To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the passing of Hans Christian Andersen (2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875), renowned for his fairy tales such as The Ugly Duckling, The Little Mermaid, and The Little Match Girl, the Department of English of The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong launched a series of creative competitions to HSU students and the community, including…
The Department of English cordially invites you to join our departmental seminar series, “H.C. Andersen Series,” consisting of two seminars. The event will take place on 23 April 2025 (Wednesday). Date: 23 April 2025 (Wednesday) Time: 12:15pm – 2:15pm Venue: D404, Lee Quo Wei Academic Building Speakers: Dr. Maria Chan (Senior Lecturer, HKSYU) and Dr. Kacey Liu (Associate Professor, HKSYU) Registration: …
Alessandro is a scholar in the field of second language acquisition research with an interest in two distinct areas: (i) the theoretical framework known as Input Processing, and particularly its pedagogical model Processing Instruction; (ii) the empirical research on the effects of formal instruction (focus on form) on the acquisition of linguistic properties in several romance and non-romance languages. His research on Processing Instruction has been recently driven using new online measurements (e.g., eye tracking, self-paced reading).
The Department recently organized an engaging event titled “The Fairytale World of H.C. Andersen” (安徒生的童話世界) to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the renowned Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. This initiative aimed to explore the themes within Andersen’s beloved fairy tales and their relevance in today’s world.
The event received significant media attention, with Ming Pao Daily News covering the story in their education section. The article, titled “恒大辦活動「重讀」安徒生 學生代入「醜小鴨」：故事不止教別以貌取人,” detailed the activities and the students’ reflections on the story’s lessons.
LAM Winola Wai-larm, a third-year student in the Department of English, shared her reflections on the story, highlighting its message about not judging others by their appearance. She expressed how the tale resonated with her personal experiences, emphasizing the importance of understanding and self-discovery.
For those interested in further exploring Andersen’s fairy tales, RTHK has archived radio episodes produced by Dr Anna TSO Wing-bo discussing these timeless stories. You can access the episodes here.
🎤Guest Speaker: Dr. Tong Yui, Associate Professor, Hong Kong Baptist University
*The lecture will be conducted in Cantonese
Abstract (Chinese version only)
2024年巴黎奧運的開幕式，引入了許多別開生面的想法，大大顛覆了人們對大型賽事開幕式的印象。開幕式的創作團隊，通過各種奇思妙想，讓開幕式得以順利在比賽場館外進行，同時還善用塞納河兩岸的景觀，讓開幕式變成了一場教人目不暇給的嘉年華。創作團隊的創意和精心構思並不只限於此。製作團隊在整個開幕式裡，注入了不少法國引以自豪的藝術、文化元素，而有別於傳統開幕式的表現手法，巴黎奧運開幕式在展示這些法國文化成就時，採用了相對婉轉和暗示等手法，只讓識者去解讀和發現箇中種種驚喜。講者將通過法國文學文化，影視作品以及創意產業，來為聽眾剖析2024巴黎奧運開幕式的各種文化細節，探索它所隱含的人文信息和價值觀。
Music Performance: Voices of the Silver Screen
🗓 Date: 21 March 2025 (Friday)
⏰Time: 4:30 PM – 6:00PM
📍Venue: 2/F, D201 Auditorium, Lee Quo Wei Academic Building (D Building), Yuen Campus, HSUHK
Join us for Voices of the Silver Screen! Enjoy live music performances by the Band Society of HSUHK and the talented winners of our music video competition. Engage in interactive activities and explore the fascinating connection between language, music, and films. Celebrate emerging artists and discover how film music can enrich your English learning journey!
Free Entry – register now!
In Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT), second language (L2) task performance has traditionally been assessed through metrics of complexity, accuracy, lexis, and fluency (CALF; Bui & Skehan, 2018). However, these criteria focus solely on linguistic features, overlooking pragmatic competence in task performance. To address this limitation, the concept of functional adequacy (FA) has been proposed (Kuiken & Vedder, 2016, 2018), encompassing content, task requirements, comprehensibility, and coherence/cohesion. To date, research on FA has predominantly examined quantitative outcomes, with limited exploration of learners’ qualitative perceptions of FA. Furthermore, scant attention has been paid to how learners’ backgrounds shape their understanding and demonstration of FA. This study addresses these gaps by analysing post-task interviews with eight university students, alongside their preparatory notes (compiled before and during tasks) and the researcher’s observational field notes. Findings revealed that while learners’ perceptions of FA broadly aligned with Kuiken and Vedder’s current FA framework, discrepancies emerged in their interpretations of content and task requirements. Additionally, the study identified cultural sensitivity and creativity as potential dimensions requiring integration into a robust FA framework. Theoretical and pedagogical implications are discussed.
