Sprout
Where language and culture are exchanged.
Through a two-part course, we aim to aid ethnic minority students to develop a better grasp of conversations in Cantonese, an understanding of Hong Kong culture and a sense of belonging. Furthermore, we hope to raise awareness for these students through social media by creating a video project on their background and experiences, and also let local citizens to understand more about the culture of their ethnic roots.
Fact.
Studies have shown that in the 2016/17 school year, about 8,700 ethnic minority students are enrolled in 325 mainstream primary schools in Hong Kong.
Fact.
One of the biggest challenges that these students will encounter is Chinese learning.
Fact.
Due to a different cultural background, and the lack of a Chinese language learning environment within their family and community, the ethnic minority children have far less opportunities to hear and speak Chinese compared to those of local students, not to mention having a deep understanding or interest in the local culture.
Our Project:
We aim to contact multiple local schools to offer extra-curricular classes on Chinese language and the culture of Hong Kong to their ethnic minority students. Four classes will be held at a single school in two month’s time, and another school will be contacted for another two months. One class will be based on Hong Kong cuisine and clothing, and the other on traditional Chinese festivals. Fun activities will be held to ensure the classes are interesting and engaging, including but not limited to individually packaged food to be consumed at home, clothing exhibitions, lantern making and various hands-on learning experiences.
Due to the current coronavirus situation, our original plan may not be possible. However, we aim to still achieve the promotion of cultural exchange through our social media. Hence. we will focus on the social media component of the plan by interviewing willing ethnic minority families concerning their struggles. We hope to raise awareness about the issues they face, eliminate the cultural barrier between their lives and ours through understanding, and allow Hong Kong citizens to reflect on what they can do in their daily lives to create a more inclusive and cohesive environment for other cultures.
Project Sponsor:
