Issues seminar provokes thought
An interactive workshop conducted by the Equal Opportunities Commission gave sixth formers of SKH Lam Kau Mow Secondary School, Sha Tin, an opportunity to explore ideas not usually discussed in their formal classes.
Native English-speaking teacher (NET) Simon Chaplin, who has been teaching in the school for about two years, decided to combine the English lesson with a discussion of social issues. Mr Chaplin said learning English could be made enjoyable by forging a link with elements of daily life. He hoped the unusual seminar topics had stimulated students' critical thinking.
'During the discussion session, they had to express their opinions in English,' he said.
'Not many of them participate actively in English classes, but when we divided them into small groups, they had more chances to speak English.'
Equal Opportunities Commission special projects manager George Bisas was invited to host the workshop. By encouraging students to participate in games and case study exercises Mr Bisas hoped to illustrate some concepts of equal opportunity in Hong Kong.
He asked students to give him adjectives for different groups of people such as lawyers, men, domestic helpers, homosexuals and newcomers from mainland China. This enabled him to explain something about preconceptions and prejudice.
'Equal opportunity is about challenge and change of some views which are mostly stereotypes,' he said.
'Stereotyping is where you believe that just because people are members of a particularly visible group they have certain attributes.'
Mr Bisas introduced students to cases that demonstrated how discrimination was destructive to society and unfair to some groups of people. He urged students to see people as individuals - not a representative of some group.
Jimmy Tsui Wai-hin, 17, did not find the topic relevant to his daily life, but he enjoyed using English as the language of instruction in this format. He said the workshop was more interesting than sitting in class doing exercises all the time.
Wai-hin said his spoken English had improved considerably through his experience with a NET, and believed the need to use English when talking to a NET was effective.
'As we are forced to speak English with Mr Chaplin because he doesn't understand Cantonese, we have more chances to use the language. I feel less embarrassed to speak English with foreigners because they understand our English is not so fluent,' Wai-hin said.
Sixth former Ray Wong Hang-chung, 17, said the games and case studies made him remember the concepts more vividly.
Hong Kong students were too passive to answer questions and speak out in class, according to Native English-speaking Teacher (NET) Simon Chaplin.
In his experience of working with students in Hong Kong, Mr Chaplin had found it particularly interesting that senior students had seemed more reluctant than junior students to speak for fear of making mistakes.
'When I was teaching in Australia, the whole class raised their hands to answer questions,' he said.
'Now I hardly see one hand because students are scared to make mistakes.'
The social issues workshop was designed to cultivate a more relaxed environment for students to engage in discussion.
They could also enjoy the process of communicating, Mr Chaplin said.
Graphic: ardistglo
