Wong Mo Yan

MY Wong was born in Hong Kong on 21 April 1924, and brought up in a Christian family. Her mother and maternal grandmother were both Christians. Her maternal grandmother and great-grandparents were brought up by a German pastor who spoke only German. Grandmother and her sisters all learned Chinese. When they grew up, they set up a boarding private school in a one-storey building at Wing Lok Street. MY Wong’s mother once taught at that private school. MY Wong’s grandmother taught Three Character Classics there as she had learned classical Chinese. MY Wong studied Three Character Classics as she had studied at that private school for a year. Grandmother was old and she hired a mistress for assistance. This teacher was MY Wong’s teacher at that private school.

MY Wong’s mother once returned to her hometown and did teaching there. MY Wong followed her mother and studied at a private school in the hometown. Chinese was the medium of instruction at her grandmother private school, where the students studied classical Chinese and learned to write. The female teachers wore white tops and black skirts and short braids. Over 10 students studied together but the curricula were of different levels of difficulty. Girls outnumbered boys. And not all students came from rich families. Most of them were neighbours. A student studying at grandmother’s private school once mentioned that she studied at that school mainly because her mother trusted Christian teachers. Christian knowledge was not taught at grandmother’s private school, but students were arranged to read the scriptures from the Bible for half day.

In those days, many women ran private schools. MY Wong’s elder cousin also ran one. MY Wong recalled that there was no male teacher at private schools. She reckoned that was probably because men usually went to work outside while women stayed home. When her grandparents retired, their younger sister’s husband and two son-in-laws gave them a big old house with a garden in Kowloon City. MY Wong grew up in that big old house and went into the Primary Section of Munsang College for her primary education. Her mother was called Leung Chak Ting (transliteration), born in Hong Kong. She had studied at a school that later became Belilios Public School from 10 to 14 years old. That school was once visited by a Hong Kong Governor’s wife. Mother’s uncle once taught at that school and was her teacher. Afterwards, her mother did not allow her to study at that school. She got married and went to Australia for housekeeping. In those days many people from Zhongshan, China, moved to Australia. Her husband ran a farm with his sworn brothers in Australia and hired the locals to grow vegetables. MY Wong’s eldest sister, second elder brother and third elder sister were all born in Australia. Later her father went back to Hong Kong and founded True Light Company. The Wong family came across a plague in Hong Kong and lost the second son. After father passed away, mother set up Sau Fong Girls Vocational School at Nathan Road. In those days, one could register as a teacher as long as he/she could teach well. Mother brought new teachers by herself to the authority for teacher registrations, which were approved upon the authority’s trust in her.

At Sau Fong Girls Vocational School, a female teacher as well as shareholder taught embroidery, Chinese painting, weaving and other skills. Only junior secondary curriculum was taught due to inadequate admissions. Sau Fong Girls Vocational School subsequently merged with Southwestern College, which was located at Ho Man Tin and renamed as Southwestern Girls' College Kowloon. The principal of Southwestern College co-acted as the principal of Southwestern Girls' College Kowloon. Mother taught Primary 1 and 2 Chinese at Southwestern Girls' College Kowloon, which offered Arithmetic, English, Mandarin (today’s Putonghua) and other subjects from Primary 3 to Form 3. MY Wong studied there up to Form 3 together with her little elder sister. Mother had taught at Southwestern Girls' College Kowloon until Hong Kong’s fall to the Japanese. She fled to her hometown. As peace was restored, she taught at Hon Tsuen Primary School in Cheung Chau, Hong Kong, for one year. The principal of Hon Tsuen Primary School, Wong Kam Ho, was a relative to MY Wong. She graduated from Ying Wa Girls College. She remained single and was very loving. She allowed homeless children to live at her school. MY Wong believed that Wong Kam Ho had been a teacher before running a school.

Title	Personal background. Her family's history in running schools
Date	11/05/2010
Subject	Education
Duration	17m47s
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	TW-WMY-LIFE-001

MY Wong was the youngest of all the seven children of her parents. She first studied at her grandmother’s private school. When she followed her mother back to their hometown, she studied at a village private school. She went back to Hong Kong afterwards and went to Primary 2 at the Primary Section of Munsang College. Later, she studied Primary 3 and 4 at Sau Fong Girls Vocational School opened by her mother and her mother’s friends. After that she switched to Southwestern Girls' College Kowloon and studied Primary 5 to Form 2. In the second semester when she studied Form 2, she switched to True Light Girls College located at Baihedong, Guangzhou.

