Faculty Workshops, Events, Conferences

Panel I － English Education in Hong Kong: Now and in the Future

Language: Cantonese 語言：廣東話 Date: 9 September 2021 (Thursday) Time: 18:00-19:00 (Online ZOOM)

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER (PANEL I)

Before enrolling in university, most students complete 12 years of study at public or government-aided schools, where English is one of the compulsory subjects. Although the education system in Hong Kong ranks high in the world and a lot of public resources has been spent on education (especially in promoting the use of ICT),  the claim that standards of English are falling in Hong Kong can still be heard from time to time. In this session, we invite three experts to talk about their experience in the current and future development of English education. The panel will discuss the following:

• - What are the strengths and weaknesses of the education systems in Hong Kong and the UK?
• - Is English standard really falling in Hong Kong, as claimed?
• - Is grammar learning in schools still important?

Speakers (click to view profile):

Mr. Alfred Tsang (Moderator), Lecturer in English, HKUST; Columnist, HKEJ Monthly

Dr. Paul Sze, Honorary Professional Consultant, Faculty of Education, CUHK

Mr. Richard Eng, Co-founder and Academic Director (English Subjects), Beacon Group

Mr. Samuel Chan, Managing Director of Britannia

 

Panel II － Science Communicator, Science educator, and science edutainer

Language: Cantonese 語言：廣東話 Date: 16 September 2021 (Thursday) Time: 18:00-19:00 (Online ZOOM)

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER (PANEL II)

Popular science is an interpretation of science intended for a general audience. In the past decade, more and more science communicators are actively introducing different science-related topics interestingly to the public in Hong Kong. Although science communication is helpful for the general audience to gain knowledge of the science topics, can it be considered science education? In this session, we invite three science communicators in Hong Kong to discuss the current trends of pop science and how they have taken practices from science communication into science education. The panel will discuss the following:

• － What is the value of pop science?
• － How would you communicate science differently to different audiences?
• － How would you suggest educators or parents raise students’ interest in science?

Speakers (click to view profile):

Ms. Fiona Ho (Moderator), Lecturer in English, HKUST 何思嫺女士, 香港科技大學語文教育中心英文講師

Dr. David Yu, PhD, Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Germany 余海峯博士, 德國馬克斯普朗克地外物理研究所天體物理學博士

Dr. Helen Ma, Science Communicator 馬學綸博士, 科學傳播研究者

Dr. Karen Mak, Science Communicator 麥嘉慧博士, 自由科普作者

 

Registration is now open! (registration link to be updated) After completing the registration process, you will receive a confirmation email with the zoom link for the respective panel. Should you have any problems registering, please contact us by e-mail at lcnickwong@ust.hk, including relevant information you can (e.g. screenshot). We will gladly assist you. We very much look forward to seeing you this September online!

 

About the speaker:

Mr. Alfred Tsang (Moderator), Lecturer in English, HKUST; Columnist, HKEJ Monthly

Alfred Tsang received an MPhil degree from Faculty of English, University of Cambridge. He is currently Lecturer at the Center for Language Education, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He teaches Academic English courses with a focus on Humanities and Social Sciences, at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Alfred is committed to researching into issues related to language, education and society. His column, Be Anglophonic, appears on The Hong Kong Economic Journal Monthly, where he writes about English language and literature, as well as language teaching and learning.

 

About the speaker:

Dr Paul Sze, Honorary Professional Consultant, Faculty of Education, CUHK

Paul Sze’s professional career has centred around English Language education. He was formerly a secondary school teacher, a schools inspector with the Education Bureau of the HK Government, a lecturer at Northcote College of Education, and a senior lecturer of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is now an Honorary Professional Consultant of the Department. Dr Sze is currently teaching ELT methodology courses on the MA ELT and PGDE programmes at CUHK. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Linguists.

About the speaker:

Mr. Richard Eng, Co-founder and Academic Director (English Subjects), Beacon Group

Mr. Richard Eng obtained his master’s degree in Applied Linguistics at the University of Hong Kong. He is now pursuing a doctoral degree at the same university. His area of interest is in Second Language Writing. Mr. Eng has been teaching English to upper secondary students in Hong Kong for over 30 years and has also written a number of reference books on English grammar and skill-building for local public examinations such as the HKDSE and the now defunct HKALE. His teaching methodology has attracted the attention of media outlets such as BBC, CNN, Agence France-Presse, and Asiaweek.

About the speaker:

Samuel Chan, Managing Director of Britannia

Managing Director of Britannia StudyLink, an experienced education consultant and columnist for various Hong Kong media. He was born in Hong Kong and went to the UK at the age of nine and spent eight years at Gresham’s Preparatory School in Norfolk. Then, he progressed smoothly through the British education system, ending up at the University of Nottingham with a degree in Economics and completing his postgraduate studies at the University of Warwick.

