Congratulations to Au Ting Hei Oscar 6B for his being honoured at the award ceremony of 2015/16 Hong Kong Budding Poets Award this afternoon (27 May). Oscar is the "Poet of the School", "Commendation" prize winner and titled "Best Improviser of the Year".

The last time our student got the Best Improviser of the Year award was 5 years ago. In a traditionally girl-dominated event like this, it is so exciting to see that Oscar managed to get prestigious prizes at the ceremony. I am particularly moved by the fact that Oscar's improvised work made him top of this elite group of budding poets! This award has always been really hard to get and it reflects truly the poetry talent of the candidate because he/she has to write on the spot. We should all be proud of him for his achievement!

I hope that Oscar will continue to enjoy poetry and other forms of creative writing. It is only the start of his literary journey.

Dr H C Lee

Cyrus Ho and Lachlan Lai, both from 6C, were crowned winner in the category of Duologue at the 9th Hong Kong Students Open Speech Competition on 17 May. They performed an extract from the novel "Jasper Jones". Their involvement with their characters moved the adjudicator. 

Interestingly, this group performed for the Speech Gala with the same script but did not make it to the Grand Finals. Their victory here proves that they are in fact really talented performers - chances always go to the well-prepared. 

Congratulations again.

Dr H C Lee

Ying Wa Primary School has got a joint school function with Law Ting Pong Secondary School (LTPSS) on 9th May, 2016. Nine students from LTPSS acted as story pilots came and shared English stories with our P.2 students.
 
Around 100 students arrived at the assigned venues right after their lunch. They were separated into groups of 10, with one story pilot sharing stories with each. Although the story pilots were only F.2 – 4 students, they were very good at engaging and catching the young boys’ attention. There were lots of laughter and interactions going on throughout the whole time. Our P.2 boys enjoyed it so much!
 
Originally, the story pilots are coming again on 10th May, 2016 to share stories with another group of students. But, unfortunately, it had to be cancelled because of the bad weather in the morning. Let’s hope more activities like this could be arranged in the future.

Ms Jenny Ho
Vice Panel Chair, English

YWPS Debate Team wins big at the Primary Schools Debating Tournament 2016.

This is Day 8, the closure. We visited the 2 top universities of Canada - University of British Columbia (UBC) and Simon Fraser University (SFU). 

As expected, both universities cover a lot of ground and provide a large range of subjects for students to choose. We were impressed by the support both schools gave students. No wonder they both rank 1st in different charts. I personally enjoy my visit to SFU better, not only because the tour showed us a bit more facilities, the school had more iconic constructions to attract our cameras! You know, when they both offer the greatest teaching and programmes, the beauty factor should be decisive!

It is also worth mentioning that we paid a visit to the City Council of Vacouver in the morning. A secretary explained to us the features of the city and the function of the council. The most interesting item to me was, however, the mace, which was a golden staff given by the London Council as a gift to represent the power and authority of the Vancouver City Council. It was a pity though that the mayor himself did not come to meet us. When this tour was held in Ireland last year, we visited the City Council of Galway and the mayor spoke to us very warmly!

Anyway, the tour has ended and we are flying back tomorrow. If I have to immediately pick three impressive things I have experienced here, they should be (not in any particular order):

1. Vancouver is a truly international and harmonious city. Though most people here seem to be from Asia, English is perfectly a daily language. It explains why it has been a favourite place for Hongkongers to move in.

2. Schools here are so large and well-facilitated for students' professional development and well-being. Their curriculums are often designed based on practical use instead of examination use. Children are therefore trained to be a very independent, confident and presentable person. Though we cannot bring back their facilities or space to Hong Kong, we can continue to improve the YWPS experience so as to brighten every child we teach!

3. Last but not least, I truly enjoy the comments and interactions we have been having through the travelogue for this tour. This platform serves as a bridge so that what I see and think can become nutritious input for every reader. This process has been so fruitful for me. While I have been a critical traveller, I wish you readers have also been having a good time learning from and being inspired by my vision.