However, due to the discontinuance between Guangzhou’s and Hong Kong’s curricula, MY Wong did not wish to study in Guangzhou. She later returned to Hong Kong and continued her studies at Southwestern Girls' College Kowloon. MY Wong sat the open examination when graduating from junior secondary school in Hong Kong. As her mother was concerned that she might not have enough money to support MY Wong’s tuition for university study, MY Wong eventually applied for a teacher training school, and was admitted by Heep Woh Girls' Normal School in Macau.

Title	Schooling history. Reason for enrolling in Heep Woh Girls' Normal School at Macau
Date	11/05/2010
Subject	Education
Duration	1m44s
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	TW-WMY-LIFE-002

Heep Woh Girls' Normal School was a renowned kindergarten teacher training school run by the Chinese Government. It also comprised of the privately run Heep Woh Girls' Secondary School. The two schools were originally founded in Xicun, Guangzhou, and were later relocated at Macau. Heep Woh Girls' Normal School offered training courses for primary and kindergarten teachers in Macau. MY Wong applied for the kindergarten teacher training course at that school, which required a pass in the junior secondary open examination. This admission requirement was the same as that for a student nurse. Heep Woh Girls' Normal School recognized the junior secondary open examination of China sat by students from schools using Chinese as a medium of instructions in Hong Kong.

At that time Southwestern College was also registered with the Chinese Government. The entrance exam of Heep Woh Girls' Normal School covered Algebra, Geometry, Chinese Language, History, Geography and others. MY Wong did not know whether the exam was uniform. Apart from written paper, the entrance exam required candidates to sing one song, through which the pitches were assessed. MY Wong had correctly answered all the Mathematics questions in the entrance exam thanks to her good foundation in the subject laid by a good Mathematics teacher when she studied at Southwestern Girls' College Kowloon. That Mathematics teacher graduated from Sun Yat-Sen University with distinctive results in his two years studying Mathematics. He taught very well. Students would not fall asleep with his clear voice and fast teaching pace. Students had to finish many exercises every evening in those times. That Mathematics teacher took over the teaching of Geometry and helped students to catch up with the curriculum of junior secondary open examination. Now MY Wong had only memories about factorization in Algebra.

MY Wong enjoyed her boarding life very much during her 3 years’ of kindergarten teacher training. At Heep Woh Girls' Normal School, the Youths Club and the Students Union held an array of activities every Saturday. Heep Woh Girls' Normal School and the private Heep Woh Girls' Secondary School had form associations. Students of the normal school and the senior secondary students went into the same association. Form associations staged performances each Saturday. After-school activities included cycling, repairing water pipes and others. Heep Woh Girls' Normal School was not well equipped when first relocated to Macau. In Year 1 and Year 2, students were taught to play pedalled organ. They were also taught to maintain organs by handcraft teachers out of the need to repair organs when teaching in village schools. Heep Woh Girls' Normal School offered such subjects as Painting, Handiwork, Music, PE, Morning Exercise and others with stringent requirements.

MY Wong and her classmates took organ playing very seriously. The Morning Exercise teacher graduated from the Sports Faculty of Ginling Women's University. In Morning Exercise lessons, students had to do push-ups and do exercises on a mattress at the corridor apart from submitting a lesson plan. Boys and girls were separated in PE lessons. The PE teacher was strict. He required students to run in laps, high jump and hurdle short fences. Short students could not toss a discus but just a shot. Only students over five foot three could throw a javelin. In an assessment, students had to serve 20 volleyballs to pass.

Teachers at Heep Woh Girls' Normal School taught abundant knowledge. MY Wong had learned a lot of things from them. She regarded the teacher training schools then as quite comprehensive. The Chinese Language curriculum offered by Heep Woh Girls' Normal School was the same as that offered by a senior secondary school. The school also offered Physics, Arithmetic and other practical subjects. MY Wong did not elect English Language. The female Chinese Language teacher was very demanding. She required from students one piece of interesting episode writing, one book report, and one current issue report (i.e. comments on the editorial) every two weeks. Going through all this training, MY Wong no longer feared writing mistakes. The school offered principals of education, children psychology and other subjects taught by the Education Officer and teachers who had studied children psychology. Teachers of these subjects and the Education Officer had attained the Gold Key qualification, which meant that they were outstanding teachers. Students would not doze off even in afternoon lessons.

