An International Graduate’s Perspective on MATESOL Ryosuke Takagishi is an international graduate from the Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (MATESOL) programme. Ryosuke had taught English for over four years at a secondary school in Japan before coming to HKIEd. His inspiration for becoming a teacher came from his father, an unconventional teacher who encouraged students to make self-improvements constantly. Ryosuke believes that it is important for teachers to integrate theories into practice and postgraduate studies would enable him to learn the theoretical frameworks behind teaching and learning English as a Second Language. Here Ryosuke shares his experiences on the programme and HKIEd. What attracted you to our programme? A lot of people asked me why I chose to study at HKIEd as opposed to a university abroad. For me, the main purpose of coming here is to get to know how teachers in Hong Kong teach English in a multilingual setting. HKIEd provides such an environment whereas in the U.S. or U.K., it’s very difficult to observe non-native teachers teaching English to non-native students. What made HKIEd different from other universities you have been to? A professor in Japan recommended HKIEd because this is the only education-focused tertiary institution in Hong Kong and is very innovative. What makes this so unique is the multi-dimensional approach combined with the variety of courses taught here. Courses such as Second Language Acquisition, Sociolinguistics, World Englishes, Curriculum Assessment, ELT Innovations were very inspiring for me. What was the learning environment like here? First of all, the academic and teaching staff are all very passionate. They encourage students to pursue knowledge and they share knowledge with students. They are the model teachers of how we should be when we graduate. Secondly, there is a great diversity amongst the students including people from Korea, China, the U.S., Australia and Singapore. The third has to do with the facilities here. My decision to pursue Master’s degree here was one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life. How did you expand your circle of friends and network of professionals during your studies ? It was great to have expanded my network internationally. Local, regional and international students with varying levels of teaching experience shared ideas in different contexts, especially in the Asian contexts. The sharing of knowledge and experience has been most inspiring and influential to me. I believe this network will continue throughout my life as we keep in touch via modern technologies like Facebook. How does your experience help you in terms of professional growth? I had never completed a research project or dissertation before and through the process I learnt how to write the literature review, how to collect, analyse and integrate data into my research. Little by little, I can now try to improve my teaching by applying the research and theories that I have learnt into practice. What areas of the programme are strongest? One of the strongest points is that HKIEd has wellrespected professors in the field of World Englishes and English as a Lingua Franca. For instance, Prof. David C. S. Li is one of the most influential professors in this field. Would you recommend this programme to others? Yes. People often judge programmes by the name of the University. But I think it’s not the name that matters; it’s about the quality of education and the students. So anyone who has strong motivation to pursue teaching or learning English, this is the place to be. What advice would you give to current and prospective students? Maintain strong motivation and be prepared to work hard as this is a one-year programme. Time management is also important because we have to finish the dissertation within six months. Alumni Interview 17 Faculty of Humanities FHM Newsletter Issue1
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