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Enlightening People
Here are the people that have greatly influenced my life.
My Parents
My father's name is Daniel Li Wing-kwong. The two 'prerequisites' of his life are beer and motorcycle. He really loves drinking but he sometimes couldn't control himself. At the end of the day of course it would be me and my mother to stop him from drinking anymore. Luckily this trick works. He is a highly experienced member of the Motorcycle Demonstration Team in the Civil Aid Service and performs spectacular performance in public functions.
He works as a postman. In addition to a postman, he has a lot of part time job. As I have mentioned he is a member of the Civil Aid Service. He is a taxi driver as well.
He loves traveling in mainland China as well, usually with his colleagues in the Civil Aid Service. He tours in China several times a year and his favorite destination is not some big cities but some small, remote towns. He had been to many places, from the North-west of China to the North-east. He once had crossed to border and reached Russia, which is a country I have never been to. He is a living encyclopedia of China and has strong navigation sense.
My mother's name is Astor Cheng Shu-han. She works as an accounting clerk in a company located in Fo-tan.
She deserves a big credit on my English - were it not her, my English proficiency would not be so well. She gave me plenty of exercises when I was a child - often created by her. She forced me to join the English lesson organized by the British Council as well. I was reluctant to do so but now I realize how beneficial the courses were. Also, she is one of my biggest driving force in learning French.
I love chatting with her - from her day to mine. I usually ask her about questions regarding my social life, and she ... well, now she asks me English instead of the other way around! We often exchange computer skills as well - she teaches me Excel, and I teaches her everything except Excel.
She is fond of traveling in China as well, after being influenced by my father and they always travel together. And for me, I stayed at home for focusing on my studies and actually, I do not like going back to China that much.
Mr. Benny Kwan, Mr. Dennis Cheng and Mr. Henry Chan
Benny Kwan, Dennis Cheng and Henry Chan work in a company called 'Edvenue'. I don't know much about the company. But the name, as I can observe, can be split into 'Ed' and 'venue'. 'Ed' could be standing for 'education' while 'venue' could be standing for 'Avenue'. And by merging these two explanation, 'Edvenue' is 'the venue to education'. I become more certain after reading its slogan - 'Your avenue to the venue for your own life-long education'.
This exactly describes what they do, which is to provide workshops as well as talks, in which practical skills such as time management and problem solving procedures are introduced.
The first time that I have met them was in a workshop of problem solving procedures, which was held in the year 2002 summer holiday. They were very friendly and the workshop was great as well. I have learnt a lot from the workshop, including the skill to break a problem down to smaller issues than address them one by one. They called this 'divide and conquer'.
Then the second and the third time was in the Prefects' Board Training program, which was held in year 2002 and 2003 respectively. At those seminars, leadership training was discussed. The fourth time I met them was in year 2004, where time management skill was discussed. Their topic was different - unlike others, what I have learnt from their talk can be applied to my current daily life.
They have made me a more sophisticated person.
(Beginning from the left) Henry, (me), and Benny. Dennis was not in the
photograph since he was the photographer. (Photo taken in the graduation
ceremony of problem solving procedures workshop)
We have all heard the story of students boost his performance in studies after meeting his enlightening teacher. If the student in the case is changed to me, the studies changed to French studies and the enlightening teacher changed to Mme. Karine Barbier, then the story will fit exactly my case.
Karine Barbier was my French teacher in the Intermediate 1 and 2 level in l'Alliance Fran�aise de Hong Kong. After successfully got promoted to the Intermediate level, I was anxious about the thing I am going to learn. Luckily, she assured me by providing step by step introductions that bridged me from the Beginners level to the Intermediate.
At first, I was not fond of taking French lessons, just as some of you who might be taking lessons in foreign languages as well. Yet under her kind instructions and funny teaching method, I started falling in love with French. And as well enjoy her lesson.
Some teachers might be reluctant in explaining repeatedly occurring questions, but not Karine. Me and the rest of the class always make the same mistake again and again - the muted 's' in French, the Oral Bridge, the formation of verbs and so on.
She has switched to the centre in Wanchai since I have promoted to Intermediate 3. But still, I keep in touch with her, as well as other classmates in the class.
Mme. Karine Barbier, on her last night she worked in the Jordon Center of l'Alliance Fran�aise.
Ms. Cecilia Cheung Shu Sin was my Form Mistress in Form 3, who taught me English. She is my enlightening teacher in English and therefore I must give a huge thanks to her. She could cater for every student's individual need. She always emphasize the significance of English and urged us to polish our English proficiency. She kept us to stay behind after school when we failed to submit homework on time.
She wanted us to learn English not only in English lessons but also in other activities and I was always the first one to be invited to join those activities. The activities included holding a game stall in the first English Week in academic year 2002 - 2003 as well as joining a drama workshop. Both the activities provided me with vast amount of opportunities not only in practicing English but also in broadening my horizon.
