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Last weekend, Hong Kong’s Lyric Theatre played host to the Bridge Project’s version of Shakespeare’s Richard III, with the eponymous (the character named in the play’s title) king played by top American actor, Kevin Spacey.

The play tells the story of King Richard’s murder of his brother, his nephews (otherwise known as the Princes in the Tower), his wife, and many noblemen who would or might have opposed him in his bloody quest to become King of England.

Shakespeare’s version of Richard’s rise to power was, and still is, controversial. It is sometimes said to be a work of Tudor propaganda that transformed Richard from a reputable king into one of the blackest villains in English history.

King Richard was defeated by Richmond at the Battle of Bosworth Field, and Richmond went on to become King Henry VII. Henry VII was the founder of the Tudor dynasty, and he was Henry VIII’s father and Elizabeth I’s grandfather. As Shakespeare wrote the play in 1597 during the reign of Elizabeth I, he would have been unlikely to portray Richmond’s succession to the throne in a negative light.

The complex historical background to the play and the large number of characters present on stage can make Richard III a difficult play to understand and/or appreciate. However, Sam Mendes, the director of this production, assisted the audience by projecting the name(s) of the key character(s) in each scene onto the set.
The play was performed in modern dress, but the periods from which the styles of dress were taken varied from scene to scene. In some scenes, the actors’ costumes suggested pre-World War II Britain, with Richard dressed like Hitler or Mussolini; at other times, Richard was dressed like a military dictator with his uniform covered in gold tassels and decorations. This mixture of historical periods unfortunately did not have the effect the director may have wanted, if that was to encourage the audience to think about tyrannical rulers in modern times.
The costumes were not the only confusing factor in the play. Spacey’s performance as King Richard did not reflect the play’s portrayal of him as an evil monster. Spacey drew more on the play’s humour than on Richard’s ruthless ambition and loathing for himself and all those around him. By making the play more ‘accessible’, Richard’s unscrupulous viciousness and nihilistic sense of humour were missing, and these are key to his character and the play.

Some scenes, particularly those involving Haydn Gwynne’s wonderful portrayal of Queen Elizabeth, capture the very essence of this play. However, scenes such as these need to be seen in contrast to scenes such as when Buckingham persuades the citizens of London to support Richard’s claim to the throne. Unfortunately, Spacey’s focus on humour meant that the sense of menace that should have been built up simply collapsed. An example of this was when the audience laughed at Richard’s declaration to Buckingham – ‘I wish the bastards dead’, the ‘bastards’ referring to the princes in the tower. It was quite sad that the play was changed in this way from an exploration of tyranny, dark ambition and murder into a semi-comic tale.
The production was not without its merits though. Spacey’s performance was impressively physical, and he captured the exaggerated acting style of a British theatrical actor perfectly. But the real high points of the play were delivered by the female actors, especially Gwynne. My lasting memory of this production will be of a raw and authentic Act IV, Scene IV in which her naturalistic and emotion-drawing performance captured the true spirit of Richard III.

To conclude, the true lesson of Richard III is that an absolute lust for power by someone with an immoral, asocial, and unrepentant nature can twist the world around them with tragic consequences. Surely this is not something in which there is much humour.

Matthew Wisbey

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On 6 September 2011, the inventor of the eBook (the electronic book) and founder of Project Gutenberg passed away. Michael S Hart created the first eBook in 1971, long before the advent of the Internet or the availability of cheap, high-capacity storage devices and portable computers.

Hart dreamt of making books available to everyone via computers. From this dream, he founded Project Gutenberg (www.gutenberg.org) and invented eBooks. His remarkable website, Project Gutenberg, is named after Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg (c. 1398 – 1468), the first European to use movable type, and the inventor of the printing press. The invention of the printing press enabled the mass production and distribution of books for the first time in history.

