It has always been my ambition and interest to teach Chinese and commit myself to the promotion of Chinese culture. I have been teaching students from different backgrounds, including local students, mainland students, international students, university staff and embassy and consulate officials in Hong Kong.
My teaching philosophy can be summarized as follows:
- People say, “Give a man fish, and you feed him for a day; show him how to catch fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” The ultimate goal of learning is the acquisition of the ability to make appropriate choices in the learning process, and to be productive and competent lifelong learners.
- Albert Einstein once said, “Interest is the best teacher.” Interest can give students motivation and help them maximize their potentials, which will bring them lifelong benefits.
- Teaching and learning are mutually beneficial. To improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning, both teachers and students should communicate and interact with each other. It is of utmost importance to identify and understand students’ needs, abilities and interests to tailor make each lesson for them.
Professional Interests
Chinese Language Materials Writing
Curriculum and Syllabus Development
Curriculum Evaluation
Course Design
Scholarship
2025
Working Paper
READING ACQUISITION AND REFLECTIONS AMONG SOUTH ASIAN STUDENTS AT TERTIARY LEVEL IN HONG KONG
ZHOU, Tong
READING ACQUISITION AND REFLECTIONS AMONG SOUTH ASIAN STUDENTS AT TERTIARY LEVEL IN HONG KONG
ZHOU Tong, lczhoutong@ust.hk, and CHAN Lam Yim, lccrystal@ust.hk
ABSTRACT
The Hong Kong Education Bureau has promoted Chinese language education for South Asian ethnic minorities to support social integration. Although these measures have been implemented for a decade, there is still limited official data on the Chinese proficiency of this group. With increasing numbers of South Asian students entering Hong Kong's higher education institutions, there is a growing need to understand their learning situation and improve teaching approaches.
This study examines reading acquisition among South Asian undergraduates with prior knowledge of traditional Chinese characters and Cantonese. Preliminary findings indicate that while students benefit from their understanding of character radicals and ability to write traditional characters, they face challenges in recognizing simplified characters, particularly those significantly different in form. The study suggests that teachers should better understand students' linguistic backgrounds and provide targeted support, such as comparative materials on traditional and simplified characters and conversion rules.
Reference
Chun Lai, Chung-Pui Tai (2021) Types of social media activities and Hong Kong South and Southeast Asians Youth’s Chinese language learning motivation. System, 97.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0346251X20307922?via%3Dihub
Danping Wang, (2023) Translanguaging as a social justice strategy: the case of teaching Chinese to ethnic minority students in Hong Kong. Asia Pacific Education Review, 24, Pages 473–486.
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s12564-022-09795-0.pdf
David C.S. Li, Joanne Y.P. Chuk (2015). South Asian students' needs for Cantonese and written Chinese in Hong Kong: a linguistic study. International Journal of Multilingualism. 12, No. 2, 210–224.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2015.1009375
Education Bureau. (2024, July 8). Education services for non-Chinese speaking (NCS) students.
https://www.edb.gov.hk/en/student-parents/ncs-students/about-ncs-students/index.html
2024
Conference Paper / Presentation
Chinese Reading Acquisition and Reflections among South Asian Students in Hong Kong: A Study of Tertiary Education Level
Chen, Crystal; Zhou, Tong
Source: Paper presented at Association Internationale de Linguistique Appliquée (AILA 2024)
2022
Conference Paper / Presentation
Blended Learning Application for Chinese Courses for Non-Chinese Background Students at HKUST
Liang, Xin; Luo, Jing; Wong, Lok Yee Lorraine; Yuan, Su; Zhou, Tong
Source: Paper presented at The Association of Hong Kong Language Centres (AHKLC) Inaugural Symposium 2022
To cater to the varied learning backgrounds, needs and diverse proficiency levels of the non-Chinese background students at the HK University of Science, since June 2021 onwards, the Center for Language Education has been designing the new Chinese curriculum. The new curriculum offers three speaking and listening courses and two reading and writing courses based on the results of the needs analysis. In order to boost students’ spirit of inquiry and facilitate collaborative and self-directed learning, blended learning is adopted in the instructional design of the five new courses. This study will introduce the blended learning design of the five courses including the course design process, the models and technology used, and will explore the challenges that the course developers are meeting in the design process.
2010
Conference Paper / Presentation
對外漢語課程網上練習‘我的漢語課堂’的設計理念
Zhou, Tong
Source: Paper presented at 第八屆中文電化教學國際研討會