新任體育及康樂學課程主任的我,對於這項在過去兩年已經由前課程主任任克明先生建立良好根基 的工作感到莫大的挑戰與興奮。現在,這個課程已擁有共一百一十五名一年級至三年級學生。由於在首年接收了六十名學生就讀,在教學上,對導師們難免造成困難。雖然如此,每位導師都能盡心盡力,並嘗試採用各種不同的授課方式,如小組上課,輔助和討論等。而且在授課當中,導師們亦經常灌輸學生有關體康從業之操守和精神,務求他們日後能夠成為社會一群品學兼備的年青人。基於各位同事的努力和通力合作,我極相信體康學系的明天會更好。

As the newly appointed course leader of the PERS programme, I am excited about the challenge that is facing me-although a great deal have been accomplished in the past two years by Mr. Richard Yam, who was the course leader before my appointment. Now the programme has grown to its full enrolment of 115 students in the whole programme and certainly it was no easy job for our staff in the past two years to teach 60 students in some classes, a number which doubled the expected enrolment of 30 when the programme was launched in 1992. Although individual attention cannot be given to each student in large classes, the faculty still tried to break off from the conventional type of lecturing style. Small discussion groups were conducted in tutorial sessions to analyses cases and role playing under work practical situation. The elements of professional ethics is also incorporated into our lectures by individual lecturers. Good songs cannot be left unsung, I must thank my colleagues for their effort in struggling through the difficult times during the past years. In less than six months time, we can sit back to celebrate the first batch of graduates from the PERS programme.

With new staff joining us at the beginning of this year and the returning of some of our colleagues from their sabbatical, I anticipated a lot of constructive comments and new initiatives stem from our faculty that will contribute to programme development. I must say I am fortunate to have strong support from my colleagues during my first year as the course leader. They gave me the necessary professional and spiritual support when needed and also the freedom to initiate positive changes. I have great confidence in the future development of our PERS programme and in all of you who are a part of it.

Report on PERS Internship Programme 1993-94

The PERS programme is growing from strength to strength with a full enrolment of 115 students in the programme. Since last year, the faculty has given serious consideration in ways and means to improve the quality of our upcoming graduates of 95 and equip them with necessary skills before graduation. "Internship"which is the application of theoretical knowledge into meaningful field experience has the following objectives:

1. Personal objectives by developing self-confidence, communication and social skills and a sense of professionalism.
2. Academic objectives by developing cognitive skills as problem solving, critical thinking, analysis and synthesis and most important, relating theory to practice.
3. Career objectives which include job acquisition skills and understanding career options.

The programme was advertised to students in April 1994. Despite the voluntary nature of the programme and that it was non-credit gaining, 48 students signed up for internship. Letters of invitation were sent to potential cooperating organisations and 24 responses were received indicating their interest to participate in the programme. After careful planning and matching students to appropriate cooperating organizations, 48 students were placed in 24 organisations.

Internship periods started in mid-June and ended in mid-September. The shortest period last for 2 weeks (60 hours) and the longest 3 months. During the internship period, staff who acted as coordinators would called up cooperating organisations by telephone to discuss with students' supervisors on their performance. Some students would discuss with the coordinators regarding problems which they might encounter during the internship period.

Performance and evaluation report were submitted to the Department of Physical Education from supervisors and students respectively. As a whole, positive feedback were received from students' supervisors. Most of the students ranked high in punctuality, responsibility and relation with colleagues and rank low in oral expression and written work. As for the students, the following accounts relate a number of these activities.

Clara Wong writes:

"Practice makes perfect"I totally agree with this statement after the internship programme. Although the one-month programme was very short, I have gained much experience that could hardly have been learnt from text books.

My internship involved teaching physical education in a secondary school. Preparation prior to teaching a lesson is very important, hence, I learned how to find different resources from books, and from notes I have taken in the skill courses and advice from my supervising teachers. I taught athletics in my teaching practice. Although I took an athletics skill course in my second year, I needed to modify these skills to suit the needs of my students, I also needed to prepare lesson plans which specified the time, space and exact course contents in my lesson. I found out mental rehearsal is very important in preparing for a lesson. A good example is teaching the high jump. I need to think over the skills repeatedly before the lesson so that I can demonstrate the skill in a fluent manner. In addition, I learned to break down the complicated skills into parts or simpler skills so that the students can learn the parts (the approach, the take-off and the landing) and then the whole movement. Moreover, I needed to make sure the learning environment is safe and injury free. I never realized I had such a soft voice until I started to teach in the open area, this is different from teaching in a classroom situation because one will have to give instructions loud and clear. Practice teaching not only develops my self-confidence and communication skills, it also develops my quickness in handling unexpected situations such as changing my lesson plans on rainy days.

I must thank my supervising teachers for their advice. They not only pointed out my weaknesses but also gave me encouragement throughout my internship period. Without which, I would have never enjoyed my first teaching experience which meant so much to me.

Leung Wai Man had more to say:

During my three-month attachment to the Sports Science Department of the Hong Kong Sports Institute, I was grateful to be given this golden opportunity to gain invaluable experience through my OBSERVATION and PREPARATION in the laboratory work of this organization.

Through my participation in the human performance tests such as the cycle ergometer submaximal tests, arm crank maximal tests, and Cybex isokinetic muscle tests, I learned the techniques and procedures of handling various tests for athletes of different sports. On top of that, by observation, I recognized the entire working procedure of arranging a test for an athlete of a particular sport. It includes the pre-preparation for a test, the safety implementation of a scientific test, analysis of the test results and the follow-up after the test, thus allowing me to recognize the whole picture of handling the exercise testings in the laboratory setting.

In addition, this internship experience gave me a chance of applying my theoretical knowledge learned in our course to the practical working environment, thus widening my horizon and consolidating my concept in recognizing the prospect and career in the field of sports science. Coupled with the theoretical knowledge gained in the University and the working experience in the practical setting, I believe that this internship programme gives students a much clearer view of their real interest and helps students to explore their potential, hence the internship is a worth while programme for students in development of their future career.

Jennifer Mak wrote memorably:

The Hong Kong Table Tennis Association (HKTTA) is the organization where I worked during internship. HKTTA is a famous National Sports Association in Hong Kong. The functions of the HKTTA are varied. Apart from self-organized programmes, it also co-organizes programmes with Sports Development Board, Unban Council, Regional Council as well as business firms sush as Epson Ltd. and Heng Seng Bank Ltd. Therefore, it is not unusual to discover them in our daily work. The job at HKTTA provided good experience and exposure to its employees. For example, I had the opportunities to be the Master of Ceremony in the Press Conference of Hong Kong Cup and East Asia Hope Championship which was a new challenge to me. I also had an opportunity to sit in the meeting between HKTTA and RC for the events of the Regional Festival. These are things which I can never learn from my academic work.

Internship experiences benefit me not only as vehicles by which to gain valuable, supervised work experiences, but also by providing routes to the discovery of career options and opportunities. It provides opportunities for self-evaluation as well as professional evaluation, and affords me opportunities to acquire deeper commitment to my chosen fields of study.

After what we have heard from our students regarding their intership experience, as the course leader, I would say with no exception, students participated in the internship programme came back more confident, self reliant and more ready to accept challenge.