Date: October 20, 2023 (Friday)
Time: 4:30 pm – 6:00 pm (Hong Kong Time)
Mode: Online via Zoom in English
Registration: https://eduhk.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_03tzgPgqU8NBPvw
In the 9th Inter-Conversations Forum organized by the Department of Early Childhood Education (ECE) at EdUHK, we have invited ECE Guest Lecturer Ms. Angela Chung to coordinate and host this session on “Multicultural Education in Early Childhood.” With Dr. Alfredo Bautista, Associate Head of Internationalization in the ECE Department, Ms. Chung has invited a panel of experienced educators and thinkers on multicultural education to participate in an informal roundtable discussion.
The panel includes Prof. Narine Kerelian, Dr. Lam Ho Cheong, Mr. Jeffrey Andrews, and Ms. Christina Lau Ka Yan. They share a passion and compassion for the ethnic minorities and hope to see a more inclusive, diverse, and integrated societies, starting from early childhood settings. Please read more about our discussants below. A question-and-answer session will follow the discussion, so you can also engage in this discussion!
Join us to learn about multicultural education in early childhood and the role of kindergartens and teachers in building more inclusive, diverse, and integrated societies!
Ms. Angela Chung has extensive teaching experience in Early Years Education. Her experience includes working with young children from early years to primary age in London. Angela came to Hong Kong 16 years ago. She worked across Hong Kong’s education sector in international schools, local schools, and Further Education institutions. She has just completed her studies in Human Rights with the University of London, with a special interest in Ethnic Minority Rights in Education in Hong Kong. She has been involved in several projects, including the Little Dragon project, which involved producing videos for Non-Chinese speaking pre-K1 children to learn Cantonese more effectively in the Chinese-speaking environment at kindergartens. She was also a consultant and judge for the DUET project for the ‘Globally Minded Community Project Plan and Lesson Plan Competition’. This project aimed to help pre-service teachers apply more inclusive and equitable values in culturally diverse classrooms.
Prof. Narine Kerelian (she/her/hers) is currently an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Sociology at the University of San Francisco (USA). In addition to holding a Ph.D. in Social Sciences from The University of Hong Kong, Prof. Kerelian is certified in intercultural theory and foundations. Her research interests lie at the intersection of migration and social policy, focusing on multiculturalism, integration, and social cohesion. She has co-published academic pieces on ethnic minorities, social inclusion, and multiculturalism in Hong Kong, as well as op-eds contributing to broader social discourse on multiculturalism in the SCMP and China Daily, respectively. Prof. Kerelian lived in Hong Kong for ten years before relocating to her hometown of San Francisco, where she teaches a highly diverse and multicultural student body. She is of Armenian ethnic background and a mother to two multicultural young children.
Dr Lam Ho Cheong 林浩昌 is an Assistant Professor and former Associate Head (Programme Development) of the Department of Early Childhood Education at the Education University of Hong Kong and is the Programme Leader of the Professional Development Programme on the Teaching of Chinese Language for Non-Chinese Speaking Children and SCOLAR Chinese Language Enhancement Programme (Foundation and Extended – Learning Chinese for NonChinese speaking children) for Kindergarten Teachers. He was one of the founders of the well-known Dragonwise Projects at HKU, one of which produced a Chinese character learning software package for South Asian learners in 2007. He has more than fifteen years of experience in teacher education for early childhood education. In addition to widely publishing in academic journals, he is also a regular writer on Ming Pao on multicultural education. His recent book Discerning the Differences in Chinese Characters has received a Hong Kong Publishing Biennial Award (Publication Award of Language Learning category).
Mr. Jeffrey Andrews is an Indian by descent. He was born and raised in Hong Kong, and one of the first ethnic minority registered social workers in Hong Kong. Committed to helping refugees and advocating for minority rights, he travelled to the United Nations in Geneva to speak about issues of segregated schools in 2014. He has received The Secretary for Home Affairs' Commendation, awarded for his dedicated service and outstanding contributions to enhancing racial harmony and integration in Hong Kong. Recently, he has been selected as a 2019 Junior Chamber International (JCI) Top Outstanding Young Persons, he also received the 2019 Cathay Pacific’s Change Makers Award, and in 2020, his beloved football team, Manchester United, recognized him as one of seven Global Heroes. He has been with Christian Action’s Centre for Refugees in Chungking Mansions for 14 years.
Ms. Christina Lau Ka Yan is a kindergarten teacher in Hong Kong. She previously was the Non-Chinese Speakers (NCS) Program Coordinator at another kindergarten. Christina worked closely with ethnic minority children for six years. She is passionate about enfolding NCS children and has developed programs and activities to help NCS children integrate into the kindergarten. She is currently studying her Master of Education at the Department of Early Childhood Education, EdUHK. Her goal is to assist NCS children and their parents in effectively learning Chinese. She also aims to provide multicultural resources to different kindergartens, raising cultural awareness within the local education system. Christina takes Urdu lessons via Zoom with her Pakistani teacher in her free time to enhance her language proficiency. Furthermore, she also teaches phonics classes at an education centre to ensure that children receive the necessary foundation for language and literacy development.