13 July 2021
Hi <<First Name>>!
The last fortnight has been a whirlwind of bridging programmes, team building, material creation and intermittent torrential rain for us all at Chatteris. This edition of the Summer Newsletter brings you updates on the plethora of projects we've got going on, announcements about some important new developments, and lots more.
Please remember to send Emily any pics you snap of things you're working on!
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Appeal for photos
We are looking for content for the Chatteris social media pages, to give potential CNETs an insight into tutor life. As such, we’d like to share any in-school and out of school photos that you’re willing to share. Please follow all of Chatteris' safeguarding policies when collecting these pictures, and only share photos with us that do not show student faces. These pictures can be from any point across the academic year or the summer period. Out of school photos may include any of your time exploring Hong Kong - perhaps showcasing your neighbourhood, favourite hike or a recent Hong Kong-based adventure. Please seek the permission of any other tutors in the photo before sharing.
If you have any photos suitable to be shared on the Chatteris social media platforms, please send them via email to Anna (annamarsland@chatteris.org.hk). Take a look at our Instagram for some examples!
Student testimonials
Storytelling is one of the most powerful tools a charity can use to gain support and funding for their operations. As a Programme Management Team, we would really appreciate your support to help us gather testimonials and stories from the students you work with, so we can spread the word about the valuable work you are all doing. This will ultimately allow us to provide further English language learning opportunities to students in Hong Kong. You can read an example of how we can share our impact through stories here.
We'd be grateful if you could help us gather stories by...
- Sending us photos of any physical thank you messages you've received from students, such as thank you notes or board activities at the end of the year
- Keeping an eye out for any student across the year who is a keen attendee of CNET events and you believe would be comfortable sharing their experiences of learning from CNETs
If you have any potential testimonials or stories to share along these lines, please get in touch with either George (georget@chatteris.org.hk) or Emily (emilybrazier@chatteris.org.hk). We are committed to collecting these stories in an ethical and appropriate manner and this will be an ongoing focus across the next year, so please bear it in mind throughout summer and into the start of the new school year.
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Trinity CertTESOL Scholarships
We are delighted to announce that Chatteris will be running the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) scholarships this academic year, available for all SCNETs to apply. The scholarship is designed to assist those who are in need of financial support to complete this qualification.
The courses are run through our partner, English for Asia, that offers the Trinity CertTESOL qualification. This is an internationally renowned qualification, and is endorsed by the EDB NET scheme. For anyone who is interested in a career in ESL teaching here in Hong Kong and abroad, it will be a great opportunity to build on your teaching knowledge and strengthen your CVs.
To apply, please fill out this application form by Friday 20 August, 5pm. More information about the criteria for applications can be found here. Please get in touch with Colin or Tina if you have any further questions.
New Wellbeing Coordinator: Lindsay
We are pleased to announce that Lindsay has completed both her training externally with Mind Hong Kong and her internal training with Alice and Anna, and is now ready to begin her new role as a Wellbeing Coordinator.
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Above, left: Caeti and students from Carmel Bunnan Tong on a trip to Tai Kwun; right: students from Bethel High School on their trip to Hong Kong Wetland Park.
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Bridging Programmes
Primary Bridging Programmes
Henry, Sean and Will made the trip up to Tuen Mun on Monday to introduce Reader’s Theatre to an excitable group of Primary students. Many thanks to the wonderful team that helped with the development of the resources - Eibhlin, Caeti, Luke, Paddy, Bennie, Will & Sean!
Holly and Hermione made an impression delivering the first in-person Chatteris Superheroes lessons last week at their respective schools. The students had a fantastic time learning about a variety of topics such as sinkholes, global communities, drama and units of measurement.
Secondary Bridging Programmes
Will, Jonathan and Josh have done a great job leading fun English lessons for the Pre-S1 students at All Saints’ Middle School these past two weeks. They will be finishing up next week so thank you for all of your effort!
