David Chen, recently graduated from Harvard College, and Regina Heung facilitated the Pre-Texts Workshop: “Learning from the Joy of Language” in Shun Lee Catholic Secondary School and Kei Hau Secondary School to Hong Kong high school students studying English as a foreign language participated in the workshop.
The facilitators explained that “learning a language is like building a tower. Vocabulary and grammar are necessary floors and walls to build and expand. But the foundation we build language fluency on must be strong—reinforced with interest, inspiration, and joy”. That’s why Language Out Loud seeks to motivate the participants “to express themselves out loud with creativity and freedom, allowing them to experience the range of play and expression that is capable with the language capacity available to them. Experiencing this freedom, learners then cultivate an inner motivation to acquire higher levels of language competency to expand their capacity for creative engagement and play.”
“Joy is recognizing oneself in another’s reflection. Joy is being seen and selected for one’s work, even anonymously. Joy is creating something together. Joy inspires learning.”
David Chen and Regina Heung
