Teaching Excellence

Teaching Philosophy/Methods

Dr Tomoko Akashi
Lecturer

Teaching Excellence Award|Video

My teaching philosophy is based on the belief that students can learn optimally when they are actively and emotionally engaged in their own learning. Rather than being an authoritative knowledge giver in the classroom, I strive to be a knowledgeable facilitator and supporter of their learning.I always encourage students to become autonomous and proactive learners when they learn Japanese language and culture with me.

This teaching philosophy is manifested in the strategies and methods I have adopted in my teaching. These include facilitating students' engagement in student-centered classes and raising their linguistic and cultural awareness through hands-on experiences. With this in mind, in addition to my regular Japanese courses, I have organized a wide range of co-curricular workshops at PolyU.

I believe reflection is a vital part of my teaching practice. I constantly evaluate and refine my teaching methods, seek feedback from students and fellow teachers, and explore innovative approaches to enhance the learning experience. I believe in the power of self-improvement and embrace adaptability to create a dynamic classroom environment.

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my students, who inspire me every day with their enthusiasm and curiosity. It is their growth and achievements that truly motivate me. I am also thankful to colleagues and mentors for their continuous guidance and support throughout my journey.

Video link: https://youtu.be/faf6JtsLYkE

Dr HSU Yu-Yin
Assistant Professor

Teaching Excellence Award|Video

My teaching philosophy is eclectic. I try to be flexible in applying whatever pedagogical strategies are most suited to the individual students in the class and to the nature of the course.

In my view, studying linguistics is learning to look at things from different angles, to categorize and analyze observations, and to practice critical thinking. I think effective learning occurs when students feel that they are engaged in the curriculum, and when they learn actively. It is always a great fun for students to realize that not every person speaks and thinks in the same way. In turn, students have a chance to express their experience and their opinions on language diversity, and to enjoy and appreciate the fact that studying in the university is more than learning the knowledge – it is also about learning to appreciate and understand different views, especially when the views are very different from our own or from what we used to assume.

For me, teaching and learning inform each other. I have constantly been inspired and intrigued by new research ideas that arise from conversations with my students. I believe that when the instructor is passionate about a subject, it becomes easier to arouse the interest and curiosity of students and to motivate them to learn and study. In all courses, I try to incorporate technology component in course activates; this method not only helps to raise students’ learning interests, but also helps students to develop the ability to accommodate different types of learning modes, which will eventually help them to acquire multimodal skills that will be critical for their future development in life and career.

Video link: https://youtu.be/nBrfkqd8PVk

2021

Dr LIU Kanglong
Assistant Professor

Teaching Excellence Award|Video

The fundamental principles that guide my teaching practice can be summarized as SPIRIT, which stands for Student-Centred Teaching and Learning, Provision of Ample Opportunities to Develop Skills in Translation, Innovative Teaching for Effective Learning, Real-world Connections in Teaching, Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Learning, and Thoughtfulness, Tolerance and Trustworthiness.

The primary goal of student-centred teaching and learning is to overcome the issues inherent in more traditional forms of education by developing a variety of teaching activities to pique learners' interests and meet their learning needs. In my translation classes, I have designed a range of in-class activities such as online translation competitions, group discussions, and analysis of real-world translations, apart from giving lectures. I have also valued out-of-class activities such as the online translation forum (where students are encouraged to complete a small translation task on a weekly basis), and short training seminars using computer tools (which students can volunteer to join). In all of these activities, students play the central role, take responsibility for their own learning and set their own pace.

As translation is a highly practical trade that requires professional knowledge in many fields, teachers need to bring real-world training to their students instead of focusing on textbook knowledge. In this respect, I have valued the input of real-world examples and data in the translation classroom. For example, in the legal translation course I teach, I have created a parallel corpus that includes all of Hong Kong's bilingual legislative texts. These texts have served as effective teaching materials and learning aids for students to investigate the translation strategies of various legal terminologies, modal verbs, and even archaisms. The incorporation of real-world content piques students' interest in the subject and assists them in gaining a thorough understanding of the practice of translation.

