The Open Classroom Hong Kong

Journeys: What do I learn from different kinds of journeys?

Writing Foundation: Descriptive Writing

The students were taught:

• Techniques for Descriptive writing: Adjectives, Similes, Descriptive words, Sentence Variety, Adding details
• How to start an essay with a “hook”
• The structure of an essay and the components for each paragraph
• Different ways to elaborate an essay (use descriptive details, use your five senses, use personal stories) 

Read PDF

Writing Foundation 0: Animal Narratives

Students were taught:

• Facts about animals in a variety on ecosystems
• The definition of a narrative
• Outlining the beginning, middle and end of a story
• How to use the past tense in narratives
• How to use dialogue in a story

Read PDF

Writing Foundation: Fables

Students were taught:

• Techniques for writing a fable: personification, sentence transition, adding dialogues, synonyms of "said", different sentence structures
• Components of a table: animal characters, setting, story, structure, moral
• Editing skills: capitalization, punctuation, commas, speech marks, spelling

Read PDF

Writing Foundation: Narrative

Students were taught:

• Techniques of narrative writing: strong verbs, exciting sentence starters, 5 ways to introduce a story
• Process of narrative writing: brainstorming, story map, outline, revising
• Editing skills: improve weak phrases, action chains, punctuation, speech marks

Read PDF

Writing Foundation: Descriptive Writing

Students were taught:

• Techniques for Descriptive Writing: adjectives, similes, descriptive words, sentence variety adding details
• How to start an essay with a "hook"
• The structure of an essay and components of each paragraph
• Different ways to eleborate an essay

Read PDF

Sociology of Deviance & Crime

In this class, students learned about the sociological theories for why crime exists in society. They also learned that crimes are not necessarily deviant, and acts of deviance are not necessarily criminal. Students also participated in a debate, in which they analyzed several case studies and defended the innocence of their respective defendants.

World Issues

Students engaged in deep discussion regarding several world issues, most notably animal poaching, institutionalized racism, and global warming. Each student was given the opportunity to present their ideas on how to solve these issues. They quickly learned that not all issues are easily solved, and this often result in students disagreeing or arguing with each other. The point of the class was to show that no one person can solve all of the world's problem, and that the best solution is for everyone to come together and engage in open discussion. Sometimes, it's not about finding the right answer, but the best answer.

European History

Students took part in an activity called the Dot Game. Students were given a piece of paper that either had a dot or not dot on it, and they were asked to interact and question each other to figure out which student had a dot on their paper. This resulted in lots of finger pointing and unrestrained accusations, which was the perfect recreation of the Witch Craze in Europe. Students learned that it didn't take much evidence or even logic to accuse and punish someone for being a witch.

Meet the Architect

In this module, students examined the role of an architect, learnt about famous architects and their architecture. Students met a professional architect and worked on a floor plan that replicates a real life challenge faced by the architect.

INTERVIEW WITH AN ARCHITECT

Do you ever wonder who is behind all of the fabulous skyscrapers in New York? It’s the great Thomas, aged 31! Thomas works for a company called Thunder Tyrants. He got this name from Thunderclan which is a clan from the imaginary book “Warrior: Clan Cats”. Thomas had invented a 160-storey triangular skyscraper. Thomas has also built the 400-storey shopping mall, breaking the world record! Right now, Thomas is building a 1000-storey high apartment near the White House. The president, Tom J. Jacob had ordered Thomas to do this. Thomas is an architect and he lives in New Zealand, even though he plans the skyscrapers in New York.

An architect plans how tall a building is, how wide it is and how comfortable it is. Thomas works starting from 9:00am-10:00pm. He works in a white room that has a few decorations: 1 table, 3 chairs and 1 sofa. It also has a small bookcase that has 20 books in it; 10 books about being a good architect, 5 fiction books and 5 books about art and music. The white room is also Thomas’s home, so it also has a bed and a TV. There’s also a fridge and 2 bags. Thomas has a servant called Ms. Chu Chu train. He wears normal clothes to work and also when he’s free. He wears a construction suit when he visits the site so he doesn’t have to worry if it gets dirty.

The most interesting thing I learnt about architects was you have to work hard to achieve what you want. One challenge for the architect is he has to concentrate on his job e.g. the architect’s favourite TV show is on when he’s supposed to be making blueprints. You have to be patient, brainy and be able to oversee a lot of thing. You also need to have a lot of details, think thoughtfully and know how to invent something new to be good at this job.