Service-Learning at ELC

The Service-Learning team of the English Language Centre took home the 2020 Faculty of Humanities Team Teaching Award in recognition of the team’s effort in preparing students to engage in outbound and Hong Kong-based service projects.

“It’s an honour to be recognised by the Faculty for our hard work helping PolyU students make an impact on the community,” remarked team leader Anna Ho.

The eight-member group includes Eric Tindall, Chris Shepard, Charlie Charles, James Evans, Chan Man, Denise Cheung, Kira Rimrott and Anna Ho. As a team, they deliver the subjects ELC2S02 Serving the Community through Teaching English and ELC2S03 Persuasive Digital Storytelling. In these subjects, students learn how to deliver engaging and interactive English lessons to disadvantaged children or work with charities and NGOs to promote their work to the international community.

“It’s nice to be selected by the Faculty, but the real award comes from seeing students help those in need,” emphasised team member Eric Tindall.

The team works with a variety of service partners in Cambodia, Taiwan, mainland China and Hong Kong. This collaboration, as well as their efforts in promoting lifelong learning, international engagement, pedagogical development and reflective practices played a role in the Faculty’s choice.

“The learning in these programmes is often mutual,” explained Tindall. “While service recipients benefit from our students’ hard work, what they teach us about the world, each other and ourselves is often so much more. Despite the differences that may exist, we are all the same and want the same things out of life. And this is an invaluable lesson for any PolyU student.