EAEA 2006 Highlights
POSTED ON: Monday, March 19, 2007

OVERVIEW

Throughout 2006 EAEA continued to actively pursue its goal to help each person be an effective student, worker, citizen and family member through a personal formation that fully integrates the intellectual, physical, cultural and spiritual dimensions in an environment of freedom and responsibility.

These goals have been realized through formal and informal settings making use of a variety of mediums and levels of cooperation locally and inter-regionally.

SCHOOLS IN HONG KONG

Tak Sun School

The primary school in Kowloon finally switched to whole day schooling after 75 years of having separate morning and afternoon schools in the same location. This was a dream of Mr. Michael Wong, our long-serving principal of the morning school, who sadly passed away during this anniversary year with much acclaim from past and present alumni.

Ms. Maria Leung, the principal of the afternoon school, assumed full leadership. From September 2006, Primaries One and Two started with whole day schooling greatly enhancing their educational time to the delight of the parents. In the coming two years the other levels will be converted so that by September 2008 the levels in the school, Primary One to Six will be totally whole day. After this exercise the school will have 24 classes with a teacher to student ratio of 1:15.

Tak Sun Private Kindergarten

The kindergarten will continue to have morning and afternoon session, class sizes will be reduced to enable interactive learning.

Native English teachers have been employed and computer learning introduced, to make decisive gains in these areas. All of the teachers are fully certified. (Qualification includes: Qualified Kindergarten Teacher, Certificate in Early Childhood Education and Bachelor of Social Sciences). The teacher to student ratio is presently 1:11.

Tak Sun Secondary School

Tak Sun Secondary School celebrated its 5th anniversary in May 2006 with a full week's programme highlighted with a Holy Mass celebrated His Eminence Cardinal Joseph Zen.

The official celebration and Open Day was kicked off by Professor Ng Ching Fei, President of Hong Kong Baptist University. The celebration ended with a gala dinner attended by almost 400 alumni, parents, students and staff in an atmosphere of trust and friendship.

In March, the school appointed the Faculty of Education of the University of Hong Kong to conduct a Comprehensive Review for the school to assure of its quality and progress. The report was submitted to the Education and Manpower Bureau of the Hong Kong SAR Government as part of the quality assurance initiative. In general the review was positive. Recommendations were made on how the overall academic rigour of the students could be enhanced. Along similar lines, the school invited Dr. Salvador Magturo to conduct a review of the personal formation programmes of the school.

In support of the needs for providing better facilities to stimulate students' learning, the School Management decided to invest in a Multi-Media Learning Centre, an Intergrated Learning Centre, a Student Activity Centre, an Ecological Trail and resurfacing the ball courts. These projests are well underway and are well supported by the parents, teachers and students.

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EAEA INVESTMENTS

Remodeling was done in the Kowloon premises of EAEA to provide additional classrooms for the primary school. In the process, new offices were constructed for EAEA to accommodate staff, provide a conference room, two discussion rooms for personal formation and meetings. A definite publication area was created to maintain adequate quantity of stocks of books to meet sales demand that can be electronically purchased through www.eaea.books. All this has meant the building is fully utilized with professional courses being conducted during most evenings.

Media World

EAEA co-founded with Intermedia Consulting, and the China Educational & Cultural Exchange Association website: www.sinaworld.cn in Chinese that provides a whole range of articles from around the world on the latest developments with relevance to the Chinese milieu. The site is interactive and allows for subscription to a regular electronic newsletter. There are now more than 1,000 subscribers. So please sign up and be informed, adding to the moral and cultural upliftment of your own circle of friends.

Cultural Exchange

An agreement to send China scholars to Europe for exposure to the European culture and system of education was signed with the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. The first scholar from the Hebei province commenced his training in September. Further petitions were received and funding is being sought to support more scholars and facilitate the mutual understanding and development of eastern and western contact.

Youth and Adult Formation

The success of the Youth Outdoor Centre in the village of Wu Kau Tang in the north eastern corner of Hong Kong in the Plover Cove Country Park has lead the Association to decide to expand the facilities by acquiring the adjoining land and house. The natural setting of the facilities has permitted regular study camps, weekend seminars, retreats, summer courses with abundant outdoor activities to be conducted that greatly enhance the holistic development of young people.

Back in the heart of the city, a Corporate Ethics Centre has been opened in the central business district of Hong Kong to provide highly time pressured professionals an accessible place for ethical orientation. Located in the Yu Wing Building, Wellington Street, the centre will provide courses in business ethics and law. In addition, personal coaching in self-development and balancing work with life and family commitments are provided.

