Our President’s Award Winner
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Dr Juliana Chau and President Timothy Tong |
Juliana Chau, an ELC lecturer, received a President’s Award in November for her excellent performance and achievements in Teaching. She joined the ELC in September 1998 and is a dedicated and professional teacher.
Close to completing her PhD, Juliana has been the Project Leader of a project to develop a web-based English language exit portfolio for undergraduate students. She has published widely on the subject of ePortfolios and participated at seminars and conferences as a leading figure in the provision of cutting edge ePortfolios for English language learning in Hong Kong. She has also contributed to teaching development studies with HK Baptist University and the HK Institute of Education.
As an advisor to the Education Bureau on language learning, Juliana has been involved in promoting excellence in teaching among colleagues in the tertiary sector. She has also served as an RTHK advisor on television programmes and has contributed to voluntary programmes such as the Po Leung Kuk / Foreign Correspondents’ Club Language Training Programme.
We are very proud of Juliana’s achievements and congratulate her on her well-deserved Award.
What the Presidents’ Award means to me ...
The President’s Award definitely counts as one of the highlights of my eleven years at the ELC. Despite being named the individual recipient, I owe the award to many collective hearts and minds. The students, in particular, have made teaching a journey of discovery, where I have learned to focus not on what is, but on what can be. I am pleased the President’s Award has affirmed that what can be is a matter of choice and sensible judgment, not a condition.
For me, the challenge ahead is to continue to explore and adopt learning methods appropriate to students’ varying needs and abilities, giving recognition to their accomplishments as well as aspirations. One way to realise this is through the ELC ePortfolio, designed as a tool to enrich and enhance language learning.
Ever wondered why you should create an ELC ePortfolio …
Because an ELC ePortfolio can:
- give you opportunities for additional practice in English;
- help you showcase evidence of English learning progress and achievements to teachers, peers and employers in digital format;
- help you set short- and long-term learning goals, track progress, reflect on your learning experience and gain an understanding of how to learn more effectively;
- learn from advice or comments given by others about your work.
For more information about ELC Portfolios click here.
Juliana Chau
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Helton Tang, Voyce Li, Dr Juliana Chau, Dr Bruce Morrison (Director of ELC), Andrew Morrall and Dr Freeman Chan |
An ELC project team won a Faculty Award in 2009 for its outstanding performance in developing an online assessment bench-marking tool – ELCAS – to assist teachers achieve consistency and inter-rater reliability in grading assessed assignments.
The project team members – Freeman Chan, Andrew Morrall, Voyce Li and Helton Tang have worked closely since 2006 to carry out needs analyses, write programmes, conduct evaluation surveys, conduct trouble shooting work, improve and further develop the programmes. The ELCAS functions are:
- keeping web-based records of all the bench-mark grades and the corresponding assessment standardisation scripts and videos; and
- providing online rater-training for both written and oral assessments of credit-bearing subjects.
ELCAS, which has received positive comments from users for its user-friendliness and flexibility, can be a useful reference for other departments that are considering developing a similar tool.
Freeman Chan
We would like to invite you to the English Festival: ‘A Salute to the 90s’ which will be held on campus 1-4 February 2010.
The English Festival 2010 is jointly organized by student bodies supported by the English Language Centre, including the English Club, English Drama Club (EDC), English Reading Group, and the PolyU International Film Society (PIFS). This event targets at all PolyU students and we are expecting over 1000 students and staff will take part in it this year.
The featured theme this year is ‘A salute to the 90s’, aiming to review the achievements of the 1990s, the time when most of our students were born.
All our activities are designed and developed by our students. These activities include booth games, a performance of Pygmalion by the EDC and a movie series ‘The colour of the 1990s’ shown by PIFS. Click here for the programme details.
The Festival was kicked off by the EDC’s annual performance, Pygmalion, an adaptation of Bernard Shaw’s work, on Monday 1 February at 7.15pm in the Chiang Chen Studio Theatre.
We look forward to welcoming you to this year’s English Festival.
Loon Liu
Symposium on the Challenges of the 4-year Curriculum
In June the ELC will host a symposium on the challenges of the 4-year curriculum for English Language Centres in Hong Kong.
The Symposium aims to bring together those working in each of Hong Kong’s tertiary sector language centres so that they can share experiences, reflect upon practice and examine ways in which the centres might best prepare for the challenges and opportunities presented by the introduction of the four-year undergraduate university curriculum in 2012.
