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Standard Chartered Hong Kong
English Public Speaking Contest 2007
This 4th Hong Kong English
Public Speaking Contest is a collaborative effort of
the Federation and the English Speaking Union
(Hong Kong).
It runs from January to March 2007 with generous, sole
sponsorship from the Standard Chartered Bank
(Hong Kong) Ltd and the
media support of the English
Street and Hong
Kong Economic Times. Students in secondary
forms 1-7 are welcome to enroll. The Contest has the Education
and Manpower Bureau, the Standing Committee
on Language Education and Research and Hong
Kong Divisions, District 80, Toastmaster International as
supporting organizations and aims to improve young people's
English public speaking
and build their self-assurance. There are 2 divisions
and the senior Champion has the chance to represent Hong
Kong at the English-Speaking Union's International Public
Speaking Competition 2007 in London in mid-May. Please
click here
http://www.leadership21.org/
eps2007/Info.doc or call 2169 0255 for more info.
Deadline for applications: 24 January 2007.
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Partnership with HKU: Leaders
to Leaders Lecture Series 2006/07
The Federation and The
University of Hong Kong will jointly launch
the Leaders
to Leaders Lecture Series
2006/07, supported by RTHK, the Hong
Kong Economic Times and The University
of Hong Kong Foundation.
From January to May, ten community and business leaders
will talk to secondary school and university student
leaders at the Rayson Huang Theatre, HKU, sharing personal
insights on various aspects of leadership. They are Mr
Lester G Huang, JP (黃嘉純律師), Professor Frederick WH Ho,
SBS, OBE (何永 教授), Mr Paul MP Chan, MH (陳茂波先生), Professor
Joseph JY Sung, SBS (沈祖堯教授), Mr Chan King-cheung (陳景祥先生),
Mr Charles Peter Mok (莫乃光先生), Ms Sophia Kao Ching-chi,
JP (高靜芝女士), Mr Kan Tai-keung , BBS (靳埭強先生), Professor
The Hon Patrick Lau Sau-shing, SBS, JP(劉秀成議員) and Mr
Shih Wing-ching, JP. (施永青先生) Visit these web pages for
more details:
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http://www.leadership21.org/
courses/ltl/guestinfo.doc
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http://www.u21.org.hk/partnership/
issue92_jan2007/images/LTL.jpg |
Musical Blessings
The Federation is now recruiting
young people to perform on 11 February, 3-4 pm, at New
Central Pier No.7 (Star Ferry). They will play well-known,
traditional, Lunar New year songs and love songs on the
zheng (a plucked, stringed instrument), the erhu (a
bowed string instrument) and the dizi (a wind
instrument). Our thanks go to The "Star" Ferry
Co Ltd for providing
the venue. We are honoured to have Connie Ng Hiu-hung
(zheng) and Chu Siu-wai (dizi), well
known member of The Chinese Virtuosi [龢鳴樂坊] as guest
performers for the
event. Please call the Federation's Choir Manager: Miss
Maggie Chung at 2564 1277 for more information.
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Youth Learning Project
on Pacific Economic Cooperation 2007
The Federation organizes
the project jointly with the Hong Kong Committee
for Pacific Economic Cooperation (HKCPEC).
Sponsored by HKCPEC, the Project aims to cultivate
young people's
interests in Asia Pacific policy issues. It also focuses
on enriching their knowledge, encouraging creative
thinking, and enhancing their investigative power to
analyse current events while formulating strategies
for future challenges. Students and young people aged
under 35 are welcome to participate. They will research
tourism, intellectual property rights and environmental
protection in the context of regional economic cooperation
and financial, logistical and professional services.
The champion team will be sponsored to attend the
17th General Meeting of the Pacific Economic Cooperation
Council in Sydney in May. Click here for more info:
http://www.leadership21.org
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| Publications
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| 青少年網絡成
癮---2005年滬港新專家圓桌會議論文匯編 |
This book was produced
jointly by HKFYG, the Shanghai Youth Federation and the
People's Association Youth Movement of Singapore. It summarizes
discussions and suggestions raised during the Conference
on Internet Addiction among Youth, which took place in
Shanghai on 14-15 December 2005.
Please tel 2564 0211 for more information.
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| 20
Stories of Youth Volunteers 2006 (二十個青年義工的故事2006) |
The Federation's Youth Volunteer
Network (YVN) has recently published this casebook which
contains reports from 20 young volunteers. To obtain a
copy, please contact Doris of YVN, tel 2169 0032. |
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Goals
in Life: making the right choice |
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Many teenagers have no clear idea of
what they want from life. On the verge of leaving school
they suddenly realise they have a difficult choice to
make – to continue in education or take a job. Again
in their 20s they may have to decide whether to make
investments or buy material goods. At these crossroads
in life, the Federation's Youth Employment network staff
can help. They run programmes and offer counselling,
both in schools and on the website.*
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One such programme is Life
Banking. It has seminars for secondary students
from Form 3 upwards and there are training sessions
for teachers and one-to-one counselling on employment.
Setting goals and making good choices in life is the
focus, so crucial for young people. There is now a
brand new training game called Dream Runner which
we look at in this week's Feature Story. Life
Banking has received generous sponsorship from
the Hong Kong Jockey Club in the past and we are now
seeking further funding. Contact Gary Tang, tel 3113
7999 for more information.
* http://www.yen.org.hk/newyen/yen/index.php
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| Feature
Story |
| Life choices: games
teens play
Dream Runner is a board game created by staff
at HKFYG's Youth Employment Network (YEN) as part of the
Life Banking programme. It's aimed at teenagers on the threshold
of making major decisions in life. 6-8 players take part,
with a professional teacher or social worker as host. It's
the latest brainwave from staff at YEN for getting the young
focused on goals in life.
