures, I want to assure you that I also have been working very hard at collaborating with the teachers here at the university. The teachers all teach English to their college age students as it is mandatory within the school system.
The problem that we are finding in North America is that when a student from China comes to a Canadian school system, there is an abundance of knowledge of English grammar, but not how to use the language. The international student has difficulty fitting in, speaking and generally being able to communicate, despite their extensive knowledge of English grammar. The teachers (in fact, even the government) are seeing this disparity and are not sure what to do about it. This is where I come in. I am demonstrating new methodologies that will train the teacher of the university to promote the students’ abilities to use the language as competently as they can dissect complex grammar sentences.
Our methodologies are based on communicative activities rather than oral drills, translation methods and written exercises. We encourage the use of the language rather than just the knowledge. We encourage pair work and group work; students getting involved with their learning as opposed to the teacher just telling them what to do; and getting the students to freely produce their skills in either the spoken or written form.
Of course, with any new methodology there is the tension between “what we have done before” and this new way of thinking. It is hard for the teachers to decide how to embrace what could be a better way of teaching and incorporate it within the ways of the tried and true methods. Some are quite willing to leave the old and bring on the new; others are more reticent. Discussions have been plentiful.
One component of what I have been doing is allowing the teachers to prepare a teaching segment for their peers. They have done really well in demonstrating these new methods and I see the light in their eyes when they know they have done a good job. It gives me great satisfaction knowing the teachers have each encountered their own moments of success and have felt proud of their achievements.
Of course, along with new methodologies, they are also experiencing English as it is spoken by a native English speaker. We have had great fun in explaining common idioms and phrases that make English speaking more natural sounding. For example, one young gal was fanning herself and saying “I’m hot.” I told her about the other definition of hot, meaning sexy or attractive. Of course, I exaggerated the intonation to get my point across. A few days later, she was sitting in class with a fan and exclaimed that she was hot. She quickly winked and said “you choose which one!” I just love it when the “light bulb” goes on!
This is the first time something like this course which trains teachers has been offered in China before. I really am on the ground floor of a new wave of thought for China’s educational system. China truly is a developing nation whereby changes are happening rapidly; probably faster than people can anticipate. So, for the last six weeks I have been a pioneer; blazing new trails of instructive l thought and hoping that people will settle down in this new territory of educational methodology.

A day in Hong Kong

In order to honour my visa requirements, I had to leave China and then re-enter again. Hong Kong was under British rule for over 100 years when the country promised to give it back to China when the “contract” was up. The ending of the contract was on July 1, 1997. It was at that time that Hong Kong was declared a Special Administrative Region of China. (I think that it is similar in nature to Quebec wanting to be part of Canada but recognized as a distinct nation of people.) Hong Kong has its own form of government, its own currency and its own customs as I had to enter customs before I entered the country. However, its rules seem to be much more relaxed as my passport was stamped that as a visitor I could stay up to 90 days in the country.
Many remnants of British rule still remain in Hong Kong. People drive on the left hand side of the street. Words like “lift” “trash bin” and “flat” remain on signage, etc. However, it is also much more westernized, more developed than China. More people speak English; products like McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and Starbucks are easily located and accessible; and name brands (including high-end brands) abound.
I was staying at what was called the “Golden Mile” which is the busiest business district in Hong Kong. Shopping, shopping and more shopping—I didn’t have enough time!! I could have had a custom made suit made for me in 8 hours for only $179. There was mall by the harbour that hosted 700 stores (West Ed mall has 800 stores!) There was a night street market where the locals would bring out their trinkets to sell. I imagine that what is not sold there would soon be sent to Canada to land in the dollar stores. Hong Kong never sleeps: store hours are till late at night. To me, there were just as many people on the street doing their business at 10 in the morning as there was at 11:00 at night.
The landscape of people was also different: there were white people! Many visitors came from all over the world, especially Australia and New Zealand. I enjoyed my 36 hour visit of reprieve. It was nice to eat with a fork again.
Back to chopsticks and teaching. I can honestly say that I will be home next weekend 

The Pied Piper

Every few days I go to the market to supplement my rather diet of cafeteria food. I’m trying to eat more fruit and add some nuts to this lacklustre fair. I certainly will be glad to return home and eat crunchy vegetables. Do you know that they even boil their lettuce? It’s limp and slightly warm—yuck! I know that I should be thankful that I have something to eat, but I just can’t get past the fact that my lettuce is boiled.

I was at the market the other day and I noticed a young girl of about nine years old following me. I turned, said hello; she giggled, waved and ran off. A little while after that two girls were following me. This time I asked them how they were. They even answered in English, giggled and ran off. Soon, there was one more added to my entourage, all very curious as to my purchases. They followed me around, giggling and speaking to me in Chinese.

The “teacher” in me couldn’t resist, so I had them repeat the names of the produce that I was purchasing and the numbers we saw, etc. I would ask them “what is this?” and they would respond, altogether, in English. We were by the frozen food section and I had them repeat I like ice cream, yum yum. We marched around the bulk food section, repeating I like noodles, yum yum. I like cookies, yum yum.

All in day’s work!

This is the city of Xiamen (formerly known as Amoy) as we left the Ferry Terminal to go to Gulangyu. This Island is located on the Taiwan Strait. Keep going 100 km the island and you will get to Taiwan; a few more thousand kilometres and you would hit Vancouver.

This island is about 2 km long and 1 km wide with a population of 20,000 people.

Small homes (flats) line the narrow streets. You will notice that often the sink is outside. People will wash dishes, themselves and their clothes at this sink.

Of course, the streets are packed with tourists and residents. The locals say that Gulangyu is a “peaceful, relaxing” environment. I beg to differ! The crowds are similar to Best Buy on Boxing Day!