Heads up: This post is 12 years old. My thinking may have evolved since then — read it with that in mind.
On Sunday, Bobby from YES Network met up with Mabo, Mulberry Tree Unschool’s head teacher, to give him a crash course on how to interview people effectively. The reason for this was because Mabo will be going on a grand tour of kindergartens and children’s museums in the US. Mabo used to work on the frontline at the kindergartens and Children’s Museum in San Francisco. Now, he has been living in Hong Kong for four years, and Hong Kong is lagging completely behind in Early Childhood Education. He’s looking forward to this trip to catch up with the latest and bring the knowledge back to Hong Kong.
I’ve always felt so lucky to have found Mabo! Before he joined us at Mulberry Tree, we were in a bit of chaos as I wasn’t formally trained as an Early Childhood Educator. I asked Mabo if he could volunteer to help us, first with the environment. The questions he asked, the answers he gave, the things he brought in and his interactions with children, everything told me that he is the real deal - he is passionate about Reggio and ECE, so he lives and breathes it instead of treating it as a job.
Being such a top quality, passionate Early Childhood Educator, yet aren’t able to put his skills to good use in Hong Kong until we came along… that speaks a lot about the state of education in Hong Kong, doesn’t it?
Here’s a list of the establishments Mabo will be visiting, if you know anyone at these places, or any other Reggio-inspired organizations in the North East, please do connect us. Thank you.
Hampshire College Early Learning Center