Scholarship Opening More Opportunities for the Future

Iris Leung Lok Yiu, Year 4 Student of BEd(EL) (2020/21), 2017/18 Recipient of Scholarship for Prospective English Teachers

I used to think scholarships were only designed for hardworking, elite students with outstanding achievements; but when I became one of the awardees of the Scholarship for Prospective English Teachers in 2017/18, I realised that with the right preparation, earning a scholarship could be within my reach as well.

When I was applying for the Bachelor of Education (Honours) (English Language) (BEd[EL]) at The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK), I saw the news about different scholarship opportunities on my secondary school’s intranet and decided to give it a try. With the help of a good reference letter from my alma mater, I was shortlisted for the interview. My memory of the scholarship interview is not very clear now, but all the questions asked were fairly manageable. For example, I was asked to identify which skills out of “reading, writing, speaking and listening” I thought was the weakest among Hong Kong students and how I could help improve the situation if I became a teacher. After attending a few briefing sessions and submitting several documents, I was lucky enough to become one of the awardees.

This scholarship covers all my tuition fees, so I can focus on studying. The criteria for renewing the scholarship annually is also straightforward. As long as my GPA remains above 3.0 and I maintain good conduct, my scholarship will be renewed. The scholarship comes with a three-year commitment to work as a teacher after graduation. Since I want to be a teacher after completing my degree, this becomes a great motivation for me to pay attention in class. It gives me a great sense of direction and purpose. At the same time, I have become very motivated in figuring out “what kind of teacher I want to be”. With all courses treating us as prospective teachers, I have a systematic approach to search for a suitable answer. For example, I have learnt about the student-centred approach and related humanistic ideals in compulsory courses, traditional teaching methods (pre-while-post) from methodology classes and other innovative elective courses such as the Rethink and Reimagine Education course which encouraged me to think big and try to improve the current Education field. In these 4 years studying in the BEd(EL) programme, I have learnt about the current situation in Hong Kong classrooms and the possible ways to move forward. Though I am still unsure if I can actually be the teacher I want to become in the face of practical difficulties, I am getting close to the answer I am looking for.

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