MY Wong had learned from the Education Officer Roman numbers, freehand sequencing and other skills. She also learned from the teaching theories taught at Heep Woh Girls’ Normal School that it was most important to build good habits such as cleanliness and politeness in children. These habits would benefit the children in their whole life. Students at Heep Woh Girls’ Normal School had to complete all the subjects so that they would be capable of teaching all the subjects in the future. They observed lessons in Year 1, did teaching practice in part of Year 2, and prepared teaching plans and materials in Year 3. The teachers’ assessment criteria were strict. MY Wong voluntarily taught Primary 1 and 2 students at Youth Club. Graduates of Heep Woh Girls’ Normal School were eligible to teach Primary 1 and 2.

Title	Entry requirements of Macau Heep Woh. Kindergarten Teacher Training Class and the teachers
Date	11/05/2010
Subject	Education
Duration	13m18s
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	TW-WMY-LIFE-003

MY Wong studied at her grandmother’s private school for one year. She went back to her hometown at about 6. After coming back to Hong Kong, she lived with her grandmother in Kowloon City, and studied Primary 2 in Primary Section of Munsang College for one year. She had a vague memory about the school days in Munsang College. All she could recall was games like hopscotch, drawing squares and building houses, which she enjoyed so much that she even got her toecaps scratched. Games were the only thing left besides books in those days. All the teachers teaching Chinese Language in Primary Section were males. Primary 2 and 3 were combined into one class. A male Chinese Language teacher taught writing sentences in classical Chinese in the very first lesson. Another stringent male teacher taught The Analects of Confucius. Students had to get 70 points to pass classical Chinese writing, and corporal punishment was allowed. A teacher once jokingly said that the number of extra points needed for a student to pass would mean exactly the number of slaps to be given on that student on the palm. Munsang College had a kindergarten that taught English. MY Wong had not learned any English before and so knew no English. In Primary Section, Munsang College, expatriate teacher Ms Ko taught the 26 alphabets while Ms Sheh taught English vocabulary. Ms Sheh used no textbooks but taught vocabulary with real classroom objects, through which her students learned how to name things like chalk, floor, ceiling, pen, ruler and pencil, in English. MY Wong had no impression on the subjects Music, Drawing, PE, Arithmetic and others taught in Munsang College. Her eldest brother taught her Arithmetic.

In Primary Section, Munsang College, a senior female teacher was dedicated to teaching students to read Matthew in the Bible. One of MY Wong’s classmates was Huang Lai Ying, daughter of Huang Ing-Jen, the principal of Munsang College. Homework was not stressful in Primary Section, Munsang College. MY Wong only remembered one occasion in which the teacher punished the whole class for their brawling with punitive copying, and the sentences to be copied mounted from 20 to 30. As MY Wong’s mother co-founded a school with friends, MY Wong switched to her mother’s school from Munsang College. Her family treated boys and girls alike when it came to education, except that only boys but not girls could go to kindergarten. At the age of 4 to 5, together with her elder sisters, MY Wong went to an Enlightenment Class, which was taught by the boarding students from Ying Wah Girls School, offered by the Sunday School at Hop Yat Church at Bonham Road, and then went to the worshipping hall at Hop Yat Church for some Bible stories.

Title	Education at the Primary Section of Munsang College. Impression on Hop Yat Church's Sunday School
Date	11/05/2010
Subject	Education
Duration	9m8s
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	TW-WMY-LIFE-004

MY Wong studied Primary 3 and 4 at Sau Fong Girls Vocational School, which was opened by her mother. The school was situated in the vicinity of Sham Shui Po and Nathan Road, Mongkok. Her mother and the relatives took up the teaching posts. Subjects including handcraft, tailoring, Chinese Language and letter writing were offered. That was why MY Wong was able to write a letter by the age of about 10 when she was studying Primary 4 at that school. In that school year, she once studied at Yu Lok School, which was about to merge with Southwestern College. The teachers at Yu Lok School required their students to calculate compound fractions with a fountain pen. This school was located at Nathan Road, Yau Ma Tei. Southwestern Girls' College Kowloon was located at Ho Man Tin (opposite to today’s Pui Ching Middle School). MY Wong studied at Southwestern Girls' College Kowloon from Primary 5 through junior secondary grades. In the second semester of junior 2, MY Wong, upon her elder brother’s request, moved to True Light College at Beihedong, Guangzhou. Her brother was a member of the air force in Guangzhou. Guangzhou’s syllabus did not match with that of Hong Kong. For example, in Hong Kong, MY Wong had already studied the Mathematics course taught in Guangzhou. English class in Guangzhou only included dictation and aloud-reading. However, grammar and oral conversation was taught in Hong Kong. Guangzhou’s schools taught chemistry first. In Hong Kong, students learned physics. Chinese classes in Guangzhou included classical Chinese. It also required students to submit writings and poemsin colloquial Chinese. Therefore, MY Wong had poor grades. She did not want to go to school. Later, she had picked up colloquial Chinese while she was learning note-taking in Macau Heep Woh Girls’ Normal School.

