Dr Y-Dang TROEUNG, Assistant Professor of the Department of English, was honoured with this year’s Teaching Excellence Award (TEA) in recognition of her innovative English teaching strategies which stimulate students’ creativity and integrate English in their lives.

Dr Troeung applied teaching strategies of linking discovery with social transformation and empowerment into a General Education course titled ‘Exploring English Cinema’, which aims at providing students an alternative way of learning English. Incorporating elements of film production and analysis into the course, Dr Troeung enabled students to learn two things at the same time. “It’s very different from the traditional concept of learning English, which is often considered ‘boring’ by students nowadays,” says Dr Troeung.

Abbie Ye, who took the course, says that her best memory of the course is of her presentation. “Unlike other teachers who teach movies, Dr Troeung is always encouraging,” she says. “Even if it’s just a very simple film, Dr Troeung still gives us many merits and appreciates our effort.”

As one of the awardees this year, Dr Troeung received a cash prize of HK$15,000 for staff development and related purposes, and a grant of HK$150,000 to conduct a project regarding teaching development.

The Teaching Excellence Awards were introduced by the University in 1993, as the first university in Hong Kong to offer such awards to recognise and reward distinguished teachers, as well as promoting and nurturing best teaching practices.