Day 2

The moment we arrived at Lai Chack Middle School (see picture), we could feel the sense of warmth and hospitality as the teachers and students greeted us as we entered the school compound.

The students were very enthusiastic about our arrival as we went up the stage during the assembly to be introduced by the MC. The immediate impression we have of the school is that students are all very friendly and spontaneous in a sense that they were very easy to talk to.

The principal presented a school gift to Mrs Tan. In return, Mrs Tan presented our school souvenir to the principal.

After school assembly, we were led to a science lab at the fifth floor. The lab would serve as the holding area for the rest of our stay in Lai Chack Middle School.

After a quick introduction by the teacher on the day programme, we were treated to a sumptuous breakfast meal consisting of eggtarts, beehons, fishballs, congees, stewed chicken wings etc. The food was fabulous especially the eggtarts. We found out that the outer part of the eggtart was made of oat, and the taste was just nice.



It was interaction time with our buddies after breakfast. Some of us met our buddies for the first time as they could not be present at the airport to meet us. The interaction was tad awkward at first but after the ice breaking games, the atmosphere lightened considerably and all of us got along pretty ok. Even though there was some language barrier, we somehow managed to understand each other and all went well.

Classroom Experience: Science & Social studies

When I first entered the class, my classmates warmly welcomed us. They were so opened, unlike our Singapore students who tend to be shy and keep to themselves. I did not really enjoy the Science lesson as I could not understand the teacher who spoke throughout in Cantonese. The social studies lesson was totally different. The teacher was very kind as she made very attempt to explain in Chinese so that I could follow the lesson. She even invited us to share our experiences with the class. We felt involved in the lesson and enjoyed every moment.

Classroom Experience: Sec 4’s Math Lesson
The class has a Math test today. While the class was taking the test, the teacher gave me the test paper to try out. Initially, I have difficulty understanding the questions as they were written in non-simplified Chinese. I have to read the same question several times to guess its meaning. I managed to solve a few questions based on math concept learnt in Holy Innocents High. After the test, the math lesson was conducted in Cantonese which I could hardly understand. Overall, it was still an enriching classroom experience for me.

Lunch was a simple affair with steamed egg, rice, vegetables and ham. It tasted great but there was not much meat.

In the afternoon, our travel guide brought us for a day tour around Hong Kong Island. For the first time, we got to experience what it was like to travel on a tram ride (see the white bus in the picture). It was a unique experience. Although the tram was not air-conditioned, it was quite cooling with natural wind blowing at us.

At one point on the ride when the tram was very packed, an old man boarded the tram. One of our students gave up her seat to the old man. He was thankful and asked us about our school and where did we come from. He praised us. After that, many people started to give up their seats for the elderly. That was a beautiful sight.

Before heading to the hostel, we made a stop at a restaurant in Kowloon for dinner. This is what we ate for dinner (see picture). The portion was as usual very big and we could hardly finish all of them.