Southwestern Girls' College Kowloon’s Mathematics and Chinese Language teacher was outstanding and referred to as Eight-legged Teacher by students. When in Form 3, her teacher taught students to write with a Chinese writing brush in different groups and compiled handouts based on individual capability. MY Wong associated this with the situation when she taught Chinese brush writing at True Light Primary School of Hong Kong [called True Light Middle School of Hong Kong (Primary Section) today] later on: Mr Ho Chung Chung, the principal of True Light, visited Japan with 10 principals of Christian schools. The Japanese started learning brush writing only since Primary 5, but they managed to write gracefully. As a result,　True Light Primary School of Hong Kong made their students start learning brush writing from Primary 3 instead of Primary 1. Cheung Lan Chau, principal of Southwestern College had a Xinhui accent, and always patrolled on campus (including that of Southwestern Girls’ College Kowloon). Students lined up on the playground to be briefed by the principal. Schools run by the Chinese were of different parties and groups. Students at　 Southwestern Girls’ College Kowloon did not sing the national anthem, or learn and exalt the Three People's Principles. They sang the Song to the Auspicious Cloud (Editor’s Note: National Anthem of The Republic of China), which differed from the Three People's Principles in content. Southwestern Girls’ College Kowloon had a campus in a Western-styled building with classrooms of various sizes. Class size was not big. It was a whole-day school offering subjects including Chinese Painting, Handiwork, Music and PE.　Music, PE and Chinese Painting were taught by Ms Shu Chun Fong, who was an overseas Chinese lived and studied in Japan. There was no venue for gymnastics. Students had to have their PE lessons in the reception room of the school on raining days. MY Wong once performed rhythmic gymnastics the Sports Meet of all Hong Kong students. She had trained hard but it was worth all the hard work. The Chinese Painting teacher taught students to draw Chinese style patterns, which the students would embroil on gazelle's wool to make a flower trellis. In Handiwork lessons students mainly learned to embroil flower trellis, but they were also given calicoes to embroil. The Primary Section of Southwestern College had both boys and girls, while Southwestern Girls’ College Kowloon, which MY Wong enrolled, admitted only girls for its junior grades. MY Wong’s classmates at Southwestern Girls’ College Kowloon had all kinds of background, for instance, the daughters of gentry in Tai Po, the children of boatpeople or big businessmen, etc. Southwestern Girls’ College Kowloon charged tuition fees, but MY Wong did not have to pay any because her mother was one of the founders of the school. After the war, MY Wong’s mother did not claim back her shares of that school because MY Wong and her elder sister were studying there. Her youngest elder sister was 5 feet 3 inches tall, and, same as her aunt, she did a nursing course in Guangzhou.

Title	Bits and pieces of schooling at Sau Fong Girls Vocational School, Yu Lok School, Guangzhou True Light Girls' College and Girls' Division of Southwestern College
Date	11/05/2010
Subject	Education
Duration	13m58s
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	TW-WMY-LIFE-005

After graduating from junior secondary school, MY Wong enrolled in Heep Woh Girls’ Normal School in Macau. She graduated in June 1941 and came back to Hong Kong to teach Primary 1 at Wah Ying Primary School at Tai Po Road upon the referral of the principal of Heep Woh Girls’ Normal School.

A few months later the Japanese army attacked Hong Kong. Wah Ying Primary School at Tai Po Road was founded by the Wah Ying Middle School in Foshan. The campus in Hong Kong was borrowed from Basel Mission. Besides Music, MY Wong taught every subject of Primary 1 and Chinese Language of Primary 2. While studying at Heep Woh Girls’ Normal School , MY Wong came to learn some lesson plans, but these lesson plans were not applicable to practical lessons. MY Wong’s classmate with the best performance during teacher training taught at Pui Ching Kindergarten in Macau. Most of the fresh graduates of Heep Woh Girls’ Normal School got employed on teacher’s referral. One of MY Wong’s classmates gave her own post to a handicapped classmate out of Christian love.

