Hong Kong Shue Yan University

If HKSYU were a television show, it would be an educational hybrid of The Brady Bunch and The Sopranos. A family run university with an orderly, sinister undercurrent.

Allow me to digress.

There is nothing overtly or inherently corrupt or criminal about the university, at least superficially. However, it is family oriented, in a culture in which familial bonds are stronger than most.

Prior to my arrival in Hong Kong, I had incorrectly assumed that Shue Yan was your normal, private liberal arts university. I did know that it had recently been accredited as a university after 35 years of college status. I also knew that it was one of the few, if not only, universities offering 4 year degree programs in Hong Kong.

What I failed to realize is that the President, Academic Vice-President, (the aforementioned F.C.) and the Administrative Vice-President are all from the same bloodline.

Not really relevant to a lower tiered teacher such as my myself, but interesting to say the least.

Although the semester has not officially started yet, the academic rigmarole is in full swing. All this week the new teachers have been made to sit through buffet lunches, departmental meetings, and induction ceremonies, where we talk about topics like Outcomes Based Teaching and Learning Initiatives, Teaching Excellence, and Plagiarism. We have toured the library facilities, perused oral presentation rubrics and taken crash courses in ILN (Internet Learning Network). But the real fun will not start until Monday, when I am thrown into a class of 40 business or sociology majors, and expected to teach them the finer points of the English language.

My schedule this semester consists of 5 classes of English Usage, meeting for 3 hours a week. All of my students will be freshman, and the majority will be terrified of me initially. However, I have the tendency to make students feel at ease quickly. I will see if that translates into a positive learning atmosphere.

The only negative I see early on is the commute to work. I was under the impression that I would be teaching on campus. With only 3 buildings on campus, I figured going to class every day would be a breeze. Not the case.

Starting this year, Shue Yan has opened up a new building in the Wan Chai district. The commute, which can be done by a bus-to-bus combo, or a bus-to-MTR combo, takes about 45 minutes each way. The reasoning behind all of this is because Shue Yan just received university status, therefore, they have been afforded the right to spend a heap of money on the school. Unfortunately, this money can only be spent on building things, like new classrooms, or computer labs. Hence, the new building.

The academic adventure begins...