Skype at your service

This afternoon, another team of my students went to the Christian Action Worker’s Retraining Center in Choi Hung to teach computer classes for a group of migrant workers. This is already the third class.  My students and the domestic helpers from the Philippines and Indonesian seemed to be getting along quite well.  Part of the reason may be they were discovering the joy of Skype.  They were calling each other in the classroom.  

They plan to call their home country, their friends, and in one class, Nigeria.  Many of them do have access to computers in Hong Kong. Some have their own laptops, or smart phones.  Some can use their employers’ computers.  

Many of my students on this team are from mainland China.  Some mainland students were concerned that they may not be able to serve effectively in Hong Kong, not being able to speak Cantonese.  In this case, it is not an issue.  So far, they are doing fine.  They have prepared their lessons well, and they are pretty much on schedule.  After the service, we discussed the lesson today, and adjustments that they have to make.  One thing I encouraged them to do is to get to know the migrant workers better, how they plan to use the skills we are teaching them, so we can better help them.  In the end, we hope to better understand how technology (or the lack of such) is affecting their lives, and how it can be better used to improve their lives.