Dr Gregory Newby’s obituary for Michael S Hart (http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Michael_S._Hart) quotes Hart as once saying, ‘One thing about eBooks that most people haven’t thought much (about) is that eBooks are the very first thing that we’re all able to have as much as we want other than air. Think about that for a moment and you realize we are in the right job.’ Indeed, Hart’s invention of the eBook represents the greatest revolution in the distribution of text since Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press, with the name Project Gutenberg therefore being entirely appropriate.
Anyone with access to a computer and the Internet can now gain access to more than 36,000 free eBooks in sixty different languages from Project Gutenberg. Moreover, the website offers many eBook titles that are difficult, if not impossible, to get hold of by any other means. Because of Project Gutenberg, books can now be easily downloaded onto a desktop or laptop computer. However, it is much easier to read them if they are then copied to an eReader (eBook Reader), with the two most common e-Readers in Hong Kong being Amazon’s Kindle and Apple’s iPad.
The Kindle and the iPad eReaders are quite different. The Kindle is a single-purpose device dedicated to the reading of eBooks. It comes in two sizes, the smaller of which – the Kindle 3 – is about the same size as a paperback book. The larger – the Kindle DX – is of a similar size to an iPad. The iPad is a multi-purpose device which allows users to download Apps (applications) such as iBooks or Kindle, which can then be used to read eBooks.

As eBooks come in a variety of different formats, the use of an eBook management programme such as Calibre (http://calibre-ebook.com/) is recommended. This freeware allows people to manage their collections and to convert eBooks into the correct format for their e-Reader.

Free eBook services such as those provided by Project Gutenberg and also the University of Adelaide (http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/) are only allowed to distribute books whose copyright has expired in the USA or Australia respectively. This means that readers outside of the USA or Australia should check whether the book they would like to download is subject to copyright laws in their country of residence. In addition, as these two suppliers of eBooks only offer out of copyright books, readers should not expect to find the latest releases available on either of these websites. However, the majority of new titles are usually available from eBook shops such as Amazon (www.amazon.com/) or Barnes & Noble (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/).

It’s clear to see how the technological advances pioneered by the remarkable Michael S Hart have created a literary legacy from which all readers will continue to benefit. Where eBooks and eReaders will take readers next is unknown, but without the forward-thinking Michael S Hart, we may not have had the chance to even speculate on this.

Matt Wisbey is a Director at ITS Global Education Limited. ITS Global Education’s mission is to help students from Hong Kong, China and Singapore to fulfill their potential by taking advantage of the best educational opportunities that the world has to offer. We advise parents on how their children can access the best schools, colleges, universities, vacation courses and summer camps available globally. Contact us now for a free, no-obligation consultation.

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Telephone     +852 2116 3916
Email:           global@tuition.edu.hk
Website:       http://www.tuition.com.hk
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ITS was recently invited to give a presentation to more than fifty high-flying HKDSE students from top Hong Kong schools, who are interested in applying for the universities of Oxford and Cambridge or for Medical degrees at UK universities, as well as a number of careers and guidance masters from their schools. The event was organised by the Hong Kong Association of Careers Masters and Guidance Masters (www.hkacmgm.org/), with assistance from the British Council (www.britishcouncil.org/) and the Education Bureau (www.edb.gov.hk/). After opening addresses by Flora Yau of HKACMGM and Sophia Chan-Combrink of the British Council, the ITS team presented its advice. ITS has a long track record of giving students helpful advice on writing personal statements for their Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (‘UCAS’) applications; we have helped hundreds of students to gain places at their preferred universities since 2006. As recognised experts in the area, we were delighted to have the opportunity to be able to help some of Hong Kong’s very best students.

