Alt Prac in Hong Kong! #3

A quick taste of what IB is about.

I wanted to experience what Year 13 IB is all about. I entered one of the classes and really understood the difference between Higher Level and Standard Level. Students who choose to be in the SL really only do review for the period and students who are doing the HL will be in the same class learning ‘optional topics’. These optional topics are picked by the teacher. Depending on the speciality or the familiarity of the topic, different teachers will teach different optional topics. In some sense, this is good to the fact that the teacher is comfortable teaching the material well to the students. Unfortunately, there are many options that maybe closed off to the students who wish to learn another optional topic. My associate finished the HL topics relatively early, therefore, many of the students now go to class to review. Unlike Canada, a review period is truly a review period, where all the students work on past papers and ask questions when they are stuck. In Canada, we often see work periods where students chat and waste time. Even if teachers try to enforce them to work, they would often pretend to work. The work habit in Asia is very different compared to the west.

This to me is great, as teachers love teaching students who are really there to learn. Don’t get me wrong, it is not I don’t watch to teach troubled students, but it makes the job much easier, less stressful and more enjoyable! When I was going around trying to help the students, I realized that there are some materials that I have never learnt in Ontario curriculum and was never covered in University. This really surprised me and I had to ask my associate for help. This gave me a taste that IB is really at a higher level and I should really look into more advance Physics if I were to teach in the IB program.