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500 teachers and social workers
trialled the game last weekend for use in the classroom.
They gave us some feedback:
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'The players start by writing down their life goals.
This in itself is a very important step since many students
have not even begun to think about this' said Victor
Cheng, a teacher at the CCC Yenching College.
'The idea is then to imagine yourself as an 18-32
year-old. Many choices crop up for this age group and
the game teaches
players how to deal with those choices rationally, looking
at the options from various angles,' said Moon, a student
of social work. |
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| The focus of the game is the socio-economic
side of decision-making. How much it will cost to stay in
further education, whether to make a sound investment or
use capital to buy a flat, or whether to do voluntary work
to get some experience rather than taking a paying job and
saving money. |
'The game's structure and content are going
to be a real help to me,' said social worker…., 'they give
me core on which to build my discussions with students who
need advice. Without this kind of material it is a lot harder.'
Do you think it is realistic enough to help students visualise
being in a situation where they need to make hard decisions
in life? |
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'It takes temperament, interests and values into consideration
at the point of decision-making and I think this will show
players how relevant it can be to them personally.'
Gary, who is in charge of YEN told us: |
'A lot of teenagers don't know
about their career and training options. Games like this
are
intended to make them more aware of the choice available
and then learn how to conceptualise the decision-making
process with peers, teachers and counsellors.'
Are there similar services already in Hong Kong schools? |
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'We already offer school workshops and
counselling in this area at schools. Everybody needs
them at this time
in life but not all teens or parents realise this. I think
a game like this can do a lot to raise awareness.'
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| The designers of the game, Chi-wai and Man-xun
of YEN, told us about the concept: |
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| 'It is based on monopoly. We saw how that idea
could be developed to include choices not only about material
gains like property and money but about the big life-changing
decisions on jobs, training and just making a break from
routine to see where it gets you.' |
| Do they have any plans to turn into a computer
game? |
| 'Part of the game's functionality is embedded
in its interactivity. It requires professional guidance from
the 'hosts' to be really effective. That means we would probably
need to build in real-time interactivity, or possibly an
icq platform if we converted it into digital format.' |
As in life, so in games, the limits of possibility
are where you - and sometimes technology - set them.
There will be a briefing workshop for other teachers
and social workers interested in Dream Runner. See Upcoming
Events in this
issue for details. |
| Upcoming
events |
Lecture
Series for Youth Leaders with Michelle Kwan: US
Cultural Envoy
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Date: Tuesday
23 January
Time: 4-5.30pm
Venue: Wang Gungwu Theatre, HKU
Guest speaker: Ms Michelle Kwan,
champion figure skater and US Cultural Envoy
Guest Moderator: Mr Lester G Huang,
President, HKFYG
Participants: 280 nominated young
people
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| 'Dream Runner'
game for teens: Saturday trial sessions |
First 2 sessions for teachers and
social workers:
27 January 2007
Venue: Wofoo Foundation Amelia Lee Student Centre, Hong
Kong Baptist University
10 February 2007
Venue: Pui Ching Middle School
More info at: http://www.u21.org.hk/yen/
or call YEN (Youth Employment network) 3113 7999. See also Feature
Story. |
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| Shell
LiveWIRE Awards to outstanding entrepreneurs on joint
HKFYG scheme |
Date: Thursday 1
February
Time: 2007 5-7pm
Venue: Happy Valley Suite, 3/F, Happy Valley Stand
Guest of Honour: Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung,
JP, Permanent Secretary for
Economic Development and Labour (Labour) & Commissioner for Labour
More info at http://www.shell-livewire.com.hk |
| Facts & Figures |
| Latest
statistics: HKFYG poll no. 157: Making
money on quick investments |
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The Federation conducted an opinion poll*
this month with 505 young people aged 18-39. Over 37% had
bought and sold stocks in the past while 34.3% said they
had thought about making 'quick money' this way. Almost 42%
thought they could get rich quickly by trading in stocks
and shares while approximately 27% said they would choose
warrants instead. 86% said they didn't know how to make quick
money and 63.5% thought it would make them less motivated
to work.
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The majority
(90.9%) said they thought the idea of making 'quick money'
was risky and nearly 70% thought it was equivalent to gambling.
Over half (56.8%) thought that it was easy to make money
in Hong Kong but 72% disagreed when asked whether they thought
it was smart to do so. 84% of all the respondents said they
were habitual savers.
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Sleepless nights for students
98% of Hong Kong's secondary school pupils
get less than 9 hours' sleep a night: the time recommended
for adolescents by the National Sleep Foundation in the US.
According to a Hospital Authority poll of 660 students,*
on average those in Forms 1 and 2 get 7? hours a night but
those in Form 6 and Form 7 get an hour less. Nearly half
of those in Forms 4 to 7 and 30% of the students overall
say that at least once a week they fall asleep in class.
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Hong Kong is not alone
in this problem. The National Sleep Foundation's Sleep in
America poll in 2006** found that only 1 in 5 of all the
adolescents polled in its survey of 1,062 households across
the US got the optimal 9 hours on weekdays. Over half of
all of them felt sleepy during the day and over 25% fell
asleep in class at least once a week. Curiously, 90% of their
parents thought their offspring did get enough sleep, at
least on some nights during the week. This question was not
raised by the Hong Kong poll according to the report.
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| New
readers: please send your contact details |
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