Eight Strengths

- Professional qualifications for teaching English, all with Distinction
  1. Distinction in:
    1. Master of Arts in Language Studies (Linguistics) (Distinction), CityU, July 2013
    2. Master of Arts in English for Specific Purposes (English Language Teaching) (Distinction), CityU, July 2010
    3. Diploma in Teaching English as a Second Language (Distinction), Chinese University, July 2007
  2. Bachelor of Science (Second Class Honours, Division One), HKU, 1974
  3. My training in both language/linguistics and science enables me to help learners with either a science or an arts background
- Decades of experience of actually using formal English in the HK Government for business communication in trade, commercial relations and investment promotion
  1. Decades of experience (1977 to 2010) of using formal English for business communication, in such genres as letters, memos, emails, agendas for meetings, minutes of meetings, reports, etc. and hence well versed in all these genres, which learners need to master for successful business communication
  2. Extensive experience of actually using English for communication with companies (importers, exporters, potential investors, law firms, etc.), trade associations, consulates-general and overseas organisations on matters relating to Hong Kong’s trade, industry and investment promotion, apart from communication within the HK Government and the HKSAR Government
- Abundant overseas exposure with professional use of English for business communication in major cities around the globe
  1. Worked for four years (1988-1992) in the Hong Kong Government Office (then as part of the British Embassy) in Brussels (Belgium), communicating with officials of the European Community (now the European Union) on commercial relations between Hong Kong and the EC; conducting official business trips to trade and licensing authorities in capitals of Member States; and representing Hong Kong at the Customs Co-operation Council (now the World Customs Organisation) headquartered in Brussels
  2. Participated, on a quarterly basis for four years (1994-1997), in Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) meetings hosted in turn by Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines and Canada (at different cities every quarter), including jointly drafting records of meetings with representatives of other Member Economies
  3. Organised and attended investment promotion seminars (2003-2005) in Europe, the US, Japan, the Middle East and India (London, Frankfurt, New York, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Tokyo, Cairo, Dubai, Mumbai, Delhi, etc.)
- English editor for world-renowned publishers and language trainer for editing staff
  1. Serving as an English editor for world-renowned publishers (UK-based and US-based) that are leading textbook publishers in Hong Kong. Editing in the past three years has covered secondary school textbooks on the subjects of English, Physics, Biology, Mathematics, Geography, Science, etc.
  2. Invited to conduct English training courses for editing staff
- More than 10 years’ experience of teaching English in the classroom and at one-to-one to one-to-three private tuition sessions
  1. Classroom teaching for more than 10 years at the Hong Kong College of Technology and LiPACE of the Open University of Hong Kong teaching English, including University English IELTS and English for Professional Use, to students at Bachelor Degree, Higher Diploma and Diploma levels
  2. Private tuition for more than 10 years, teaching English to students from Form 1 through HKDSE to Higher Diploma and Degree levels and teaching workplace English to working adults including university graduates (holders of BA and MA degrees) at all hierarchy levels including secretaries, executives, managers, company directors and professionals of various fields focusing on the writing of emails, reports, letters, records of meetings, announcements, etc. as well as oral presentations.
- Professionally trained to assess learners' language needs and design customised teaching materials
  1. This is exactly what my MA in ESP Degree is all about. Incidentally, I secured a Distinction in that Degree, with the top grade (A+) in Curriculum Design
  2. Over the past few years, I have been designing and producing teaching materials for my students having regard to their needs – not only written documents but also sound-tracks including
    1. handouts covering linguistic analysis (vocabulary items, collocations, chunks of words, complicated sentence structures, etc.) of BBC news reports, Obama's speeches, HKSAR Government publications, etc.
    2. handouts on phonetics covering words in respect of which Hong Kong Cantonese tend to err in terms of the placement of word stress (e.g. stress wrongly placed on the second syllable in copyright, fingerprint, lifestyle, underwear and blueprint)
    3. handouts with examples of complicated sentence structures for analysis; on grammar; on vocabulary items with phonetic transcription and in contextual use; on common mistakes; etc.
    4. sound-tracks of my own to accompany my handouts
- Can readily detect and correct errors in documents (relating to grammar, syntax, collocations, choice of words, tone, etc.) and explain the weaknesses and corrections in a way comprehensible to learners, such ability resulting from decades of efforts on various fronts:
  1. A solid foundation in grammar since my secondary education. Incidentally, I got the top grade (A+) in Pedagogical Grammar in my Master Degree in Linguistics
  2. Diligent study of massive volumes of correspondence (letters, memos, etc.) produced by directorate officers (overwhelmingly British) of the then Trade Industry and Customs Department. In the colonial time, the directorate attached a lot of importance to the use of proper English
  3. Strong interest in reading/ listening to and linguistically analysing news reports on the BBC for more than 20 years
  4. Persistent efforts in reading and linguistically analysing SCMP editorials and the Time magazine in the 1970s and 1980s
  5. Frequent consultation with the British National Corpus (BNC) to ascertain the proper use of specific words for editing, teaching and self-enrichment
  6. Fervent interest in studying chunks of words in examples illustrating the use of vocabulary items in the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Study of selected vocabulary items of the entire dictionary has been completed over the years; revision is now a pleasant and rewarding on-going process
- French at Advanced Level; Highly fluent in Putonghua
  1. A knowledge of French is useful to the teaching of English as many words are borrowed/derived from French and French grammar is similar to (though more complicated than) English grammar
    1. Diploma in French, A-Level, Alliance Française de Hong Kong, 1987
    2. Certificate in French, A-Level, Villefranche-sur-Mer, France, 1990
  2. Highly fluent in Putonghua
    1. Close interaction, in Putonghua, for a few years (2002-2005) with government officials on the mainland (Shenzhen, Guangdong, Guangzhou, Dongguan, Foshan, etc.) in organising joint investment promotion seminars overseas (Tokyo, San Francisco, Frankfurt, London, Santa Clara, Mumbai, etc.)
    2. Certificate in Putonghua, Advanced Level, Civil Service Training Centre, HK Government, 1995