Family First Foundation

EAEA has actively supported the Family First Foundation from its inception in Hong Kong. This year Mr. Joachim Chu launched the Case Method of studying family issues in Shenzhen. To the satisfaction of all the participants who found the frank discussion of how to raise youth very enlightening and instructive. The sessions will be expanded in the coming year. The activities are summarized as follows:

First Steps Program

Hong Kong Group

First Step in a melting pot like Hong Kong.

"Having been in a small group of parents with a multicultural composition in IFFD's First Step Program, it became apparent early on that we share more similarities than differences in the way we are parenting our young children. It was both an eye opener and a confirmation that though each culture has unique ways of bringing up a child into the realities of the world, the basics are universally the same. That we hope to pass on to our children the good that our parents has passed on to us".

Kowloon Group

All participants are concerned parents from the families with one to four children. They already have a lot of rich material eager to share with others to get endorsement or to do validity check.

We use the case material as a tool to guide participants to fine tune their thinking Process of Facts -> Problems -> Solutions.

The participants were enthusiastic in sharing their real life experience. Learning occurred in between the sharing and debates, which proved to be more rewarding and relevant.

Towards the end of the program, the sharing or debate has developed to more meaningful discussion rather than superficial case study. Participants have internalized the thinking process, which is the whole objective of this course.

Shenzhen

At the request of a few parents in SZ intending to start First Steps Program in China, a preparatory parenting program was started to primarily recruit more participants and prepare young parents for a 12 months commitment of attending the First Steps Program.

The Shenzhen Parenting (3 sessions) program conducted by Mr. Joachim Chu was started in February 2006. In all 32 participants attended.

The topics of the sessions were:

1. Role and Value of the Family,
2. Active Participation of Family Life
3. Profile of Successful Parents

and was finished in April 2006.

The participating couples were very enthusiastic in the sharing sessions interactive dialogue amongst fellow couples.

With the help of a few ladies like Mrs. Maria Liu and Mrs. Kan Chu & friends, the First Steps Program has been translated into Chinese which is now ready for promoting in China.

Parenting Program in Tak Sun Secondary School

A basic course of 8 topics has been developed. This course is tailored to the parents of Form 1 students. The seminars and workshops were conducted in Chinese by Mr. Joachim Chu and Mr. Lawrence Lee as the moderators. Average participants varied from 30-45 couples.

An advanced course has been developed. This is based on the Chinese translation of cases from the EduChild Program. 3 parents have become parents' coordinator for the school in order to help the school in parenting education program in the future.

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REGIONAL COLLABORATIONS

Guangzhou, China

We were saddened to receive the news of the death of Dr. Umberto Farri on 12th October in Rome. He was the president of the International Cooperation for Universities (ICU) that worked closely with Mr.Victor Abola of EAEA in establishing the Technical Faculty of Maintenance Engineering, which is today Electro-mechanical Department of the Guangzhou University, China. The department has now had over 1,500 graduates and is currently training 400 students. It has been a standard setter for the university and has developed considerable research initiatives with local industry.

Macau

In Macau, the Jingdou Language Centre continued to grow with the increasing foreign investments in the city. Over 45 courses were conducted with more than 600 participants.

The Hac Sa Conference Centre located on the island of Coloane continues to enjoy steady occupancy for its live in conferences and retreats.

Vietnam

EAEA follows closely on behalf of its partner Fundacion Codespa from Spain, the IT training program with the Lee Hong Phong Personnel Training College in Hanoi, Vietnam. The new building is now fully operational with IT courses for civil servants of the city as well as a two year comprehensive course for 300 regular outside students and two week short courses for an average of 600 students.

Singapore

In Singapore, the East Asian Education Ltd together with Dr. Ignacio Segarra has conducted highly popular public seminars on bio-ethics. The seminars have drawn leading experts together to discuss the implications of the latest research findings.

These seminars were the off-shoot of the Asian Youth Encounter in Italy held over the last two years which included a visit by Asian university students to the Roman hospital to hear from ethicists and doctors on the latest in western bio-ethics.

Thailand

More than 30 university students from Malaysia, Indonesia and Taiwan joined forces in June to help construct an orphanage for Myanmar refugees on the Thai border close to the town of Mae Sot. This is the second trip EAEA has facilitated. It was very beneficial for the young children and enriching for the university students who went.

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