Main Headline University News

IFTM Hosts Mainland & HK High School Students in Macao English Educational Tour

中文摘要 / Summary in Chinese

During the week from 16 to 22 July 2023, IFTM hosted a group of 11 high school students from Mainland China and Hong Kong on an English educational tour, “Travelling in English” across Macao.

An educational tour is a namesake event that focuses on taking students on excursions where they will be able to learn directly on-site or put their theoretical knowledge into practice. The concept has emerged in Macao lately but has been very popular in Mainland China.

Gabriella Cheang Si Weng, one of the instructors of the “Travelling in English” and English lecturer at IFTM, recapped that the tour – presented as a summer camp – was an immersive experience for students to explore Macao and improve their language capabilities. “It revolved around tourism English, such as culture, food, hometown, green tourism, and technological application in tourism,” she said. In addition, the primary purpose of the tour was to allow students to experience IFTM’s philosophy of learning through practice. Therefore, different tasks have been arranged for students to accomplish and gain experience in using English.

According to her, the two most prominent features of this camp include a field trip to local Cultural Heritages and another to the Londoner Macao, which was a docent tour around the property, such as hotel rooms, resort and MICE facilities, and the front office. She said that the former allowed students to witness the East-meets-West character of Macao; and the latter to understand the philosophy and operations of these facilities so that they got to know more about the world-class hotels and resorts in Macao. “They have also had chances to raise questions directly to the middle management of the resort and to see the local hotel industry from another perspective,” Gabriella described.

Discussing the reason behind joining this tour, Narcissus Cao Huayan, a student from Nanning No.8 High School, Nanning, Guangxi, China, found Macao very famous as a tourism destination and has long desired to come. He has not been to Macao before this tour, he disclosed. “I have previously heard about IFTM and have preferences over the programmes it offers,” Narcissus said. “Not only do I like Macao, but also IFTM. I have been attracted to this educational tour by IFTM and its programmes.”
Cyrus Cheng Ho Yeung, a student from Hong Kong’s Kowloon Tong School (Secondary Section) and Narcissus, were both overwhelmed by the visit to the Londoner Macao. “The resort was revamped, but it is nothing short of the Venetian Macao in terms of glamour and beauty. I was astonished by its magnificence,” Narcissus said.

In addition, Cyrus said: “I was surprised to find a shopping mall in a hotel. Initially, I thought we were going to see the back-of-house areas, but the shopping mall did surprise me. There is nothing as enormous in Hong Kong.” He added that he had heard about differences in the mode of operations between hotels in Macao and Hong Kong, and that he was interested in knowing more.

Gabriella said that the target of the tour was to help students make breakthroughs and step out of their comfort zone by challenging themselves and acquiring knowledge through activities. “I have seen growth in them, for they have worked very hard to cooperate with their fellow participants to complete the tasks they have been assigned. In the beginning, they were a little hesitant to converse completely in English; but nearing the end of the programme, they feel very comfortable doing so,” Gabriella added.

Meanwhile, Narcissus has learnt team building, group communications and cooperation, while Cyrus has had his horizons widened in terms of hotel star-rating standards.

Having such strong preferences for IFTM, Narcissus said he would decide to do his degrees at the institution, which Gabriella found an additional benefit from the tour.