Wong Tai Sin Catholic Primary School

10/08/2017

Teach students in accordance with their aptitude as result is not everything (02/03/2017)

Unique belief in teaching (Updated on 06/06/2017)

Players to regain the initiatives on learning (Updated on 10/08/2017)

Teach students in accordance with their aptitude as result is not everything (02/03/2017)

Benjamin Kwok has been a teacher at Wong Tai Sin Catholic Primary School (WTSCPS) for five years. Being passionate about football, Benajmin assumed the coach’s role for the WTSCPS football team in the first year of his teaching at the school, and he has been growing hand in hand with the team. To him, leading a football team is not only about training up students’ physical fitness, it is also an opportunity for him to broaden their potentials, or even show the students a clear direction in their journey of life.

Benjamin revealed that his childhood ambition is to become a professional football player. His dream did not come true but had inspired him to become a football coach, hoping that someday, his students can reach his unfulfilled dream.

As a “newbie” in football, Benjamin admitted that WTSCPS football team is still at its startup stage; they did not win any matches at group stage at the interschool tournaments, and has much room for improvement. However, instead of the team’s achievements, Benjamin is keener in exploring the potential in every student and releasing their potential that they might not be aware of on the football field. He believes that “every student is like a blank paper when it comes to academics or football. It is natural for them to make mistakes. The most important thing is they learn from those mistakes.” The frustration and failures at football competitions are always good learning opportunities for every player to conclude the lessons learnt and to improve themselves. While the football team does not necessarily have exceptional achievement, what keeps Benajmin sailing ahead is the smiley face and the satisfaction of every player when they enjoy football.

As a companion to the players, Benjamin has a unique belief in teaching – to teach students according to their aptitude. In his eyes, the most important role of a coach is to be able to distinguish the talent and ability of students, and to promote and develop their strengths accordingly. Through practice and exploration, both teachers and students can be benefitted from it. Benjamin hopes that through the JC School Football Development Scheme, he can equip himself with a completely new training format, understand the true meaning of learning from fun, so as to inspire student’s learning motivation. His envisions to become a good mentor admired by students for his efforts in preaching knowledge, giving instructions and solving the problems.

Unique belief in teaching (Updated on 06/06/2017)

The education belief of Benjamin has cultivated the growth of the football team players of WTSCPS. Ching Hang Yeung, a Primary 4 forward of the football team, thinks that Benjamin’s teaching has enabled him to find his sense of success and happiness from the football field.

Ching Hang had his first acquaintance with football when he was at Primary 1 and only joined WTSCPS football team this year. He thinks Benjamin has given him more new experience with football. The experience of his team training, as well as the participation in the interschool competition, have given him the sense of fulfillment. This is also the motivation that he earned from Benjamin which has taught him to persist and never give up easily. Ching Hang understands that there is still much room for improvement in his football skill, and sometimes he only takes the backup position in the team, but he remains confident in Benjamin’s decision and continues to perform his best at every training and wait for the opportunity.

Competition is not about winning. Letting the players regain the initiatives on learning, can be regarded as successful education through football.

To Ching Hang, Benjamin is a perfect coach teaches him patiently so that he is more willing to learn. Now even when he fails in completion, he never lost his heart but to look for ways for improvement and to work even harder to and seek breakthrough for the future matches.

Players to regain the initiatives on learning (Updated on 10/08/2017)

Thanks to the JC School football Development Scheme, the players at WTSCPS are now more passionate in football, and the coaches have taken the opportunity to review his teaching approach.

Bertie said of all the varieties of football lessons in Hong Kong, all of them focus on achievements and the outcomes and at times overlooked the feeling of the players. He believes that immersion in football is the doorstep to effectively release their potential. In view of this, the key teaching principle of the scheme is to focus on the students, so as to ensure the players can truly enjoy the football fun, raise their activeness in training and the learning motivation.

Teaching based on students’ aptitude is the shared teaching belief of Bertie and Benjamin. After the JC School Football Development Scheme, they are more firm in their beliefs. They hope that they can adapt what has been learnt from the scheme not only on the football field, but also lifetime of the students’ lives.