Sydney English Study Tour

The Sydney English study tour was held between 27th June and 6th July, 2024 with goals to provide students with an opportunity to learn about the culture of Australia and enhance their confidence in speaking and listening to English. This was the first overseas study tour organised by the English Department after the pandemic.

The tour consisted of 27 students who came from S3 to S5 with an even mix of girls and boys, accompanied by three English teachers. 

The meeting time of 6:10am at the airport on the first day meant we all had to get up before the sunrise in order to catch our direct flight ‘down under’, but teachers and students alike had plenty of time to catch a much-needed nap on the 9-hour flight. The difference in temperature between Hong Kong’s summer heatwave and Sydney’s winter was a welcome change on our arrival. 

We woke up to bright sunshine in our first morning in Australia, and made our way to the Blue Mountains National Park, followed by Sydney Zoo. It was a perfect start to the tour. On the days that followed, we also packed in visits to the Australian National Maritime Museum, the main campus of University of Sydney and University of New South Wales, Sydney Fish Market, The Rocks, the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the world-famous Sydney Opera House, but to name a few.

On the weekday mornings of the second week, students attended English lessons in a centrally-located language school. Students also had the opportunity to mingle with students from a wide spectrum of nationalities, such as Brazil, Germany, Japan and Spain, both inside the classroom and during the breaks. 

In these weekday afternoons, a number of excursions were organised so that students could experience as many cultural, academic and sightseeing sites as possible. For lunch and dinner, we sampled a variety of delicious cuisines including Thai, French, Italian, Chinese and of course the traditional Aussie meat pie. 

In the evenings, students were encouraged to write in their learning diaries what happened in the daytime. To consolidate the learning, they also had short meetings with their respective teachers to discuss how they collaborated to do their projects: a group-based e-book and share what they had learnt and seen that day. Students were split into three groups of nine students with each group researching a different aspect of Australian life, namely language & culture, animals & conservation, and culture & traditions.

Back to the goals, possibly it shouldn’t be difficult for participants to draw a conclusion that it was resounding ‘mission accomplished’!