Another big thank you to Eibhlin, Paddy, El, Holly and Luke for your work at HKMA David Li Kwok Po College this week! I know getting to school in the torrential rain wasn’t ideal but you didn’t let that stop you from creating a fun classroom atmosphere that I’m sure the students appreciated.
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Environment Summer Camp
It’s been a quiet couple of weeks for the summer camp team as they’ve been engaged mostly with other projects. However, thank you for doing the last minute small tasks to get ready for the upcoming camps. We’re all prepared and raring to go for three consecutive weeks of camps starting on Monday!
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Below: The Environment team trials 'Wingspan', a bird-themed board game that may be a rainy day back up activity for students attending summer camps.
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Schools
Hong Kong Wetland Park Trip
Bennie, Caeti, Edgaras, Jack, Muni, Justine, El and Jake took 80 students from Bethel High School to the HK Wetland Park for a half day scavenger hunt. The CNETs helped their teams search the park for tortoises, mudskippers, crabs and dragonflies!
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Online Learning
Chatteris Superheroes
The superheroes lessons have continued to be used by the Bridging Programmes. Currently, Tina and Jake are working on reviewing last year's materials and organising the roll out of 2 more programmes: STEM and Drama & Presentation!
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Incoming CNETs
Orientation Planning
As the new CNETs' arrival draws ever nearer, the PMT are working hard on preparing for their 3 weeks of orientation. With extra time on our hands, we've expanded the teaching topics covered to include questioning techniques, error correction, drama and much more.
Jake and Lindsay have been planning the orientation mentor/mentee activities, looking to cover a wide range of interests for the CNETs to express all areas of their talent!
Pre-arrival webinars
Mariana and Ben hosted the latest webinar for incoming CNETs. Along with the 15 attendees, they discussed arrival procedures, quarantine and orientation. The CNETs had lots of questions, mostly about arrival in HK and quarantine procedures.
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Above: the SCNETs and PMs battle it out in their team building trip to laser tag, before winding down with some games.
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Professional Development
SCNET Professional Development
Thank you to Jake, Lindsay, Ben, and Tina for leading sessions during the two SCNET PD afternoons. Thank you to all the SCNETs for sharing your insights, and it was great to see your competitive spirit during laser tag!
The next SCNET PD session will be held on August 6th, on the topic of orientation. Look out for an email with more details.
PMT Professional Development
This fortnight's PMT PD began with a refresher session on Chatteris' policies and procedures, led by Mariana. This was followed by an overview of the organisation's branding and an interactive pitching workshop by George. The team was challenged to sell a Chatteris programme to a stranger in under a minute - a task that pushed us to speak concisely and pull together our knowledge of various operations and statistics.
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Above: saying goodbye to Alice during her last week with Chatteris.
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And more...
"One for One" Funding Pitches
We have been busy recently meeting a range of different funding bodies in order to secure more “One for One, Adopt a School” sponsors to increase the number of student beneficiaries of the project.
In the last two weeks alone we have pitched to Morgan Stanley, the Lee Hysan Foundation, and the SIE Fund, as well as meeting an existing funder to discuss a potential new project. All of these meetings have been very positive and we are excited about the prospect of significantly growing the project for the 2022-23 academic year.
Goodbye Alice! :'(
With heavy hearts, we bid farewell to Alice last week. Having worked with Chatteris for 4 years, she's left a lasting mark on the organisation, with legacies including the wellbeing programme, the Chatteris Blog and a herd of very grateful colleagues. Alice is now heading back to the UK to pursue a new role in the NGO sector. We wish her all the best!
Art Exhibition: Female Artists' Work About Mental Health
Phenomenally Pink, a group set up to raise funds and awareness for breast cancer within the rugby community, have collaborated with WeWork to create an exhibition celebrating local female artists. The theme of the exhibition is mental health, and you can visit the gallery any time this week from 12-6pm at the Sheung Wan WeWork location.
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