Title	Teaching experience at Wa Ying Primary School in pre-war period. Employment condition of graduates from Macau Heep Woh
Date	11/05/2010
Subject	Education
Duration	4m6s
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	TW-WMY-LIFE-006

After MY Wong had taught at Wah Ying Primary School for a few months, the Japanese army occupied Hong Kong. MY Wong followed her mother back to their hometown a few months later. A school in the hometown hired her mother to teach out of their trust in her, but they did not hire MY Wong as they had no idea how well she could teach. MY Wong later went to Qujiang to do teaching, and was then evacuated to Guilin. MY Wong was referred by an old classmate to teach 2-to-5-year-old students at a nursery centre. Her jobs included story-telling and singing.

MY Wong’s partner was older, and handed over all the teaching duties to MY Wong as she got married afterwards. There were nursery maid of dining and teaching respectively in the nursery centre. The students there were given a lot of freedom. They could opt to skip school. They came from different places and spoke different dialects. MY Wong spoke poor Mandarin and had problems during teaching. She could not implement the lesson plans she had learned at Heep Woh Girls’ Normal School on the students in the nursery centre in Guilin. The nursery centre ran full-time with nap hours. MY Wong resigned after 2 years’ teaching for fear that the students might contract her illness then.

Title	Returning to hometown during the war and teaching at a nursery in Guilin
Date	11/05/2010
Subject	Education
Duration	5m9s
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	TW-WMY-LIFE-007

MY Wong once taught at Pui To Pui Ching United Primary School in Guilin, and she was later evacuated to Chengdu. Referred by a relation, she taught at Chengdu Provincial Experiment Kindergarten for ten months. She taught mainly 4-year-old students, and had to prepare teaching materials and set up the classroom. The kindergarten had three teachers graduating from kindergarten teacher training schools. One of them taught students over the age of 4. The other two taught students below the age of 4. Students of 2 years and a half were looked after by babysitters. Before getting the job, MY Wong was assessed by the director of kindergarten with the piano.

MY Wong learned the Sichuan dialect from her relation before the new school term commenced, but failed to speak it fluently after all, and so was responsible for teaching nursery rhymes and general education. Stories were told by another female teacher. The kindergarten was used as a nursery centre in the winter vacation before the new term. Outside the classroom, MY Wong taught some workers to sing songs of China's War of Resistance. The kindergarten adopted innovative teaching methodologies and let students freely sit in any lesson. Teachers observed and criticized one another’s lessons so that they could benefit from one another.

When teaching at that kindergarten, MY Wong acquired the questioning skills needed to draw students’ attention. Heep Woh Girls’ Normal School and Chengdu Heep Woh Girls’ Normal School were founded by the same Christian organization. After peace was restored, MY Wong followed her elder brother to Hengyang. She later returned to Hong Kong to teach at Heep Woh Primary School for one semester with the assistance from the Heep Woh organization in Guangzhou. However, MY Wong did not like teaching at primary school.

Title	Teaching at Chengdu Provincial Experiment Kindergarten
Date	11/05/2010
Subject	Education
Duration	13m41s
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	TW-WMY-LIFE-008

MY Wong had taught at True Light Kindergarten in Hong Kong [now called True Light Middle School of Hong Kong (Kindergarten)] for 38 years (from 1946 to 1983). Student admission was based on classroom size. Each class had about 30 students or so. Each floor had a few classrooms. Students at True Light Kindergarten had a better family background. MY Wong mainly taught the 4-year-olds. In those times True Light was located at Caine Road. It only ran the primary school and kindergarten in a half-day mode. MY Wong taught at True Light Kindergarten in the morning and taught Handiwork at True Light Primary School of Hong Kong in the afternoon. There were 40 students in Primary 1 of True Light Primary School of Hong Kong. They could not yet write their names. The teacher had to spend some time helping them write their names, and had to hurry when the lesson ended. Afterwards the school required MY Wong to teach Primary 3. The School Inspector demanded MY Wong receive proper trainings. As a result, MY Wong did a 3-year advanced course for teachers of Arts and Handiwork at Northcote College of Education, and was awarded a certificate.