Sue Smith, Director of Exam Services, gave a presentation on the process of applying to UK universities via UCAS. Sue gave detailed guidance on the on-line UCAS application process and reminded students and counsellors of the key deadlines. Danny Harrington, co-owner of ITS, spoke about the critically important issue of personal statement writing. All UCAS applications must include a personal statement of no more than whichever is fewer of 4,000 characters (including spaces) or 47 lines. Danny explained that this statement, which is sent to all five of the universities for which the student has applied, should focus on demonstrating the student’s intellectual curiosity and their reasons for wanting to study a particular subject at university level. Matt Wisbey, Director of Studies, finished the presentation by giving the counsellors advice on how they should help students with their personal statement writing and what they consider when preparing references.

Once the main presentations were completed, the group split into three for breakout sessions: Danny worked with those students interested in Oxford and Cambridge; Sue ran a workshop for students interested in medical degrees; while Matt gave advice to the careers and guidance masters in attendance. All those who attended seemed to find the seminar very useful and we at ITS are delighted to have been able to assist the students and counsellors in this way. Flora Yau commented that “The workshop was indeed an impressive one as the top students in Hong Kong gained the most up-to-date information of UCAS and also the valuable advice on how to write inspiring personal statement to gain better chance to get into the universities”. We at ITS are, of course, always delighted to help students to navigate the complexity of the UCAS application process. If we can help you or your child, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.

To book a personal statement writing lesson with Sue, Danny, Matt, or one of our other expert tutors, please email us at info@tuition.com.hk. Please note that applications for entry to Oxford, Cambridge, medicine, dentistry and veterinary science in 2012 must be submitted to UCAS by 15 October 2011; applications for all other universities and courses must be submitted by 15 January 2012.

Matt Wisbey is a Director at ITS Global Education Limited. ITS Global Education’s mission is to help students from Hong Kong, China and Singapore to fulfill their potential by taking advantage of the best educational opportunities that the world has to offer. We advise parents on how their children can access the best schools, colleges, universities, vacation courses and summer camps available globally. Contact us now for a free, no-obligation consultation.

Profile:           http://mattwisbey.brandyourself.com/

Telephone     +852 2116 3916
Email:           global@tuition.edu.hk
Website:       http://www.tuition.com.hk
Twitter:          @ITSEducation

Return to: ITS Tutorial School Home Page

OPTIONS TO BYPASS LONG QUEUES AND INCONVENIENT SCHEDULES FOR ENGLISH-LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY ASSESSMENT

In a world with ever increasing numbers and intricacies of people and information flows, the demand for smooth communication has never been greater. As the de facto global lingua franca, English has been the language of choice for quite some time with its ability to absorb words from all other languages. As a result, more and more non-native English speakers need quick and efficient assessments of their language skills. These assessments might be needed for overseas studies, working abroad or family migration.

IELTS (International English Language Testing System) has been a favoured option in recent years and TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) has been around for much longer. Both are here to stay and ITS Tutorial School will continue to assist test takers with their preparation. We recognize, however, that there is room in the training marketplace for new testing standards to address some process bottlenecks. Test-takers often experience long queues, lack of ‘user friendly’ venues, inconvenient schedules, and frustratingly slow result reporting. Very recently, we entered a partnership with Pearson Language Testing to provide the Pearson Test of English (PTE), precisely to expand those options available to English-language learners in Hong Kong. So what is the Pearson Test of English (PTE)?

Rather than being a ‘new kid on the block’, PLT is an offshoot of the UK-headquartered Pearson PLC, one of the world’s leading publishers of educational text books and test preparation materials (Longman, Penguin) in addition to being a media group (Financial Times, Economist).

The Pearson Test of English or PTE was launched in October 2009 and in a very short time its PTE Academic version – aimed at post-secondary school test applicants – has rapidly gained widespread recognition. Currently 1,850 programmess worldwide, including over 380 institutions in the UK, accept it as a benchmark test of English language proficiency. PTE Academic is the preferred test for the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), administrators of the globally recognized Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) based in the US.

A feature that is unique to the PTE Academic is Pearson’s fully automated scoring technologies for test takers’ written and verbal responses – with human intervention only as a backup. The system has, according to Pearson, been trained to compare students’ written and oral answers against a database of several tens of thousands of examples of language from English-medium academia, sourced from around the world, plus a bank of answers from over 10,000 trial candidates.

