Week 3

July 3rd - July 9th 

I was stunned while being told the classes would end in week 4, as schools would have summer vacations then and the centre would change its schedule accordingly. I had to change my teaching plans and end the class quick and nicely. It was quite a challenge, but my agility had served me well. 

Topic for primary school kids was about quantity, but I managed to put in some science education contents by using them as examples. To better understand the ability of my students, I did some research on the syllabus of Hong Kong primary schools. In the end, most of the contents were math knowledge that children have learnt in school in Chinese, but there were also some further concepts for them to explore. The outcome was marvellous. During the classes, we went from 1 to 1 trillion with scientific notation, and everyone was following! I ended the classes with a classical scientific video called “The Powers of Ten”, and I was really impressed by children’s enthusiasm towards it. In the process, two kids kept repeating every number they saw, while amazed by the journey from a picnic stand to the entire known universe. I concluded the class by pointing out that most human knowledge today is written with English, which should more or less kindled their interest for the language. 

Topic for kindergarten kids was about directions. The classes went smoothly, although from my hindsight it may be a little bit dull. We went through eight basic map directions, practiced them with some simple map example, explored direction words in daily life, practiced again, then tried some colours in the end. This process was actually inspired by some early education textbooks, which was safe and approachable for young children but not exciting enough. Maybe given another chance, I would try to combine more interesting things into the general structure. Still, in the later stage of the classes, I managed to include a picture using Cartesian coordinate system as an illustration for daily directions. Hopefully this way of thinking can leave some impression in their mind. 

In a summary, this week was still quite successful. I learnt to combine newly acquired skills, which are mainly about early education, with my old abilities, and to create an innovation combination of both. I believe such self-awareness and creativity would be much helpful for my future life.