It was really pathetic that she has resigned at the end of the academic year. I found out her reason of resignation when I chatted with her in the teacher's room after a supplementary lesson. It was some irresponsible classmates brought some false charges against her, which depressed her and she decided to leave CSWCSS. I felt sorry as well but couldn't find a way to help her. Then some classmates and I organized a farewell party for her. The picture on the right was taken during the party.
I still keep in touch with her via ICQ and e-mail. I will drop her a few lines in either ICQ or e-mail whenever I have a problem when dealing with English. When I have an outstanding passage written, I will send her a copy and ask what she thinks about it. She always replies with constructive advices. I can experience the Chinese saying, 'Be one's teacher for a day, then one will be your student forever.' completely from her.
Postscript: I have received an e-mail from her in early July, 2004. She told me that she was working on a thesis. Perhaps she went back to university again. Anyway, it was great to hear from her again.
Ms. Cecilia Cheung and a group of my Form 3 classmates
Ms. Kwok Fung-chun Angel was my form mistress in Form 2, and she was my English teacher in Form 4 and Form 5 first term.
Although Ms. Kwok was my form mistress in Form 2, she didn't teach me any subject actually. My class was split into two and the teachers were her and Ms. Chan Nai-yan. I was allocated to Ms. Chan's class. In Form 4, when I chatted with her, she told me that she was the English teacher of class 4C originally. But there had been some changes and she then became the English teacher of class 4D of the academic year 2003 - 2004, which was my class. To cite her words, it was just like a circle game.
After entering the Certificate Examination level, I was not sure about whether my English level could catch up with the pace, in spite of my satisfactory performance in English in Form 3. At the first couple of months, I tried hard not to be left behind. When she noticed that my English proficiency, plus recommendation by Ms. Cecilia Cheung, she assured me that I could obtain grade A, which was the highest grade, at the Certificate Examination. To help me better, she introduced me her 'first generation' and 'second generation' outstanding students, who were Carl Chong and Patrick Wong respectively. They both got 'A' in the Certificate Examination and provided me with constructive and helpful advices.
In addition, she would spend time on explaining some grammatical problem, no matter how hard it is to understand, nor how long it takes. She doesn't mind even I have occupied her entire recess or even demonstrated using her private time after school. Time when she could take a rest.
She was, just like Ms. Cecilia Cheung, more than my teacher. She chatted with me on how to polish my English language further, or even on personal matters. When I was blue, she talked with me, asked me what was going on, and tried to encourage me.
I got to know her resignation out of the blue. On November 29, 2004, in a lesson which I thought was just another lesson, she suddenly told us that she would be leaving the next day and worked in her father's company. Astonished cannot describe exactly what I felt ... knowing that I was going to lose the third enlightening teacher, how could I pretend to be okay? Therefore, when classmates asked me if I felt sad my answer was always, 'I would be lying if I told you that I am content with it.' I have tried very hard to get over it but up till now at this moment, I still hope that this is another sick joke.
Postscript: Angel and I, along with two alumnus, Carl and Patrick, went for lunch together on January 8, 2006. It was nice to meet my enlightening teacher again after a year of separation. What was interesting was seeing how all of us had changed since we last met. I am really looking forward for another gathering of such kind.
Ms. Angel Kwok (left) and me.
Mr. Rick Cheung has been my Mathematics tutor since I was in Form 3. Later when I got promoted to Form 4 he became my Physics tutor as well. Our tutorial sessions were mostly on Sundays but sometimes when he was not free, it will be rescheduled to weekdays.
He was the first private tutor I have ever had. When I was in Form 3, my mother noticed that my Mathematics performance slipped a lot. She decided to change this situation and got in contact with Rick. He promised to be my tutor and we had our very first session on a Sunday in 2003.
I have to admit that I did not enjoy the sessions at first - after all, Mathematics was not my preference. But besides Mathematics questions, he also talked about how we should live a life and this arouse my attention. I have been longing for such kind of knowledge. Of course, our primary topic were Maths and Physics.
When he had the first session with me, he was a university student; when he had the last session with me, he was already a university graduate working in a textile firm. When I had the first session with him, I was a immature kid trying in survive in each Mathematics test; when I had the last session with him, I was already being ready for the all-important Mathematics Certificate Examination.
After the last session, he became a friend of mine, as well as my family. We still keep in contact and I hope that my Mathematics results in the Certificate Examination will turn out to be good enough to repay him.
Postscript: I went for dinner with him on January 19, 2007 and he had already turned from an undergraduate in the University of Hong Kong to a manager in the American insurance group AIA. It was intriguing to see both of us growing up.
Rick (right) and me. Photo taken in the last session.
He was holding a fountain pen I gave him and I was holding the Mathematics
Past Exam Paper of Certificate Examination year 2004 .
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