Hi all,
My name is Dianne McKenzie, I am TL living in HK and have been here for 13 years.
I finished my Masters in 2001, and was working at the Australian International School in HK for a number of years before being taken for granted and being trodden on took its toll. The team we had there were brilliant and achieved so much in such a short time, but alas, no one but us knew it until we all left disgruntled and bitter. Now they miss us!
I am currently working as a part time TL at Renaissance College a K-12 IB school. I was employed as an extra to help get their brand new library up to speed, and unfortunately I have not yet had the opprtunity to teach and get my teeth into the curriculum and interact with the kids. I also work as a part time lecturer at HKU SPACE - teaching the local TL's in HK about the finer points of being a TL as it is new position in schools here and has been having some teething problems. If you think that no one understands your role - you need to come here and you will feel alot better about what you have. I am learning Cantonese so that I can better communicate with these teachers, and hopefully be able to conduct some research into the local TL scene here. I still cannot hold a conversation - so I have a long way to go yet.
Research possibilities I am looking into....
In HK we have a huge International Literary Festival in March where international schools spend an inordinate amount of time and money participating. I would like to do research into the topic of - Do author visits and literary festivals make a positive impact on the reading culture of the school? with particular focus on the HK literary Ferstival.
This is something I need to start on now so that I can guage the reading culture of schools now, and then look at how much time and money schools and spend on organising and attending the festival and if it really makes a difference.
DM Methodology
DM Getting started
DM Questions, assumptions
Comments (4)
Anonymous said
at 10:00 pm on Jul 18, 2007
You have quite a number of areas in which you might dive into some research, Di. It doesn't have to be on a grand scale - even just a feeling that if you did this, you would get that response. Focus on the your research interest - I think comparing the tl role in HK might be a biggy so look at another possible area...
Anonymous said
at 9:23 pm on Sep 14, 2007
Hi Dianne. I enjoy reading your posts on OZTL_NET. I cannot imagine trying to explain our role to cantonese speaking clientele. I have enough of a problem talking to my boss when I am trying to ask for more staff. I am never sure which part of the job to emphasise as it is so all compassing. I know what I can offer to my colleagues and our students but as soon as I am in his office I find myself wondering which bit is the most important. I have convinced him that I am overworked (which is quite an achievement given he was heard to ask why a library was important in the digital age when he was appointed to his position about 7 years ago). I am in my third year and he has responded by cutting my face to face primary teaching time from ELC to Year 2 from the start of next semester. I guess I am being heard: just not quite how I want it to happen! Good luck with your role in HK. Keep us posted with how you are getting on! Marg
Anonymous said
at 7:53 pm on Nov 17, 2007
Hi Di. How's the project going? It's good to see that you have a couple of schools that want to be a part of the project. In a survey we've just done with our year 7-9s, one of the questions asked was whether author visits (amongst other things) were used as a source of reading material. We're still collating the data, but will let you know what shows up.
Anonymous said
at 7:41 pm on Feb 11, 2009
Di what would you say to working as a team on a common research action?
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