Video link: https://youtu.be/bWJiIyKWNAY

2020

Dr Sun-A KIM
Associate Professor

I believe that human potential is prodigious, and an inspiring teacher enables any person to move to the next level at any point of life. I have adopted application-oriented and diversifying approaches for my classroom teaching and my evaluation of students in my courses – my undergraduate courses on Korean/East Asian culture/society, and postgraduate courses on teaching Chinese to non-native speakers. 

First, to empower students to find their identity and grow as well-rounded persons and competent professionals, I employ an application-oriented method. In all of my courses, the assessment methods include at least one task requiring the students to apply what they have learned in class to their own lives in the form of a project, a reflective journal, a teaching demonstration, or actual in-class teaching. In the process of reflection and application, students actively search for issues and solutions closely relevant to them and discover who they are and what they are interested in. To guide students on the right track, I provide students with frequent feedback and comments on their ongoing work. 

Second, I diversify my teaching and assessment methods for students’ proactive and self-directed learning and active engagement in the class. For example, in my Korean/East Asian culture/society courses, I invite guest speakers in and outside of Hong Kong and organize field trips, which has been possible after receiving a series of external grants and securing sponsorships from Korean national institutes/governmental organizations.

I have been leading the Korean minor program since 2010 and the MA program in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (MATCFL) since 2017. Also, I have received external learning and teaching grants (over HKD 1.5 million) as the PI and internal learning and teaching grants (approximately HKD 300,000) as the (Co-)PI since 2011. Undergraduate students whom I coached with Korean teaching fellows were the awardees or finalists of the most prestigious Korean speech contest in Hong Kong. Finally, I shared and disseminated effective teaching approaches and practices that I have developed with my collaborators by publishing a monograph, journal articles, and book chapters.

2018

Dr Reijiro AOYAMA
Senior Research Fellow

In my teaching I make it a point to 1) help my students embrace intercultural perspectives, and 2) connect my classes to the real world by using online tools, digital technologies, real-life source materials and authentic tasks to drive student interest, engagement and critical thinking.

I aim for my students to not only know the terms and concepts related to the course but, more importantly, to put these concepts to critical use via real-world challenges. I make effective use of collaborative tasks in which students need to interact with one another to accomplish authentic activities in social contexts, for example, generating their own digital videos, or creating and publishing Wikipedia entries in Japanese.

Dr Cindy NGAI
Associate Professor

A good teacher is passionate about both knowledge and people. Teachers genuinely interested in people can adopt a learner-centred pedagogy by first understanding their students’ aptitudes, interests, and learning styles, and then identifying the best approach to impart knowledge to them. Maintaining an interactive teaching and learning environment, and aligning the teaching content, methodology, and assessment methods with the learning objectives and outcomes of the subjects is the bare minimum expected of teachers. 

To me, good teaching can be encapsulated using an acronym: C.A.R.E. As an educator, we should care for our students. Caring does not entail pleasing students but rather enabling students to find their own pathway to success through activities and tasks that unlock their Creativity, teaching in an Articulated manner, focusing on developing students’ Reasoning skills, and challenging students with Enlightening ideas.  In terms of pedagogical design, my lessons focus on these four grand pillars: Creating, Articulating, Reasoning, and Enlightening.  In my class, problematic cases or scenarios are provided to students to enable them to unleash their untapped creativity and apply their problem-solving skills while concrete guidelines and instructions are presented in a bid to help students to draw their own conclusions. 

In addition, students are required to reflect on tasks and are challenged by others’ ideas to enlighten their understanding of the knowledge taught. Therefore, in the classroom, I often ask students to discuss and reflect, criticise and analyse with an aim to promote a self-discovery of knowledge. Any questions or relevant points made by students lead in some way toward the discovery of knowledge, which generates a solid sense of ownership. When this occurs, students experience the joy of learning and are well on their way to becoming independent and life-long learners.