2015 Canadian Overseas Immersion Programme Yu Yuk Ting

In July of 2015, I took part in an immersion programme to Canada. The city we visited was Saskatoon, which was a city in central Saskatchewan. This trip was called ‘Canada Summer Immersion Programme’ which was organized by my school. It lasted seventeen days to let us study English in Saskatoon.

There were some reasons that I decided to join the Canadian trip. When I was a F.1 student, I wanted to join the exchange trip but my mother strongly disagreed with that. It was because she thought I was still a junior form student so I couldn’t take care of myself. Until I was a F.4 student, my mum said that she would support me to go on the trip. Therefore, I participated in this trip immediately. Before we went to Canada, two workshops were held in CUHKFAA Chan Chun Ha Secondary School. The teachers told us introduced the trip and the details. For example, the things we needed to bring and the transportation in Saskatoon. Furthermore, I prepared a powerpoint for cultural night in University of Saskatoon with two F.5 students in CCH. The purpose was to share our cultures to Canadians.

I learned to be independent after the trip. When I first met the CCH students, I was very nervous and embarrassed. Therefore, I tried to adapt to the new environment, when I arrived at St Thomas More College. During every lesson, out teachers gave us some chances to share our opinions, such as debating competition and reading aloud the story. It not only raised my English level, but also built up my courage. It seemed that the school advocated independent learning. Every day when we finished our lessons, we would join different activities. Most of them were outdoor activities. The objectives of these events were to let the students have fun and learn to develop a good relationship with others.

At the same time, I could learn the sense of responsibility from my host family. My host family had two children, Grace and Evan. Grace was a 6-year-old and Evan was a 4-year-old. Sometimes, their mum or dad had to work so they wanted us to take care of their children. This was a great responsibility for us but we still had to do it. There was another thing I wanted to appreciate.

Going through these days, I could see their own methods to educate their children. Once their son splashed the cheese powder on my roommate’s clothes. My host dad asked him to apologize to my roommate. I believed this was a good example to Hong Kong parents because I knew some parents spoiled their children. It would cause a bad influence on their children’s growth. When I stayed at their house, I knew I could not cause trouble so I tried to do everything perfectly right. Also, there were cultural differences between Hongkongers and Canadians, including their diets and sleeping times. For example, they would visit their friends at the weekend. On the contrary, we usually stay at home or go shopping with friends. Going through this programme, it brought so much fun and chances for me to study.

This was an unforgettable experience in my life. Although the main purpose of the Canadian trip was to learn English, it also broadened my horizons. I was so glad to enrich my experience. If my parents let me join the exchange trip again, I won’t say ‘no’.

The four girls from Kit Sam in this trip, Yu is the first one on the left.

Our host family