Crash Course on How to Interview People Effectively

Wed, 23 Jul 2014 08:35:00 +0000

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.

(Thanks Bobby and The Yes Network for helping us on such short notice!)

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.

Wheelock College

Lesly University

Hampshire College Early Learning Center

Eric Carle Museum

Garden Gate Child Development Center

MacDonald Montessori School

Boston Children’s Museum

Expert Interview - Meeco Wong

Tue, 29 Apr 2014 20:44:00 +0000

“I’m a lucky mommy, my daughter was accepted into St. X, one of the most sought after kindergartens! In K.1, I just let her play, I didn’t sign her up to any after school activities or tutor schools. It was OK, but now in K.2, her classmates can WRITE, in English, a story! They can do additions, 2 digits with 1 digit! And multiplications!! I have no choice but to push my daughter too, otherwise, come interview time, she may lose everything…”

Last Wednesday, we met up with Meeco Wong, a local teacher with 9 years of experience teaching at both local and international kindergartens. She is Sarah’s teaching partner and when we heard from Sarah about how even though she knows early childhood development, the importance of free play and attachment, she “had no choice” but to push her daughter at a competitive local kindergarten, we knew we must interview her to understand what may be a very common conundrum that parents face in Hong Kong.

Meeco is a young mother of two, she claimed that she had a horrible childhood, (she didn’t elaborate and I didn’t want to press on) but she really loves children and she wanted to become a mother one day. Because of that, she studied Early Childhood Education and became a kindergarten teacher.

We were very impressed by her answers to our questions, she showed a high level of professionalism at her profession - observing both parents and children and the interactions between them, acknowledging the parents’ concerns while demonstrating how to respect children, forming a close bond with them and trusting them to discover their own knowledge.

During our weekly team meeting yesterday, Soren, Mrinalini and I discussed our “Top 3 take-aways” for this interview. Two of the most profound take-away were:

“As a kindergarten teacher, I can’t change much in the education system. I can’t even change my school. But what I can change is how I treat my own children.”

“The education system is not helping my daughter to become the full person that she can be. My husband and I are the ones who’re helping her.”

What’s the role of the education system? What’s the point of sending our children to it if it doesn’t help our children learn? How can we change this system so that it can truly nurture children into capable human beings? We think we’re beginning to see the leverage points within this system that can bring about the changes the society needs!

Interview on Nick Wang

Crash Course on How to Interview People Effectively

Expert Interview - Meeco Wong