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Mr Vincent Cheng, Chairman of HSBC Asia Pacific, presented a cheque for HK$2.92 million to the HKIEd to support the extension of the “Zippy’s Friends” programme to Beijing at the launch ceremony on 8 May.

Supported once again by the Hongkong Bank Foundation with a HK$2.92 million donation, HKIEd launched “Zippy’s Friends”, an emotional education programme in Beijing. Over 10,000 five to seven year olds in Beijing will benefit from the programme, which seeks to develop coping and social skills in dealing with the adversities in life. These include interpersonal communications, coping with loneliness and change, resolving conflict, bullying and loss of family members.

A cheque presentation ceremony cum programme effectiveness announcement took place at the Institute on 8 May. Speaking at the event, Mr Vincent Cheng, Chairman of HSBC Asia Pacific, said that the Hongkong Bank Foundation considers the programme a valuable investment, which will bring about immeasurable returns to the next generation.

On 16 October, we organised a project launch ceremony in Beijing. Following its success in Hong Kong and Shanghai, Beijing is the third city in China to run this programme. In the next three years, we will collaborate with the China National Institute for Education Research (CNIER) and Partnership for Children (PfC) to introduce the programme into 140 kindergartens in Beijing. Meanwhile, HKIEd and CNIER will further promote the project in China, providing training and support to 250 teachers, whilst also monitoring and evaluating the programme in participating schools.

We first introduced “Zippy’s Friends” in Hong Kong in 2004, with a pledge of HK$3.56 million from the Hongkong Bank Foundation. The programme has seen tremendous results, benefiting 20,000 young children in nearly 400 kindergartens in Hong Kong over the past four years. In 2006, we received a further donation of HK$2.42 million from the Foundation. The programme was thus extended to Shanghai in collaboration with East China Normal University. More than 12,300 young children in Shanghai are expected to benefit from the project by August 2009.

“Zippy’s Friends” was first developed by PfC, an international charity based in the UK, and has reached over 120,000 children in 13 countries.

Project Aspire, a self-funded project, caters for the special needs of Asperger Syndrome children, providing support to parents and teachers to enhance their abilities to help these children. A walkathon was organised on 17 February 2008 to attract support from the community. An update of the project’s activities can be viewed online at www.ied.edu.hk/aspire.

Mr Yu Xing-yuan, an HKIEd Language Instructor, donated HK$200,000 to the Institute in March 2008. Together with the matching grant from the government, the donation has been earmarked for the new “Chinese Language Education Scholarship” to encourage Year 3 or 4 students, majoring in Chinese Language studies, to become outstanding language teachers. The scholarship, which is to commence in the 2008-09 academic year, will provide three outstanding students with an award of HK$10,000 each per academic year.

HKIEd's President Professor Anthony Cheung ( third right ) accepts the donation on behalf of the Institute from Mr Yu Xing-yuan ( first left ) .

Mr Yu, who has been teaching at the Institute for over 13 years, thinks that language education is the foundation to all education. He would therefore like to promote language education through this scholarship. Established in the name of Mr Yu’s former class master and language teachers, Professor Wang Xianyong, Professor Du Xuezhong and Professor Zhou Siyuan, this scholarship aims to promote the Chinese virtue of attaching great importance to knowledge and education.

The cheque presentation ceremony took place on 23 June. In the presence of Professor Du Xuezhong and Mrs Du, Professor Zhou Siyuan and Mrs Zhou, and Professor Li Qiangwen, Mr Yu presented the cheque to HKIEd’s President Professor Anthony Cheung, who accepted the donation on behalf of the Institute.

The Department of Early Childhood Education received a donation of HK$340,000 from EVI Services Limited to conduct a two-year research into “Research on the Advantages of Project Learning and the Implementation of Project Learning in Early Child Education with Particular Research Interest on the Utilisation of Resources on the Internet”. Teaching materials related to this approach will also be designed and developed. This pedagogy primarily uses information technology associated with activities and games to inspire student thinking and increase their interest in learning and concentration in class, thereby reducing behavioural problems during lessons.

( From left to right ) Dr Joyce Li Yuen-ling, Associate Professor, Department of Early Childhood Education, Dr Audrey Lim Swee-eng, Head, Department of Early Childhood Education, and Professor Kerry Kennedy, Associate Vice President, receive the cheque from Mr Ken K.Y. Nip, Chief Executive Officer of EVI Services Limited.

In January, the Simatelex Charitable Foundation donated $267,200 to conduct a “School-based Support Scheme for Cross-border and Immigrant Children in Hong Kong”. This one-year programme supports schools and parents in addressing the English language learning needs of cross border and newly arrived students from Mainland China.