Fabula est vestri - The Story is Yours : Hong Kong Trip (Part 1)

My recent trip to Hong Kong & Macau had been both enriching and humbling for me. Within the span of a week, we visited 1 university, 1 school in Macau , 2 schools in Hong Kong and two corporate organizations - SIA (HK) Subsidiary & Ocean Park plus a trip to an old fishing village to learn about sustainability living and eco-tourism. I will give a short overview on the organizations that my team had visited.

Singapore International School (Hong Kong) {SISHK}
新加坡國際學校(香港）

SIS HK offers students 15 years of education in one campus from Kindergarten to IB. The school primarily caters to Singaporeans working in Hong Kong. The school population is made up of 50% Singaporeans. The youngest pupil in SIS HK is 3 years 8 months whereas the oldest student is 18 years old. Primary school students do not take PSLE at the end of Primary 6 as the school terms starts in August. All students would be promoted to secondary level if they meet a 55% in their overall assessment and a Pass in the English subject. Principal Mr Pek Wee Haur is passionate about bilingualism, and felt that their competitive edge over the other international schools would be the Singapore brand of education and that Chinese is being taught in the school.

Visit to Singapore International School ( Hong Kong)

When you step into SIS (HK), you step into Singapore - Flag raising and singing of National Anthem

Cher Hern , Look what they are using

A classroom

Dialogue session with SIS (HK) School Leadership Team

City University of Hong Kong (香港城市大學)

City University of Hong Kong (City U) is a culturally rich campus with 18,000 students from Hong Kong, mainland China and more than 30 countries/regions. They have an international team of faculty of which 70% of professors are recruited from overseas. Dr David Cheng, the Vice-President of City University of Hong Kong, shared that the range and robustness of the overseas exchange programmes by City University would be a major selling point to Hong Kong students, as City University has 46 exchange partners in the US, 36 in UK,24 in Canada, 16 in Australia and 253 in the rest of the world. Over 2000 City University students participate in internships every year with nearly 30% of opportunities outside Hong Kong.

With Dr David Cheng, Vice-President (Hong Kong-Macau External Office - City U)

Fresh Fish Traders' School (鮮魚行學校)

Please see report here.

Escola Sao Paulo (St Paul School) ( Macau)
聖保祿學校

The school is very well equipped in terms of IT infrastructure, with every student from Primary Four to Form Six (spanning 9 years) learning in an e-classroom, with tablet computers and interactive lessons replacing textbooks and blackboards. This was the “Classroom 2012" project initiated by the school to transform traditional teacher-centred learning into an e-learning or ‘paperless’ school. Through several partnerships with different companies, government funding and autonomy in managing school resources, the school is able to provide free education and a strong IT learning environment for students from lower and middle class backgrounds.

Recorded an ICT lesson on Preposition (P4)

Watch this also - Activity Time

Ocean Park (海洋公園)

Ocean Park, located on the southern side of Hong Kong Island, is not just an amusement park but one that features a diverse selection of world class animal attractions, thrill rides and shows which remains the top theme park in Hong Kong aims to provide elements of entertainment, education and conservation. The current park covers more than 915,000 square metres of land and is divided between the Waterfront and the Summit which are connected by the cable car with breathtaking views and Ocean Express funicular train. Operated by the Ocean Park Corporation, a statutory board, it is a not-for-profit organization that aims to inspire life-long learning.

The Learning and Development manager gave us a 30-minute presentation of Ocean Park, followed by question and answer. We learned about the vision and core values of Ocean Park to connect people with nature. She also shared the success factors of how Ocean Park managed to be the first recipient in Asia to achieve the prestigious Applause Award and was recognized as the world’s best theme park. In fact in 2014, it hosted a record of 7.8 million visitors breaking the record of 7.5 million set the previous year and attracts more visitors than HK Disneyland.

Nightly debrief session to consolidate learnings and insights

Singapore Airlines (SIA-HK)
新加坡航空公司(香港)

The General Manager of SIA (HK) briefed us on the company's corporate culture and talent management process. He also gave us an overview of how the airline industry works and how SIA(HK) positions herself in a very competitive industry.

With GM of SIA (HK)