This is in contrast to IELTS which relies on a global network of testers who score paper-based exam answers and individually assess verbal responses. The other mainstay of ELT – TOEFL is also now largely conducted via a secure online option, although its test takers’ written and verbal responses are still assessed centrally and manually by examiners at its headquarters in the United States.

The result of Pearson’s fully automated system is much more frequent availability of tests that can be booked up to 24 hours in advance. Testing is completed in a single 3 hour sitting rather than over two consecutive days for IELTS while scores are available within 5 working days, compared, for example to 15 for TOEFL. The other advantage that the PTE has is that test takers have no limits on the number of institutions they can send their electronic test results to. By contrast IELTS results are posted.

What does this mean for the test taker particularly when the costs of IELTS, TOEFL and PTE are more or less the same at between HK$1,400 and HK$1,500?

One consideration is convenience. While the IELTS Academic test is generally available on two weekends out of the full month, testers are required to undergo the listening, reading and writing component on one day and return the next day for the oral test lasting 15 minutes. While TOEFL is largely done online (with paper tests only made available where computing facilities are not available), TOEFL assessment is still undertaken by human markers at a centralized location and as a result, TOEFL has the longest waiting period for results.

Possibly more important, however, for someone wishing to undertake testing, is whether the institutions that they wish to apply for recognize the testing standard in question. For example TOEFL is recognized by over 7,000 institutions while IELTS is recognized by over 6,000. It has to be noted that PTE is just one year old while TOEFL has been in the marketplace for over 40 years and IELTS has tested English for over 20 years. In the case of the newly developed PTE the verdict from ITS Tutorial School is definitely “watch this space”.

ITS Tutorial School and ITS Educational Services can be contacted for all kinds of advice about gaining an English proficiency score and schooling in general. Visit the main webpage.

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A report just out from the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC), the UK’s elite schools organization, has highlighted a growth of more than 6% in pupils being admitted to fee-paying schools at the age of 16 i.e. after completing GCSEs and ready to move on to A-levels. This outstripped growth in entry numbers at ages 11 and 13, with an overall growth despite some withdrawals due to financial pressures. Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, HMC chairman David Levin pointed out that parents were willing to make huge sacrifices in order to access the “high quality education in the independent sector in spite of the uncertain economic climate.”

Analysis of the 2010 A-level results shows that students at independent schools are three times more likely to achieve the new top A* grade at A-level than their peers schooled at state-funded comprehensives. This maximizes their chances of gaining entry to the country’s top universities of the Russell Group. In other words, the statistics are backing up what many have felt intuitively for years – the smaller classes, higher quality teachers, greater motivation, better resources, superior peer group environment of independent sixth forms produce the exam results needed to access the best universities. Whether or not this represents education is moot. It is what parents (and society) want for their children, and they are getting it in the independent sector.

For Hong Kong parents there is a clear message. If you didn’t feel like sending your children away at 13 (or earlier as some do); if you couldn’t afford it a few years ago; if your attitude has changed over the last four years; or even if you simply didn’t know; no matter the reason, it’s not too late to access a UK education. Good grades in UK A-levels are still the best way into UK universities.

These can be accessed in Hong Kong in both a mainstream and a more tailored school environment with the likes of Edexcel, the UK’s largest examination body. There are a number of boutique sixth form colleges in key cities such as London, Oxford and Cambridge with tremendous success rates at helping students meet university offers. And then there are the schools of the HMC which all reserve sixth form (A-level) places for overseas entrants who offer significant academic and/or sporting or musical talents.

By Danny Harrington

Co-founder of ITS Tutorial School

ITS Tutorial School and ITS Educational Services can be contacted for all kinds of advice about A-levels and UK schooling in general. ITS is an Edexcel Centre and a UCAS centre. See the main webpage.

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