Thanks for reading, commenting and supporting. We will be bringing back more knowledge, wisdom, and souvenirs!

​Dr H C Lee

Day 7 is the second last day of the tour to be reported. As we have experienced in Canada for days, we have more or less got the idea of what it feels like to study in this country. However, the visit to the prestigious Crofton House School did not fail to wow us.

This girls' school was built in the 19th country but its current site was renovated in the past decade. It looked so clean, luxurious and classy as we walked into the main entrance. I thought it looked more like a hotel than a school! We listened to a talk from the management team and was led by a talented Year 12 girl to tour around the junior and senior schools. The spacious campus with soothing colour tone gave me a very welcoming and academic feeling. Its junior school was a hub for comfortable and supportive learning. The canteen was unbelievably bright, large, and tidy! Their "forest" was particularly motivating. Also, its curriculum provided a balanced school life to students. In Canada, admission to a university does not rely on just one set of examination results; school performances and involvement in extra-curricular activities are equally important. Thus, having a school that offers different possibilities and dimensions of learning is vital. Hong Kong does not have enough land to offer a castle or forest for students to explore, yet we can keep widening students' horizon when designing our curriculum. Encouraging overseas/out-of-classroom learning and bringing overseas experience back to school have always been part of our teaching strategies, right?

We also paid a visit to KPU - Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Like the other schools we visited, KPU offers very practical courses. We enjoyed visiting their classroom for textile design and were interested to learn that they had successful and professional fashion show productions to showcase students' good work.

Well, tomorrow is our final full day in Canada in this tour. Will be a busy day as well. Stay tuned.

Dr H C Lee

p.s. We bumped into the place below in Richmond (which used to hold a BIG event)...does anyone know anything about this place?

Day 6 was absolutely hard work - three schools in Victoria to visit and learn from. How should I rank these great experiences in the end? Let me see...

Here comes the 3rd place - Royal Roads University (above). This is a rather young university as it has not even reached 30 years. This school focuses on social science subjects like business, tourism, education, and cultural studies. So, those looking for popular subjects like law and medicine may find this school not relevant for them. With our short stay in the campus, we did not get to see much of their facilities. However, interestingly, this school used to be a residential a century ago and it turned into a military school before becoming a university. Its old buildings and Japanese gardens gave us unbelievable images! Just imagine yourself studying in this environment...what a pity it doesn't run a poetry course!

The 2nd place goes to the University of Victoria (above). I personally loved the professional tour-guiding, showing us all the major facilities and explaining the campus life style. Also, I am impressed by the university's many relaxing catering areas, its attractive cinema, and its new sports centre. Studying is not only about books and examinations; it is a part of living. This university captures just that and ensures that learners have quality learning as well as living environments. 

The Number One experience of the day to me is Vic High - Victoria High School (above). The school has a long history and its current main building is over a hundred years old already. Besides, there were two things from this school that struck me. First, many of its courses are divided into 3 levels to suit learners of different competence. Students of different years may freely join a course at their desired level. Second, they offer many practical courses for students such as leadership, photography, hairdressing, auto body (car fixing), and carpentry. It is very rare for a Hong Kong school to have these as school subjects.

In Hong Kong, it is often said that we study for examinations. But in schools like Vic High, we have a strong impression that learning is for making a living and contributing to one's community. And honestly, school design should be like this. We don't need exam-takers, we need people who know how to serve and help each other to build our society. However short our visit was, this strong message keeps ringing in my head - we should design a practical school curriculum to equip future global leaders in diverse fields. And my boss will agree with me that YWPS, despite being a primary school, has been heading exactly for this direction for the past decade.

See you on Day 7!

Dr H C Lee

Day 5 was a "trip within a trip" and it was packed with pleasant surprises as we left Vancouver for Victoria...

