In regard of providing quality education and promoting multi-cultural experiences, Young Influencer Lab of the Asia Pacific Youth Development Foundation has funded the “D-Generation Learning Support Scheme”, which provides ethnic minority tertiary students with the opportunity to use their strengths and participate in the community.
This project invited some young ethnic minorities who have the knowledge of different languages and cultures and let them become a community tutor to teach basic English to primary school, grassroots students. It is different from the general lessons, as the topics are proposed by students. The ethnic minority teachers will depend on students interested in the subject and combined with its expertise, community exploration, multi-cultural communication, electronic learning elements such as design classroom activities. Let students will “learn through play”, and it can enhance students’ participation in the classroom using English and multiculturalism effectively. This project can enhance students’ confidence, interest and broadening horizons. At the same time, it promotes multiculturalism to students from an early age, and instill respect and tolerance.
Besides, the teacher can work his magic through designing the classes and also learn different skills, pieces of knowledge and gain some experiences weekly. It can break the vicious circle of “no experience, no job”, thus ethnic minorities can expand their possibilities and opportunities for career development.
The D-Generation teaching team designed an 8-week English course with three ethnic minority college students as tutors and a retired English department head as the course consultant. It aims to enhance children’s interest and confidence in learning English and broaden their cultural horizons through putting it into practice.
The course also combines elements of community exploration, multicultural communication, and e-learning, and is led by ethnic minority teachers to learn new English words and grammar through different cultural themes every week. It will not only increase children’s confidence and interest but also enhance their understanding of different cultures, thus instilling respect and tolerance from an early age.
There are some impacts to student learning effectiveness, interpersonal interaction, and the job opportunities for ethnic minority youth searching under COVID-19, we hope that our organisation can continue to connect with all sectors of the community. Alleviating the learning disparities, promoting the progress of classroom learning at the grassroots level, and building the social capital together and alleviate the digital divide and intergenerational poverty to solve the digital divide and generational poverty in Hong Kong.