Samuel co-founded Britannia StudyLink in 2012 with an aim to transform Hong Kong’s overseas education consultancy market. He introduced UKiset to Hong Kong families in 2014 and Atom Learning in 2020. By the end of 2018, every 1 in 3 Hong Kong students studying at a UK Independent School had come through Britannia. 

About the speaker:

Ms Fiona Ho, Lecturer at the Center for Language Education HKUST

何思嫺女士, 香港科技大學語文教育中心講師

Fiona joined the Center for Language Education (CLE) at HKUST in 2016 and taught a range of undergraduate courses. In the past few years, she led The Informal Curriculum for Language Learning (iLANG) team and students to organise events which successfully raised students‘ interest in English language and complement their academic learning. She believes the important factors which motivate students to learn are mutual trust and respect. 自2016年加入香港科技大學語文教育中心以來，Fiona教授了一系列深受學生喜愛和歡迎的課程。在過去幾年，她作為iLANG統籌帶領團隊成員為學生舉辦了豐富的課外語言學習活動。這些活動既激發了學生對英語學習的興趣，又幫助提升了他們的學術能力。她深信，師生間的互相信任和尊重是學生學習的重要動力。

About the speaker:

Dr. David Yu, PhD, Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Germany

余海峯博士, 德國馬克斯普朗克地外物理研究所天體物理學博士

Dr Yu is an Astrophysicist working in the Faculty of Science, HKU. He obtained his PhD in Astrophysics on topics of Gamma-Ray Bursts from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Germany. He worked as a Postdoctoral Research fellow at the Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, Depute-Editor-in-Chief of "Physics Bimonthly", Physical Society of Taiwan, and Programme Host of the TV talk show "Science Night", RTHK TV31. He also authored many popular science books, including the award-winning "Time - A Spacetime Journey of Astronomy and Physics". 余海峯博士是個在香港大學理學院工作的天體物理學家。他從德國馬克斯普朗克地外物理研究所得到天體物理學博士學位。他曾於瑞典皇家理工學院任博士後研究員、台灣物理學會《物理雙月刊》任副總編輯，以及香港電台電視31清談節目《五夜講場－真係好科學》任節目主持。他亦是許多科學普及書藉的作者，包括獲得不少奬項的《宙-天文物理時空之旅》。

About the speaker:

Dr. Helen Ma, Science Communicator

馬學綸博士，科學傳播研究者

Dr. Helen Ma, PhD in Microbiology, is a Science Communicator active on TV shows (Science Night 2018-2021 and Tutor Online 2020 on RTHK31), social media and popular science writings (The News Lens). Dr. Ma is the Associate Programme Director (Science Education Programme “SciTouch”) of Audio Description Association (Hong Kong) and Education Committee of Hong Kong Astronomical Society and an experienced Docent of Hong Kong Science Museum. 馬學綸博士，香港中文大學微生物學博士，現為科學傳播研究者。曾任科普電視節目主持(港台電視31：五夜講場－真係好科學 2018-2021、上網問功課－同行抗疫)，定期在網上平台發表科普文章(關鍵評論網)。馬博士亦是香港口述影像協會副課程總監 (科學教育計劃「觸聲一族」)、香港天文學會教育委員及資深香港科學館導賞員。

About the speaker:

Dr. Karen Mak, Science Communicator

麥嘉慧博士, 自由科普作者

Dr. Karen Mak is a science communicator and teacher since she finished her PhD at HKUST. Over the last 17 years, she has been teaching courses such as general education and Bioanalytics to MSc students at universities locally and overseas. Karen has been actively contributing to popsci where she can be found as a popular guest host on TV programmes. She can also be found in various media outlets to explain everyday, sometimes profound, science. An English book entitled ‘Biotechnology in Cartoons’ was translated into Cantonese by her. Her involvement in an EDB funded project developing STEM activities for secondary students has been recognised. To help her fans to understand the scientific world, she has her own instagram account, FaceBook page and YouTube channel. 麥嘉慧博士，人稱Karen博士、麥博。現為自由科普作者，亦是電視／網絡科普節目中老是常出現的主持。2004年畢業於香港科技大學後便踏上教師之路。曾於新加坡國立大學任教3年，2008年回港先後在本地幾間大學工作，教授通識教育以至化學碩士課程。譯有《卡通生物科技》（英譯粵／中）。她還有在自己的 Instagram、面書粉絲專頁和YouTube頻道傳遞科學知識。