We are inviting papers and workshop sessions on any topic relevant to the four-year undergraduate university curriculum e.g. curriculum development, materials design, eLearning, assessment and learning management systems. For more information visit the symposium website at http://symposium2010.elc.polyu.edu.hk/
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Daniel Barlow |
I'm Daniel Barlow. I was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and yearn for Scottish independence. I like taking yogurt or cup noodle tops off in one smooth motion without ripping the foil. I like the sound of drinks cans being opened and the smell of aircraft fuel. I abhor Hello Kitty and the whole concept of 'cutie'. I've never owned a camera or any kind of portable games system.
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Winnie Wu |
I’m Winnie Wu. I received my Master of Arts in Translation and Interpreting (English & Mandarin) from Macquarie University in Australia. I also obtained a Higher Diploma in the same field from the City University of Hong Kong and a Postgraduate Diploma in Education from the University of Hong Kong. Before joining PolyU, I taught in the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education with experience teaching both Cantonese-speaking students and ethnic minorities from hospitality, business and engineering streams. I also worked as a part-time teacher at the HKUSPACE. However, prior to selecting teaching as my career, I had spent over 5 years of time serving in the Next Media and SCMP as a research writer and news archivist. Besides teaching, I enjoy singing (I have performed in the Sydney Opera House before!) and travelling.
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Jim Lo |
Hello there! My name is Jim Lo. I enjoy music, movies, hiking and of course, teaching and learning English. My job is to help students get a head start in their job search and transform their lives by guiding them to explore the fantastic world of English. Sounds very important, doesn’t it?
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Cameron Darcy |
Hi everyone. I am Cameron Darcy. I am from New Zealand and here with my wife who works at a local high school. I am used to lots of grass and fresh air and room to move so Hong Kong is quite a different place for me. I really like getting to know my students and really enjoy it when we chat about life together - in English! In my spare time I like to watch TV programmes mostly about wildlife. I do yoga for exercise and also walk everywhere. Say hello when you see me.
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Richard Brooke |
Hello there! My name is Richard Brooke and I am from the northwest of England, which is famous for sport and music. I am a big fan of football, films, books and music, and I also really enjoy talking about different topics. My aim is to show students how enjoyable and useful English is.
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Dr Joe Ching |
I am Joe Ching. I achieved M.Ed. in Hong Kong University and Ph.D. (English language education) in Western Australia. I am a lecturer and self-access centre co-ordinator of the ELC. My main interests are independent learning and English language teaching. I am also a subject specialist in English Language of HKCAAVQ. Apart from English language, I am also a qualified fitness trainer and feel happy to teach people how to keep fit and healthy.
The first CILL seminar, on How to become a smart English learner, was well received on 28 October. Dr Joe Ching, the CILL co-ordinator was the speaker. There were 28 participants altogether, including both undergraduate and postgraduate students. They asked a lot of questions on how to improve their English language skills, especially their writing and speaking skills, and many of them joined the CILL tour afterwards.
A second ELC CILL Seminar took place on 20 January when Mr Ross Ng, an LMS alumnus, delivered a talk on How to improve English in the workplace. There were 22 participants, including both students and teachers. They asked many questions, such as "What challenges in English did you encounter when you started your job in the logistics industry?" During the talk, Mr. Ng shared the English requirements of the logistics industry and some insights into improving English in the workplace. The participants' feedback questionnaire showed that the seminar was very useful and relevant. Most participants opted to join the optional CILL tour, which was also met with a good response.
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Dr Julia Chen |
A further CILL seminar on Understanding common errors in English and improving advanced academic writing is scheduled in March. Please contact Polly Chan on 2766 7493 or eccill@inet.polyu.edu.hk to reserve your place.
Date: 23 March 2010 (Tue)
Time: 6:45-7.45pm
Venue: A302
Speaker: Dr. Julia Chen, ELC Senior Lecturer
You are welcome to join an optional tour of CILL after the seminar.
For more information click here.
Joe Ching
CILL Co-ordinator
The ELC holds regular staff development sessions, featuring talks by our own staff as well as visiting speakers. In September and November, we were delighted to have two visiting speakers from Thailand come to speak to us. Dr Issra Pramoolsook from Suranaree University of Technology, and Dr Intisarn Chaiyasuk, from Mahasarakham University were both in Hong Kong under a Visiting Scholar scheme. During their time in Hong Kong, they visited several local universities. They spoke to ELC staff about the teaching of English for Academic Purposes in their universities in Thailand, including the particular difficulties they faced.
In another session, Adam Forrester, an ELC teacher, shared how he has used wikis in his lessons and how they can be integrated into our courses.
The staff of the ELC enjoyed the talks and valued meeting and sharing with their peers.
