Diversified study tours build horizons and grasp the opportunities and challenges of the world

HKSKH Bishop Hall Secondary School is committed to cultivating students’ international perspective. Principal Kam Wai Ming said that globalization brings challenges and opportunities. With the development of science and technology, cross-border connections have become closer. Students understand different markets, regions and cultures, which will help them to further their education, employment and entrepreneurship in the future. He believes that students can gain a deeper understanding of local issues by personally visiting various places and develop independent insights and diverse perspectives. Therefore, the school actively promotes overseas study tours and carries out overseas exchanges. Through cross-regional and cross-cultural communication, students can learn to analyze things from multiple perspectives, establish more mature values ​​and moral judgments, and at the same time open up knowledge from different disciplines.

Open up interdisciplinary knowledge application and see the world from different angles

Since last year, the school has launched the "Read Thousands of Books, Travel Thousands of Miles" program to open up the application of interdisciplinary knowledge, cultivate students' global citizenship and national identity, and understand the world from multiple perspectives. The plan emphasizes the integration of subject knowledge and overseas exchanges, such as organizing business and visual arts students to go to Ningxia to explore local poverty alleviation, Minning cooperation, and development of wine, wolfberry and tourism industries.

The school also arranged for geography and science students to conduct archaeological inspections in Yunnan to break the inherent understanding of archeology and understand the country's rich natural and cultural resources. The program not only helps students develop an international perspective, but also helps students understand that knowledge and life are interconnected, and then realize Hong Kong's unique positioning of "backing on the motherland and connecting the world" to achieve "the more international, the more local". Principal Kam Wai Ming refers to: “When students understand the culture of different regions, they also open up different disciplines and realize the application of interdisciplinary knowledge.”

Communicate across regions and cultures to understand new development opportunities

The school also launched study tours to Germany with the themes of science and technology, culture and education. During the ten-day trip, students will visit the Chinese Consulate in Frankfurt to learn about Sino-German diplomacy and the opportunities of the “One Belt, One Road” initiative; they will also visit the Confucius Institute in Frankfurt to learn about the local development of Confucian culture, such as calligraphy gatherings, Mid-Autumn Festival gatherings, etc. Members of the school’s “Cantonese Arts Xiaodou Miao” will perform impromptu performances to promote cultural exchanges.

At the same time, students visited the BASF Industrial Park, the Mercedes-Benz Manufacturing Plant and the BMW Museum to learn about local technological development; they also interacted with local Chinese students, visited campuses and symposiums, and learned about information about studying in Germany and future development opportunities, providing reference for career planning, achieving cross-regional and cross-cultural communication and expanding international horizons.

International language teaching strategies using language as a bridge to connect the world

The school actively promotes international English education and allows students to build confidence in English through diverse overseas exchanges. For example, we have carried out in-depth cooperation with Australian schools, organized students to stay with host families in Australia, and paired up with study partners to experience local classes (such as French classes); we also visited zoos and dams to understand local social culture. On the other hand, Australian schools will also arrange for students to come to Hong Kong for exchanges, and He Minghua’s classmates will lead them on a tour to improve their self-confidence and expression skills while learning and using English.

In addition, the school attaches great importance to the diverse skills of teachers, employs teachers who are good at Japanese, Korean and Swedish culture, and offers Japanese and Korean interest classes to meet students' needs for exploring different cultures. Earlier, the school arranged for students to go to Japan through the AFS International Exchange Center program, live with a local host family and attend a local school for a one-year immersive experience, allowing students to master another foreign language and cultivate their independence and open mind. Some students shared that they gained friendships and improved their self-confidence in the process.