Having done the advanced course, MY Wong once taught Handiwork and Arts in Primary 5 and 6. The first year of the advanced course in Arts was delivered by Kan Mei Tin, who taught sketching. The second year was taught by a teacher surnamed Lam, who taught patterns. Theories were plenty and students had to jot notes. The third year was taught by Chan Muk Lan, who taught oil painting. As for Handiwork, common paper-cut was taught in the first year, rattan weaving in the second, and porcelain in the third. Arts and Handiwork were taught in separate lessons. There was one lesson per subject per week. Teachers had to register the courses done each year to keep the School Inspector informed of their training progress. Hong Kong did not recognize one’s credentials obtained from Heep Woh Girls’ Normal School in Macau. Although their graduates could teach at a Hong Kong kindergarten, they could only register as a permitted teacher.

MY Wong once applied for a place in the kindergarten teacher training course offered by Northcote College of Education, but was rejected as the school regarded her as already having been trained. She was later regarded as a primary school teaching staff by Ho Chung Chung, principal of True Light. For MY Wong, the most important thing in kindergarten education was habit building in students. Some may think that students simply played with wooden blocks at the kindergarten, but MY Wong pointed out that wooden blocks not only promoted fine motor development, but also instill in children the habits of putting objects back to where they were stored and putting chairs down in a quiet manner. The most difficult thing in teaching was handling crying students.

Teachers taught in different ways. For example, they demonstrated when teaching. They let students be little teachers or remind one another. They trained students to be attentive since the first occasion of storytelling, as most kindergarten students love stories, and they would become attentive listeners within a month. Teachers tried to organize a story in a way that knowledge of different subjects could be taught and supplement it with pictures or blackboard drawings. When asking students to follow the rules, teachers have to be patient and skilled. For example, when telling students not to run on the corridor, teachers have to tell them they will fall easily while running on the corridor, and they will not look pretty any more if stitches are applied after falling. Running is only allowed on the playground. Another example is that students have to be taught to be orderly when going sliding on the playground. Teachers have to give chances to students and must not punish them too often. The toys in the kindergarten may be dangerous for students and teachers have to watch them play.

True Light Kindergarten had 7 to 8 kinds of toys such as stools, hula loops, tricycles and wooden rocking horses for up to 90 students to play with. Three teachers were on the watch in each session of game time. Ho Chung Chung, principal of True Light, did not agree to have students write too much, but she deemed it necessary to correct their pen-gripping posture. Students at True Light Kindergarten got promoted to the Upper Class after mastering the pronunciations, meanings and strokes of 20 words. They learned to identify words with the vocabulary cards made by the teachers. They could take some stringed beads or books from the books corner for self-learning. Rhymes and prayers were arranged in the morning. There was one Bible Lesson per week for students to learn about the divine creation of the world and the operation of Mother Nature.

Ho Chung Chung headed True Light from kindergarten to senior middle school. She held a meeting at True Light Kindergarten both at the beginning and end of each semester. She knew how to appreciate the teachers. She demanded the teachers be responsible, and her would help the teachers to place the things in the classroom orderly. The teachers learned a lot from her. She studied education at Lingnan University in Guangzhou, and practiced teaching at Lingnan University Experiment Middle School. True Light Kindergarten comprised of Upper and Lower Classes. Most teachers at True Light Kindergarten graduated from Heep Woh Girls’ Normal School. Some were from kindergarten teacher training classes of Escola Tak Meng and Colégio Diocesano de São José in Macau.

The teachers at True Light Kindergarten had meetings every semester to discuss the curricula of general education, vocabulary reading, vocabulary writing, religion and other areas, which were taught in separate modules. One week before a new semester commenced, all teachers had a general meeting, followed by meetings conducted in smaller groups. Before the general meeting, the teachers would have group meetings beforehand to save time. True Light Kindergarten was a pioneering kindergarten. Some new teachers would introduce new teaching methodologies at meetings. MY Wong came to remember that Sichuan Provincial Experiment Kindergarten also adopted new teaching methods and did lots of experiments, for example, delivering lessons to 4-year-old students on the sand.

