With pigtails, freckles and a contagious smile, Phoebe Tse Wing-han blends right in with the children waiting for their classes to start.
The only difference is that she's 29 years old and the pioneer of their controversial way of learning.
Not only has she thrown out the despised grammar books, she has also done away with Hong Kong's notorious rote-learning.
Unlike traditional learning centres where children between the ages of three and 12 learn the different components of English - reading, writing, listening, speaking and grammar - separately, Ms Tse's learning centre, Readership, offers a literacy programme using a 'whole language' approach.
'It just doesn't make sense to learn the skills separately. When you use a language, you use the skills together and I believe the best way to learn a language is through the 'whole language' approach.'
Through reading stories and even comics, children can assimilate language naturally, the way they learn their mother tongue, she says. 'I also advocate lateral thinking, which most Chinese students are not taught. Here, after reading I Want My Potty by Tony Ross, the children are asked to think of different ways of using a potty. They love doing this and they think it's really funny.'