Overseas sports exchanges to achieve comprehensive physical and mental development

The school carries out a number of overseas sports exchanges to expand students' horizons while achieving self-improvement and cultivation of physical, mental and spiritual health. For example, we take students to South Korea to visit football academies; we go to Japan and Taiwan for handball exchanges; and members of the Hong Kong team in the handball team represent Hong Kong and go to Sweden and Paris to participate in international competitions. Students can be exposed to more tactics, techniques and training models of other countries or teams, such as being guided by the coach of the Japanese U21 national team in handball exchanges; and playing friendly matches with other institutions for sports exchanges. This process not only brings about technical improvement, most students become more active after participating in international competitions. During training and competition, students develop perseverance, team spirit, leadership, etc., and achieve comprehensive physical and mental development.

Use competition to promote learning, use competition to promote education, and establish an international perspective

In terms of STEAM education, the school adopts the strategy of "promoting learning through competitions and promoting teaching through competitions" and is equipped with a "floating top and supporting top" support structure to not only enhance students' abilities, but also help them build an international perspective through overseas competitions. Students at the school have different opportunities to be invited to participate in exhibitions and competitions around the world every year. For example, Tokyo in Japan, Melbourne in Australia, Detroit in the United States, etc. Earlier, two students won awards from the URC Robotics Competition in Hong Kong and represented Hong Kong in the competition in Australia. In Australia, students not only participate in exchanges and discuss optimization methods, but also go to local schools to experience classroom models, enhance their confidence in English communication in a pure English environment, and at the same time intuitively understand the current development status of foreign STEAM and expand their global perspective.

In addition, in the field of AI, the school was invited by the Macau Tourism Bureau to participate in the AI ​​painting competition. The students first participated in an AI workshop in Hong Kong and learned to use sentences to generate images. They then visited Macao and visited the Racing Museum and Science Museum. Combined with the field trip, they created AI works to promote Macao's characteristics. Through competitions and practice, students improve their ability to understand problems and logical thinking, and also establish an international perspective through cross-regional exchanges, fulfilling the educational goal of “promoting learning through competition”.

Innovation and Technology Overseas Learning Experience Understand the development of science and technology in the world

The Science and Technology Section actively carries out overseas study activities on innovation and technology to help students understand the development of science and technology in the world. Last year, the school organized a Tokyo Maker Exchange Group. Students went to the Tokyo Maker Faire to exhibit their works and improve their expression skills and self-confidence during the exchange. The exchange group also went to the university to experience programming with scholars who studied Scratch, and used sewing machines to make programming patterns into badges to experience the combination of technology and crafts. They also visited the Tokyo Sewerage and Science Museum Future Hall to learn about local water resources management technology and technological products to cope with the aging population, deepen the cultivation of students' values, and inspire the significance of applying technology to social needs.

Every January, the school also leads students with potential in STEAM fields to participate in the BETT Show, a global large-scale educational technology expo held in the UK. At the expo, students communicated with teachers, students, and corporate technicians from various countries, introduced their works, and learned about the focus of scientific and technological development in different regions. In addition, students will also experience local customs, visit emerging education technology companies, the Bank of China Data Center, visit the British Museum, etc., learn about the practical application of technology around the world, and absorb different innovative concepts from around the world.

Information literacy education: Correct control of technology

Many years ago, the school has incorporated AI education into computer courses. For example, it has cooperated with the CUHK Jockey Club "Intelligence" for the Future Program to become a pioneer and leader school and jointly develop AI courses focusing on AI applications and information literacy. Information and artificial intelligence literacy will also be covered in the three-year junior high school curriculum to guide students to reflect on the impact of AI on the community and learn to correctly control technology.

Teachers’ overseas training to optimize teaching strategies

In teaching and learning, teachers play an important role. The school actively arranges for teachers to participate in professional training overseas and introduce new teaching methods and experiences. For example, I went to Stanford University in the United States to study "Adaptive Leadership", went to Australia to inspect the implementation of positive education, and went to Taiwan to learn about reading promotion methods. Principal Kam Wai MingI hope that teachers can bring the good points from other places back to school to optimize teaching strategies, which will ultimately benefit students and improve learning effectiveness.