Title	Teaching life and inspirations at True Light Kindergarten. Impression on True Light's principal and teachers
Date	11/05/2010
Subject	Education
Duration	25m40s
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	TW-WMY-LIFE-009

Some students of True Light Kindergarten at Caine Road had their lunch boxes delivered by their parents. Some had house workers escort them to and from the kindergarten. The students there came from middle-class families. Some parents owned a shop at Queens Road Central while some were white-collar workers. At the True Light Kindergarten at Tai Hang Road, some parents drove to send their kids to school and back home, some lived in rented public flats in Lai Tak Estate, while some sold vegetables. Most parents of the students of True Light Kindergarten liked to meet the teachers in person. Teachers of True Light Kindergarten always taught students to be frugal. For example, no extra worksheet would be given during handiwork lessons. Many students of True Light Middle School and Primary School were on tuition subsidies.

True Light Middle School cared about their nutrition and provided them with eggs, bread and milk. To MY Wong, very few of the students she had taught before her retirement were pampered. True Light Middle School, Primary School and Kindergarten had a sound atmosphere, modest students and courteous parents.

MY Wong stressed that kindergarten teachers should take the appropriate teaching approach according to individual needs, and the building of good habits in students was most crucial, which held true in all time. She pointed out that students were easier for teachers to manage and teach if their ages were similar. She did not think teaching boys was different from teaching girls at kindergarten. Some girls were naughty as well. Kindergarten teachers’ primary duty was to teach children to get along with others. Children were unaware of the differences between boys and girls.

Teachers of True Light Kindergarten had to visit every student’s home in the first semester, and visit only problematic families in the second semester. The prime objective of the home visits were to learn about students’ habits at home and give suggestions on improvement. For example, if a student refused to remain seated during lessons, it would be very likely that he had stayed up too late at night. If a child lay his head on the desk, it would mean that he was sick, and the teacher would suggest that the parents have the child sleep half an hour early every day.

Title	Family background of students of True Light Kindergarten. True Light's atmosphere and teaching methodology
Date	11/05/2010
Subject	Education
Duration	9m1s
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	TW-WMY-LIFE-010

MY Wong’s youngest elder brother, who was once her classmate, passed away at the age of 14. Her fifth elder brother joined the air force and died of liver cancer. Her eldest sister was always weak and never had any formal schooling. A fellow from the church taught her to make children’s suit and smocking dress. She later tailored doctor’s robe, nurse outfits and patient garment at the hospital.

MY Wong’s third elder sister graduated at Belilios Public School. She then studied Commerce and worked at a bank. She occasionally gave private tuition on English Language.

Another elder brother of MY Wong was an accounting staff. MY Wong was the only one in the whole family going into teaching. All of her six nieces witnessed her voice going raucous after teaching and dared not do teaching. Most of them became a nurse.

The elder sister who was a nursing student in Guangzhou went to Singapore after getting married, and died of illnesses at 40 years old or so. MY Wong’s grandmother-in-law was called Ho Wai Kau. Her grandfather Leung Chung Ying was a sailor on the warship.

Title	Education background and occupations of elder brothers and sisters
Date	11/05/2010
Subject	Education
Duration	4m36s
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	TW-WMY-LIFE-011

In the 1940s, True Light Kindergarten had used textbooks for parents’ needs, but the teachers scarcely used them. The class teacher would decide what snacks to let students eat, say, biscuits or sandwiches. Before MY Wong went retired, True Light Kindergarten arranged a trip to Shatin Racecourse for the students with the company of parents. In the age of Caine Road, students went on a trip to Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens on foot with the assistance from their house helper every autumn.

Ho Chung Chung, principal of True Light Kindergarten, was a frugal woman. She would not switch on the fan and would reuse an envelope. She patrolled on campus (including True Light Middle School, Primary School and Kindergarten) twice a week with rubber shoes on so as not to disturb the lessons. She would give credits to students for good handwriting. Students would be concerned about her when they learned that she did not come to school for inspection due to leg pains. While some regarded Ho Chung Chung as a serious woman, MY Wong said she had a nice smile and complied with reason. Ho Chung Chung desired that teachers would not talk too loud so that students would not talk too loudly either. True Light Middle School, Primary School and Kindergarten put greater emphasis on conduct than exam results. The grades for conduct comprised of distinction, credit, pass and poor. The school’s classrooms at Caine Road were rather small.

Private school run by MY Wong’s grandmother at Wing Lok Street occupied just a single floor.

Title	Textbooks, picnics and conduct requirements of True Light Kindergarten. memories about True Light's principal
Date	11/05/2010
Subject	Education
Duration	7m36s
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	TW-WMY-LIFE-012