Page 133 - 羅富國校友會（七十五周年紀念特刊）

Echoes Towards Gratitude

✽海外來鴻（澳洲悉尼）

The Lad Who Didn't Look Like a Teacher

Cheung Chun Ming Anthony（1969 NCE Alumnus）

"He doesn't look like a teacher!" Mr Wong was spot on when he remarked on this green
looking lad in front of a dozen or so NCE students at a tutorial class in September 1967. In
fact, Anthony the lad was a 17 year old fresh Form 5 graduate from La Salle College who

happened to be in the same tutorial group with other Matriculates who were at least two
years his senior.
Under the guidance of Mr Wong and other teacher trainers, at the tender age of 19,

Anthony graduated from NCE in 1969 and joined up with Charles, Terry and Andrew, his
three fellow La Salle/NCE graduates to start their teaching careers at Chan Sui Ki (La Salle)
College, a brand new Secondary School run by the La Salle Brothers.

At Chan Sui Ki, Anthony would then spend eight years attempting to perfect in the art of
teaching Hong Kong junior high students the English and Chinese languages. As a hobby, he
helped out as a conductor of the junior school choir and steered it towards first runners up awards
at two consecutive Schools Music and Speech Festivals. During his eight years' career at Chan

Sui Ki, one thing became increasingly clear to Anthony - he felt his command of English was far
more superior to that of many of his senior colleagues who graduated from universities but yet
his monthly pay was less than half of theirs with almost similar workloads. It was apparent to

him what he lacked was a university degree! So in September 1977, he gave up his teaching job
to pursue further studies at the University of Nottingham, UK.
Based on the strength of his NCE Teaching Certificate and his eight years' high school

teaching experience, Anthony was eventually enrolled in a Master's Degree Program in
Education which he successfully completed in 1979. Upon graduation, he was offered a
Lectureship in Languages at the Hong Kong Polytechnic. His return flight to Hong Kong
from London was paid in full by his new employer, yet coincidentally, on the flight he was

seated right next to his former employer - Brother Eugene, Principal of Chan Sui Ki College
who was returning to Hong Kong after a brief summer visit to his hometown in Ireland. Boy,
one could easily imagine what interesting conversations took place between the pair during
the lengthy 14 hour flight!

1979 to 1988 were the ten years that Anthony grew both personally and professionally at
a faster pace. He was married to Emma in 1981 and Janice, their only daughter was born in

1983. Meanwhile, Anthony attained a Master's Degree in Language Studies at the University
of Hong Kong in 1984 and a Doctor of Philosophy Degree at the University of Nottingham
in 1988. He became a Member of the Institute of Linguists, UK in 1982 and was elected as a
Fellow in 1988. During this time, he published over 20 papers in various language education
journals.

th
Northcote College of Education Past Students’ Association 75 Anniversary Special Issue 131