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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

Return to: ITS Tutorial School Home Page

Hong Kong children are some of the most time-managed and tutorial-class taking in the world. With all of the pressure put on students to learn and excel, parents have the right to expect that supplementary classes are as well-managed, educationally sound and effective as they possibly can be, and children have the right to enjoy useful, fun and engaging lessons that will help them in their current and later study, and in their lives beyond the classroom.

So what should someone pay attention to if they are considering enrolling their child in a group language education class?

1.) Curriculum and materials- The curriculum design and choice of learning materials is of critical importance and is best done by EFL experts; teachers and consultants familiar with the latest EFL teaching methodology. ITS offers two Young learners programs, PTE Young Learners and Cambridge YLE, and the curriculum for both courses works as both an all-around English-language improvement class and also as useful preparation for the exams themselves.

2.) Class size- It goes without saying a smaller class gives students more opportunities to interact with the teacher and with each other. Small classes work especially well in language learning, as the less-confident students in well-managed classes tend to work at the level of the more advanced students, and given the proper learning tools, students even begin to teach each other!

3.) Teacher involvement- All classes are made of individual students, and have a different dynamic. Good teachers respond to these different class styles and can make the lesson even more interesting and effective, and be able to provide more detailed feedback as to a specific child’s strengths and weaknesses, and suggestions on how to further improve their language skills.

4.) Support- Effective teaching methods and skills should be ever-evolving, and teachers should be given the support, training and encouragement to improve existing skills and develop new ones, and teachers then support the children in their classes to become better learners and better people.

5.) Joy in learning- Effective learning can and should be a pleasant experience for everyone involved.

These are a few things to look for to ensure that your child’s learning experience is as effective and positive as it can be. Please contact us for more information about ITS’s new group English classes!

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Return to: ITS Tutorial School Home Page

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“No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.”
- Confucius
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Are you encouraging your child to hate reading?
by F Kelly

As educators and parents we all know the value of reading – but how many of us are in fact encouraging our child to hate reading, even though we are desperately trying to establish a reading habit that is going to last a lifetime?

Even with the best will in the world, our efforts to establish a reading habit can have completely the opposite effect. But don’t worry – we have five simple tips for you so that all your hard work is not wasted.

Tip 1 Match the palate

Reading tastes are like food tastes – we reject food we don’t like and regardless of how much we know about the negative side of eating fast or junk food, we often indulge.

Think of reading as feeding the mind, so why not appeal to what is liked rather than constantly offering something that is strongly disliked?

A good example of this is the comic book. If your child likes reading comic books, encourage them, after all, isn’t it better to be reading comics than not reading at all? And this advice is not as silly as it may at first seem – did you know that you can now buy Shakespeare and many of the classics as manga-style comic books? Check out the website http://www.mangashakespeare.com/ to see some examples of these.

So do you still think all comics are bad?

Tip 2 Make it fun!

Let’s be honest, if you were given something to read that you were going to be grilled on and nagged about, how much would you enjoy reading it?

If you give your child a book, let them get on with reading it. Don’t set passages to be learnt by heart, don’t grill them on the content and then criticize their ‘mistakes’ and last, but by no means least, don’t pick books way above your child’s reading ability.

Reading should be fun – your child should feel comfortable picking up any text and settling down with it. It’s not important if a text is too easy or too difficult – if they are interested in it, they will read it. If you take the fun out of reading, your child is going to become very reluctant to read as they get older. Do you want to hear that dreaded comment, ‘Reading is boring! I hate it!’

Tip 3 It’s okay to dislike a book!

There is a very common perception that some books are above any kind of criticism – the classics, for example. This is quite illogical – after all, has everyone loved reading Bleak House by Dickens? Of course not!

Encourage your child to have an opinion on what they read and to be able to explain why. If they use the words ‘boring’ or ‘interesting’ to describe a book, ask them to give reasons why it was ‘boring’ or ‘interesting’. And remember, a discussion is when people are allowed to have different opinions, it is not a Q & A session.

Tip 4 Forget about dictionaries and highlighters

How many times have you opened a library book only to find that someone has highlighted all the words their child did not know! For me, such vandalism of a book is utterly despicable. But in terms of reading, it probably ranks at the top of how to make a child an ineffective reader.

If you read with your child and stop at every word they do not know, highlight it, check it in a dictionary and then write it down in a notebook, your child is not reading; they are simply decoding sounds in words so that they can pronounce them. They then sit and learn reams of ‘new’ vocabulary out of any meaningful context.

Children must learn to use context to work out the meaning of unfamiliar words. As they get older they will be given reading comprehension passages and will eventually need to be able to access this information under exam conditions. Students who score well are effective readers – they use context to help them understand what the text is about.

Of course dictionaries are an invaluable resource, but they are sadly often misused. A better way to use a dictionary would be to ask your child after they have been reading if there were any ‘difficult’ words and did they manage to guess their meaning while they were reading – i.e. did they use the context of the text to help them guess the meaning? They can then check in the dictionary to see if their guess was right. This is a far more productive way to use a dictionary. The goal is to build up this skill so that your child can eventually do this by themselves. Perhaps begin with two words they identify as being problematic and then do the above process together. Make it fun and praise the guesses made. When they are confident about doing this, encourage them to do this alone.