Surprise, surprise...we left our hotel at 5:30am just to catch the 7:00am ferry, but missed it...and had to wait till 9:00am! Yet, once on board, the view was so mesmorizing that we didn't remember the extended waiting time at all! The gigantic 7-decked ferry carried vehicles and provided excellent food for passengers. The best part was certainly the sea view! How nice!

More surprises...the visit to the Parliament of British Columbia reminded me so much of the one in London! The UK style of this institution made it all the more solemn and classy. We even had the chance to sit at the audience for their legislative meeting where health-related budget was being discussed. No photo was allowed and the debate was so disciplined and orderly. The process and manner of legislation should always be like this, shouldn't it?

Even more surprises...our visit to Saint Margaret's School Victoria, a girls' school, was a breath of fresh air! The campus wasn't as big as St Georges and the entire school, from K1 to Year 12, was no more than 400 students! Yet, their homely and naturalistic environment built up a safe and friendly culture. We were led by a very confident ambassador and was even given the chance to visit their dormitory! These girls were under great care yet independence was well developed.

Surprise of the day...Beacon Hill Park gave us a surprise show of peacocks flying out of the cages, walking royally across the zebra crossing, and spreading their feathers in front of our cameras. Knowing that peacocks only open their tail upon seeing beautiful things, I wondered if they spotted anyone beautiful or handsome among us teachers...must be me!

Ha, what's the surprise in this room? I will just spend a night here before going back to Vancouver tomorrow. Yet this little room didn't fail to surprise me...

Give you more updates tomorrow with more visits! Have a nice day!

​Dr H C Lee

Day 4 started our school visits. St. George's School was the first on our list. Like Ying Wa, St. George's is a boys' school providing education to children from Year 1 to 12 (P.1 - S.6).

We had a brief tour around the large campus of the senior school led by a professional student ambassador. His eloquence, confidence and sincerity really impressed us. I particularly liked his many badges attached to his classic blazer recognizing his involvement in various school activities.

A talk about the school by administrators followed and we couldn't agree more on their philosophy about teaching boys and that boys need a specialised curriculum. While YWPS has a motto of "winning is not everything...", St. George's School's sense of competition and academic excellence doesn't seem to be as strong as their desire to building "fine young men, one boy at a time"!

In response to our request, the YWPS team had a rare chance to visit their junior school as well. The beautiful castle-like main building and the large green area gave us the best welcome. Their admission officer toured us around the school and offered us a very detailed and thorough introduction along the tour. We could visit lessons and see their many special rooms. Yet, it was indeed a pity that the school discouraged photo-taking of their students, or else their energetic lessons could have been captured.

We did not have a very in-depth review of this school's teaching and learning environment, but the impression was clear - their children are enjoying a fun, fruitful and explorative childhood in the school where excellence is nurtured through a relaxing and natural learning context. Schools in Hong Kong are usually weak in building children into more than exam-takers. Seeing the happiness in St. George's, I am glad that our school takes a very rare path to both creating a creative and adventurous learning experience and sharpening students' skills in different disciplines to enhance competitiveness at a rather young age. And so far, our boys are on the right track in becoming a well-equipped global citizen, and we are absolutely proud to see that.

I simply can't wait to visit more schools tomorrow and have more inspiration about our own teaching and thinking.

​Dr H C Lee
​

To read is to...

We love "the first of May". It is Not because it is a good song by Bee Gees but it is the day that seven of the Primary Six students were awarded in the Book Report Competition and The Competition of "Why this book is good!" Promotion in the 13th Dr Book Chart organised by the Professional Teachers' Union.

Oscar Au 6B and Ryan Chang 6E were awarded a Merit and the Second Runner-up in the Book Report Competition respectively. Joseph Ho, Percy Wong, Haru, Henry Ng and Sparkle Suen, all from 6E, with their creative ideas, won the first Runner-up in the book promotion category.

The boys who were awarded are all book lovers. Reading, their habits and hobbies, is the door for them to acquire and appreciate English, a beautiful language. What have you read recently? Share with us what you read!  

To read is to learn and...share!

​Mrs Rebecca Ho
Vice Panel Chair, English