In Ms Jackie Cheng's lesson, students learnt to write a poem. Ms Cheng reflected, "These two days were very special and unique. I was teaching six students from Fairfield Methodist School (2 girls and 4 boys) with my own 5E students. The lessons were on ‘Writing a Limerick’. Students were very creative during brainstorming and had all kinds of funny stories to share, since writing limericks is all about fun and humour.
    "During the second lesson, they started to write on their own. After they finished their work, they eagerly and proudly presented their poems. Both Fairfield students and Ying Wa boys took turns to read aloud their poems in front of the class. It was a wonderful session of group as well as individual effort where everyone put their best foot forward. Some limericks were really hilarious, and had us laughing aloud. Our 5E boys were at their best and did not feel conscious about the fact that they were speaking in front of foreign students, especially girls!"

Teachers from Singapore had a brilliant sharing session with our English teachers on their method of teaching writing to young learners. Mr Richard had this reflection afterwards, "I spent a couple of lessons with the teachers from Singapore. They demonstrated to us how they engage their students (in Singapore) in the task of writing short compositions. One noticeable feature was the time spent in pre-writing tasks. It was clear to them that the pre-writing engagement process is fundamental in helping students produce good quality writing. As they said, “You only get out of students what you put it to students!”
    "On reflection, it was useful to see a different approach to teaching writing. And it was clear from the sample of students’ work that they showed us that their students took ownership of the task out of enjoyment rather than necessity."

In return, I did my sharing with the visiting Singapore teachers (they taught both English and Maths)! I talked about what the English Department does in general and introduced specifically our reading schemes and our speech and drama approach. It was a real exchange as we discussed our similarities and differences very openly. 
  I was delighted that My audience was interested knowing how our boys learn English and was amazed particularly by our video productions!
    I strongly recommended that they visit our English Department website to view our updates! I felt relaxed delivering my speech as these teachers were very friendly and helpful. I wish to have more chances to speak to them and learn more from them especially since they were one of the top schools in their country. We teachers treasured this exchange as much as our boys did.

Korean food is an important element of their culture. It provides taste, medicine, and a connection to the country. A traditional Korean meal usually consists of rice, a bowl of soup and a number of side dishes. Its most distinguishing feature is the amount of fermented foods served at every meal, which are known to be good for health. The most iconic fermented food must be kimchi. For centuries, Koreans have kept their habits of eating kimchi with lunch, dinner and even breakfast! They take much pride in this national dish. In order to find out more about this important part of the Korean culture, we paid a visit to the Kimchi School.

At the school, the history and the process of making kimchi were illustrated vividly through the use of words and life-like models. The commonly used ingredients are more than just cabbage and red chili paste, in fact, soy sauce, salt and garlic are often needed too. The highlight of the visit was the experience of making kimchi by ourselves. The finished products will be sent to the homes for the elderly as presents. We hope the elderly will have a warm winter enjoying the tasty kimchi we prepared.

Seoul is evolving at an astonishing pace. A world-class global image has been created through its modern architecture. Take a quick stroll on the street in Seoul and you’ll find yourself surrounded by skyscrapers and construction.

​Their creativity in architecture is shown at the Under Stand Avenue, a special cultural space started in 2015. Shops and restaurants are built with recycled shipping containers. This project aims at providing job opportunities for the minority groups (the “under”) and allowing them to become independent (“stand” for themselves”). The visit inspired me on how creativity can be used in a meaningful way to help the needy.

​TeamLab World allowed us to immerse ourselves in the world of art and technology. The experience was not limited to a touch screen. Teachers were surrounded by digitized images that responded to our motion. In Flower Blossom, if we touch the walls, flowers will blossom, creating an environment for butterflies. In Light Ball Orchestra, when we hit one of the big balls, it will not only change the color but also compose different sounds, orchestrating vibrant music. In Sketch Aquarium, teachers demonstrated the power of creative imagination by sketching their own sea creature and bringing it to life in the digital aquarium by scanning it. Before exiting into the reality again, the 3-dimensional light space blew our imagination into a crystal universe, where our movements affected the light particles and created changes in the installation. 

​Digital Pavilion offered teachers a look into IT-related products in its ubiquitous lifestyle experience center. In iCar, teachers could design their own car on a tablet PC. In iComestic, teachers could choose the style that best suited them from the virtual make-up images and find the product recommendations. Digital Pavilion demonstrated to us how technology advancements could be applied in our daily life. 

​In the KBS tour, teachers experienced radio and television broadcasting production firsthand. In the radio drama studio, teachers experienced how the voices of the characters could be dubbed in the production process. In 9 o'clock news corner, teachers had the chance to act as news reporters and worked out the dialogues within the time limit.

​Korea is well-known for its pop culture. Unexpectedly, after the visit to the Digital Pavilion, teachers witnessed how K-pop fans worshipped their idols as there was a music function nearby. Hundreds of K-pop fans gathered under a huge screen, cheering and yelling with excitement whenever they saw their idols appear on screen in the music video. A little away from the screen, close to the street, another hundreds of fans queued up, hoping just to have a glance of their idols upon their arrival!

Their School Head, Ms Nam, did a friendly opening speech with a comprehensive slideshow projected at the back with English subtitles. We were all amazed to know that Ms Nam's old son was a graduate in Beijing! This gave a great bonding between us.

Their staff taught us to make a "Traditional Patterned Mirror" as a souvenir. It was quite a challenge for us as it needed very advanced folding techniques! But the end products were beautiful!

We paid a visit to their history lesson. The children at the back were interested, again, in Mr Richard! Although they spoke limited English, they were eager to converse with Mr Richard as well as some other teachers of YWPS. And this lesson was conducted in groups through tablets. It was not a surprise at all considering the technological standard of Korea.

Just next door, we came into another class which, interestingly, we had very little information about. We could see that the children were sitting in groups doing some activities with fake money. The children seemed very focused and excited about the task.

Before we left, we could briefly observe the children's outdoor activities. That could be their PE lesson, I was not sure. But the children were all enjoying their ball games and free running on their large playground. Children do need space to vent out their energy so that they can calm down during lessons! Agree?

It is always most effective to impress others with your unique cultural acts. These junior students played us a traditional tune with a great Korean flavour. Their outfit was so sharp! Their attitude was so welcoming!

The Head of School Mr Lee in the library. Note that he was wearing indoor footwear as a usual custom in this country. This gives one a "home" feeling in the school.

Mrs Ho and Mr Tam were glad meeting students passing by in their rush hour for lunch! The School Head was proudly watching over.

Mr Richard was so popular even in Korea! He was obviously overwhelmed by the super excited girls welcoming a foreigner! 

Mr Dick "intruded" their maths class with most of them still outdoors working on a maths activity. Mr Dick found that students there were learning about angles. This teacher did not find us disturbing at all!

Their energetic and animate English Native-speaking Teacher was doing a fun sharing with a senior class. A female translator was assisting throughout the lesson.

Happy classrooms bring happy learning! Every classroom in this elementary school was very well decorated with students' colourful work. Students seemed to enjoy viewing the pieces too!