Tip 5 Do as I say, not as I do!

If you tell your child that reading is important and they have to read for 20 minutes a day, will they think this is true if they seldom see you read? This is the perfect example of ‘do as I say, not as I do.’

Children learn a great deal from watching their parents’ behaviour. If you regularly read and clearly enjoy it, there is a very high chance that your child will also do so. However, if you enforce a reading time for your child and during this you watch TV or play computer games, what message do you think you are giving?

According to the award-winning children’s literature writer Emilie Buchwald, ‘Children are made readers on the laps of their parents,’ and I hope that these tips help you and your child find a passion for reading.

Next month, how to help your child learn and retain words. See you then.

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Return to: ITS Tutorial School Home Page

The South China Morning Post recently reported that ‘the lack of international school places in Hong Kong could undermine its long-term development as a regional business centre.’ (Dennis Chong, ‘Business fears over lack of school places’, SCMP, 13 July 2011). The article cites surveys carried out on behalf of the British and Canadian Chambers of Commerce that indicate that this issue is having a detrimental impact on both the international business community’s perception of Hong Kong and their willingness to locate their operations here.

This is not an issue that will be resolved quickly, given that the availability of land is at a premium in Hong Kong (particularly on Hong Kong Island where the majority of the international business community lives) and that the construction of new schools is a costly and time consuming business. In addition, by allocating land for the development of new schools, the government forgoes the capital receipts associated with other land uses. However, this opportunity cost needs to be weighed against the lost tax revenue that could result from a failure to address this issue.

Given the importance of education in an increasingly competitive world, the concern of parents is understandable: not only are there insufficient international school places in Hong Kong, but the range of educational options can be somewhat bewildering: international schools offer a wide variety of examination systems and educational approaches. ITS’s Educational Services Team has, for a number of years, been helping parents to find places for their children at Hong Kong international schools. In the last year, the team helped more than 80 families to find school places for their children.

Many parents – both local and foreign – are willing to consider international education options for their children once they move on to senior school. ITS’s UK Education Team has excellent working relationships with a wide range of boarding schools in the United Kingdom. These schools provide a very high standard of education and excellent facilities that cater for a wide range of sporting and extracurricular activities. They also offer an opportunity for children to become more mature, independent, and self-sufficient. Studying in the UK is a particularly good option for those students who are planning to attend a UK university.

Furthermore, ITS’s two registered schools can provide interim solutions for those families who arrive in Hong Kong when the school year is already in progress. We can act as the main education provider for those children who are waiting for a suitable school place to become available. We can also offer an alternative for students of 16 or older who wish to opt out of full time mainstream education: individual or small group A Level classes, which lead to an internationally recognised qualification that will prepare them for university entrance.

Until such time as the Hong Kong government acts to resolve the shortfall of international school places, ITS will be here to help families to make the best of the available opportunities.

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Fourteen of the world’s top academics have banded together to set up a new university in London: the New College of the Humanities. The founding fathers (and mothers) include such famous names as A.C. Grayling, Richard Dawkins, Niall Ferguson, and Steven Pinker. The New College is a privately-funded institution set up to teach arts and humanities subjects at undergraduate level. Professor Grayling, the Master of the College, says  “Our priorities at the college will be excellent teaching quality, excellent ratios of teachers to students, and a strongly supportive and responsive learning environment.”

Students  apply directly to the New College, rather than through UCAS. This will be of great benefit to students who may be unwilling or unable to apply to universities via the UCAS system. The college is to accept  students of eighteen years of age and upwards. Entry requirements are relatively flexible, although minimum English language proficiency standard and University of London minimum entrance requirements  need to be met.

The starting fees are £18,000 per annum. This is double the level of fees that state-funded universities are allowed to charge  UK students and about £5,500 more than an overseas student can typically expect to pay for an arts or humanities course. However, the New College is to have scholarship and exhibition schemes that give around 20% of students partial or full payment of their fees. These schemes are to be competitive and ‘based on academic ability and potential’.

The New College is to initially offer the following courses:

• LLB in Law
• BSc in Economics
• BA in Literature with History
• BA in Philosophy with Literature
• BA in History with Literature
• BA in History with Philosophy
• BA in Philosophy with Literature
• BA in Philosophy with History

As well as studying their core course, students have to take ‘intellectual skills’ modules in science literacy, logic and critical thinking, and applied ethics.

Degrees are to be granted by the University of London and will therefore be equivalent to degrees from established institutions, such as King’s College, the London School of Economics, and University College. However, it will inevitably take some time before the New College establishes a reputation equal to the existing colleges.

The college’s first intake  comprises 200 students who begin their studies in Autumn 2012. The fourteen Professors of the New College will advise on curricula and quality and give lectures to students, but will not be responsible for day-to-day teaching. This is to be conducted by the permanent staff of the college. The institution’s website promises lecturer to student ratios of 1:10, complemented by a system of one-to-one tutorials.

Some commentators have expressed concern that the founding professors  have less involvement in teaching than they would at more established institution and that the narrow focus of the college is going to result in a less vibrant academic environment than can be found at mainstream universities. It will be interesting to see how this new university develops both in size and reputation over the coming years.

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