To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the passing of Hans Christian Andersen (2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875), renowned for his fairy tales such as The Ugly Duckling, The Little Mermaid, and The Little Match Girl, the Department of English of The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong is launching a series of creative competitions across the territory, as follows:
Craft a short story inspired by Andersen’s works (available on: http://hca.gilead.org.il/) that explores the darker aspects of his fairy tales. Reimagine his narratives by delving into the madness and sins of the characters, reinterpreting the melancholy and supernatural elements, and/or giving voice to the silences within the tales. Unleash your creativity and let the shadows guide your storytelling!
Each winner of the Short-story Writing Competition will receive a scholarship in the following amount:
Champion | HK$500 |
First runner-up | HK$300 |
Second runner-up | HK$200 |
Honourable Mentions | HK$100 each |
Choose one character from the list of stories written by Andersen (available on: http://hca.gilead.org.il/) and write a poem from his/her perspective. The poem should ideally have the following:
Each winner of the Poetry Writing Competition will receive a scholarship in the following amount:
Champion | HK$500 |
First runner-up | HK$300 |
Second runner-up | HK$200 |
Honourable Mentions | HK$ 100 each |
Create an illustration inspired by a selected scene or theme from Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales (available on: http://hca.gilead.org.il/) and include a 100-word English description explaining the inspiration behind your artwork.
(e.g., Chan Tai Man Peter_The Diamond Pig.docx). In the word document, provide Andersen’s original story’s title and paste the link of the e-text from http://hca.gilead.org.il/
(e.g., Adapted from Andersen’s The Metal Pig, retrieved from http://hca.gilead.org.il/metal_pi.html).
Each winner of the H.C. Andersen Art Illustration Competition will receive a scholarship in the following amount:
Champion (Secondary Level) Champion (Primary Level) Champion (Kindergarten Level) | HK$800 HK$500 HK$300 |
First runner-up (Secondary Level) First runner-up (Primary Level) First runner-up (Kindergarten Level) | HK$500 HK$300 HK$200 |
Second runner-up (Secondary Level) Second runner-up (Primary Level) Second runner-up (Kindergarten Level) | HK$300 HK$200 HK$100 |
Honourable Mentions (Secondary Level) Honourable Mentions (Primary Level) Honourable Mentions (Kindergarten Level) | HK$ 200 each HK$100 each HK$50 each |
Funded by the Strategic Development Grant of the Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, this competition aims to recruit contestants to produce a short English video aimed at raising awareness about one of the following UN Sustainable Development Goals in an educating and entertaining way. Please pick up one UN SDG (https://sdgs.un.org/goals) and produce a 5-minute English video that tells a story of a UN SDG based on the adaptation of Andersen’s fairy tale(s) (available on: http://hca.gilead.org.il/).
Each winner of the Video Story-telling Competition will receive a scholarship in the following amount:
|
Champion |
HK$3,000 per team |
|
First runner-up |
HK$2,000 per team |
|
Second runner-up |
HK$1,000 per team |
|
Honourable Mentions |
HK$500 per team |
|
Audience Favourite Award |
HK$500 per team |
Notes
If you have any questions or need further information, please contact us at eng@hsu.edu.hk.
We look forward to your enthusiastic participation!
We are excited to announce the launch of Voices of the Silver Screen, a music video competition, designed to engage you in both music and English language learning. This competition is a fantastic opportunity to express your creativity while enhancing your English skills through music. You are invited to create and submit a music video featuring a song from…
Steven Yeung is Senior Lecturer at the English Language Teaching Unit of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). He received a PhD in Applied Linguistics and Education from IOE, University College London (UCL). His research interests include sociolinguistics, language and political economy and technology-enhanced language learning.
For further information about the department, our programmes or services, please get in touch.
