Opportunities

Completed Experiential Learning Projects

Read the World Programme

In 2015, HKU students attended Ronald McDonald House Charities’ first school-based English reading programme – Read The World as volunteers, to empower the less privileged students (Primary 1 to 3) by enabling them to learn and develop good reading habits while having fun with books. The programme features interactive English reading sessions with the guidance of Reading Buddies and a bookshelf full of selected English books donated to each participant.

Before the launch of the programme, a training session to volunteers was conducted by Dr. Gary Harfitt along with participation of students from the Faculty of Education.

 

 

Bringing Books to Life: Reading Aloud with Kids4Kids Buddy Reading Programme

Since 2010, Kids4Kids’ Buddy Reading Programme has been developing children’s cognitive abilities, positive values and interest in reading by enhancing language competence and nurturing thinking skills through shared reading.

Students of the Faculty of Education started participating in the Buddy Reading Programme in 2015. Having received training on how to read aloud and how to try and bring books alive for the benefit of their audience, HKU students visited Kids4Kids centres and acted as volunteer readers for young children with no access to books at home. Volunteers were required to apply their text analysis and curriculum development skills in the reading programme.

Video about Kids4Kids’ Buddy Reading Programme

 

Experiential Learning Tours in Cambodia and Vietnam

In collaboration with 2 NGOs – Pathfinder and Protect & Empower All Children through Education (PEACE), experiential learning tours to Cambodia and Vietnam were held in December 2015 and January 2016 respectively. Apart from conducting research on and identifying needs in the particular communities, HKU students were given opportunities to apply their knowledge and skills, e.g. by delivering teaching and education-related activities to the children in Cambodia and Vietnam. A follow-up trip to Cambodia was organised in June 2016 to review the effectiveness of English video learning programme designed by HKU students.

Video about Students’ Sharing on Learning Experience in Cambodia

Video about Students’ Sharing on Learning Experience in Vietnam

 

Support to Other Learning Experience (OLE) Exchange Programme to Guangzhou

To help students learn to be aware of the welfare of others and establish a platform for them and mainland students to interact and learn from each other, Good Hope School has been sending all Secondary 3 students to mainland China every year on a 2-day English exchange starting from 2014.

In 2015, students in the Faculty of Education, HKU participated in the programme by providing training to Good Hope students on lesson delivery, basic classroom management and teaching techniques before commencement of the exchange programme. During the trip to China, HKU students continued assisting the Good Hope girls by providing pedagogical support.

 

An Experiential Approach to Learning and Teaching in a Regional Educational Institution - Immersion Programme in Thailand

This project aims to support the BEd&BSc students and the teachers of a Thailand international school to develop an understanding of Science education in a different cultural context.

BEd&BSc students attended workshops at HKU before they participated in a two week’s immersion in Thailand in June 2016. During the immersion period, BEd&BSc students observed lessons taught by their mentor teachers, developed materials for the lessons they taught for Thai pupils and organised Science activities for students there.

 

Experiential Learning Tour At Wuhan, China

In the summer of 2016, 12 students from the Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences of the Faculty of Education visited Zhongnan Hospital, Hubei Province Rehabilitation Center in Wuhan and two more rehabilitation centers in the satellite areas of Wuhan. During the visit, they provided seminars, demonstration sessions to teachers, rehabilitation practitioners, students from the School of Nursing of Wuhan University and parents of children with special needs.  In return, they also observed the clinical sessions of some of the rehabilitation practitioners, who had attended their seminars and workshops, to see how well they have translated the skills learnt previously. On top of these, the students paid home visits to 8 children from the Hubei Province Rehabilitation Center.  During home visits, we investigated the feeding and communication abilities and needs of children during their daily routines.  Intervention skills applicable in a home environment were demonstrated and recommended. 

This visit provided our students with opportunities to apply the knowledge about speech and language development, speech therapy skills, information counselling skills and service management skills in a community where the official language and dialect, infrastructure of rehabilitation services, education background of their collaborators and availability of service are all different from those in Hong Kong. The visit has also enabled our students to consider and realize the importance of service sustainability and consequently motivated them to develop realistic therapeutic plans and materials that are understandable, functional and applicable in the community where their clients stay.  Our students had demonstrated a strong ability to adapt and lead. They have also learned to see speech therapy from a different perspective.

Sharing by Speech and Hearing Sciences students