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Scotland Educational Trip - Day 6

5/3/2018

8 Comments

 
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At Glasgow Academy
Do we only teach for excellence? How would the curriculum be shaped like if it wasn't the case?

Today we were fortunate enough to have visited two brilliant schools in Glasgow which might not be the so-called traditionally elite schools.
Glasgow Academy impressed us with a campus filled with "human touch". The politeness of students, words of praise posted on boards, posters hand-drawn by students, or even the funny Christmas video the Headteacher showed us featuring a story written by their students and played by both staff and students...all these are examples of this school's supportive and friendly environment, which is a very happy feature of the school.
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The ambassadors were very helpful and cheerful. But beside them, I grabbed the opportunity chatting with those having lessons as well. This boy on the left picture, Oliver, was happy with his "stylish" bottle painted by his sister. I wondered what bad thing he did to her to make her stain his bottle with such "toxic" ink! But Oliver didn't seem to mind at all!
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Q1: We happened to witness the Glasgow Academy's International Week. In the Chinese Booth of the fair, could you tell/guess which two activities were offered?

​

The next school we visited was St. Roch's Secondary School, which is the only state (government) school that hosts us in this trip. ​
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While the school might not be the wealthiest, their inclusive education policy touched us a lot.  Especially, their "Deaf Education" is exemplary. The school takes in all students with sign language needs from Glasgow and as a result they have 30+ students with this need. It offers great challenge to the staff and many of them needed to learn the sign language so as to support these children.
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Keren Mingole is one of the deaf children studying in St. Roch's. She was invited to share with us her learning experience in this school and how she fought her way to doing well in school. Watch the video to understand her background and her achievement.

Q2: The interpreter spoke with a Scottish accent which may be a bit tricky for Hong Kong students. Try to listen to him several times to get the idea. Do you understand what sort of difficulties Keren needs to get through and what achievement she had got?
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I had a happy chat with Mr Donnelly, one of the deaf education teachers who helped Keren, and gave him a copy of my literary journal so that he could pass it to Keren. I'm glad I found two poetry lovers in two days!
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In the end of the school visit, Mrs Lam gave each of those student ambassadors a "Snoopy" file for serving her well. All were happy in the end.

Getting back to the first question: Do we only teach for excellence? Well, the "love" I could sense in these two schools was already the "excellence" which every school should be working for.

Day 7 has something great to happen. Stay tuned.
8 Comments
Geoff Wong 6A(30)
5/4/2018 09:47:24 pm

What a wonderful day! I could not imagine how Keren Mingole accommodate her school life. It must be extremely hard. Now, I want to answer Dr.Lee's question 1 and 2:
Question 1: In the Chinese Booth of the fair, I think the students happened to have an experiment about using chopsticks (as seen in the photo) and tried writing in Chinese brush. This must be a great attempt for them!
Question 2: Yes, I do. The communication with others in Scotland is her biggest difficulty and that's why she join this school. With a enormous persistence, she won a poetry competition successfully. We should all learn from her.
Thanks for sharing these two amazing schools, and especially Keren's learning experience. It is very very encouraging as well as touching.
I wonder what great thing is going to happen tomorrow. I will be back tomorrow. Have a good day!!!!!

Reply
Bernard Ng
5/4/2018 10:08:59 pm

It is a pleasure to be the first one commenting on this essay.
I wish our school could have projects like the ones in the Glasgow Academy. Children would have more fun while doing projects but not boring and dull homework!(They could also have done homework twice a month!)
I think I’m a bit jeolous of Oliver, as he has a unique water bottle that is the only one in the world. It was super ultra awesome cool!!! I wish I could have a bottle like his with the name and cool pictures on it. If I were him, I would really thank his sister for this idea.
For the first question, a big tip is given and one answer is known. The two kids were holding chopsticks in front of the two bowls, and one of the activities is the students try to hold chopsticks and differ the marbles and the blocks in the bowls by using the chopsticks they’ve never used ( or seldom).
For the second one, is it the teachers asking questions about where are the locations of the architectures and items are?By looking at the pictures pinned on the wall, that’s what I thought of(AT LEAST I THINK HAHAHA)


Reply
Bernard Ng link
5/4/2018 10:11:08 pm

Um... not the first one.
Sigh.
I started doing it when there was zero comments. But I stopped for a while and ...

Reply
Bernard Ng
5/4/2018 10:20:54 pm

For Q. 2,I could just only hear that she could not say anything. Her language was never improved before going to St. Roch’s.

Reply
Colman Wong 6B 30
5/5/2018 05:50:48 pm

Well, in Hong Kong most parents certainly care for the marks A LOT like they are the most important thing in all of the universe.
Also, the students in Class 6B would certainly be happy doing projects like the ones in Glasgow.

My answer for Question One is: I guess they could try using chopsticks and write using a Chinese writing brush.

For question two, it is: I kinda think so. Keren could not hear what she said, so she probably was really bad at English. But in the end, she probably won in an English competition of some sort.

Reply
Jacob Wong 6A 29
5/7/2018 10:38:04 pm

well, another visiting school things ,I always find these kind of things interesting.For Q.1, I think they are writing Chinese words and learning to use chopsticks, I wonder if there is anything about Scotland we can learn in YWPS? For Q.2, I think the main problem Keren has to face is that she is deaf and she doesn't have a language to speak, and she has issues learning because also, she is deaf, I really feel bad for her because she has some issues from her body so she can't learn like us.

Reply
6B12
5/8/2018 05:38:33 pm

Well, I think tha the two activities offered are chinese calligraphy and chinese art. Unlike most HK students , the students in glasglow acedemy are more open minded,they eill not feel upset even though someone stained their water bottle

Reply
Angus Chung 6A (5)
5/8/2018 09:19:34 pm

I love the water bottle that the student painted, I think the painting on the water bottle is beautiful. I want to draw on my water bottle too

Reply



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