How It All Started...
Over 10 years ago, when I flew back from Vancouver to conduct my thesis research, I was greeted by friendly principals who allowed me to visit their schools. I vividly remember the contrast I observed across schools with varying demographics; children in some kindergartens could converse in fluent English, while K3 students in another school had difficulty matching uppercase and lowercase letters. I also noticed the English teachers’ reliance on flashcards and the passive form of learning. It was during an uninteresting lesson that I made a commitment—one day, I will use my gifts and expertise to give young children a better learning experience.
After completing my Masters studies, I returned to Hong Kong and worked as an English Class Teacher and Head Teacher. I was also a part-time lecturer and taught courses organized by SCOLAR (語常會) at the Hong Kong Baptist University. During one of the classes, some of my students— frontline Chinese teachers— shared their schools’ struggles in English teaching. I was shocked to hear that the problems I had observed 10 years ago were still the same—limited English lesson time, highly variable teaching quality, unstable staff, incoherent curriculum etc. I knew the moment has come; there is a great need in schools and I must do something about it.
Taking a leap of faith, I founded Transform.ed, where I hope to transform English education and give local kindergartens what they have been missing all these years. Many kindergartens have an excellent Chinese curriculum, and yet they lack time, manpower, and resources to enhance their English curriculum. This is the missing piece and it is where we come in. So let us work together and give our children a stronger start.
