Short Bio
Candy received her PhD in Education from the University of Saint Joseph, her Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics for English Language Teaching from the University of York, England, and her Bachelor of Education from the University of Macau. She teaches various English modules and modules in the undergraduate programme of the School of Education. Having years of experience in ESL teaching in a wide range of contexts and being qualified as an ELT Teacher Trainer by the International House World Organisation, she also supervises pre-service and in-service teachers in the postgraduate education programme during their teaching practicum. She is keen on integrating innovative ideas and activities into her teaching to cultivate her learners’ critical thinking. Her specific areas of research interest include cognitive thinking skills, curriculum design and evaluation, and English teaching and learning.
Publications
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Chan, Y.C., Siu, K.U. & Ieong, J. (2024). Are Macau students ready for higher education in English? - The perspectives of three USJ lecturers. The Chinese Educators Association of Macau, 278(1), pp.59-63.
CONFERENCE PROCEEDING
Siu, K.U. (2024). The promotion of higher-order thinking skills in secondary education: Are we ready for the 21st century? In C. K. J. Lee, M. H. M. Cheng, K. J. Kennedy, S. C. Kong, J. N. Erni, & B. Macfarlane (Eds.). (2024). Proceedings of the International Congress on Educational Futures 2024 (ICEF2024) (p.100). The Education University of Hong Kong
Modules
Year 1 Master
Academic English Writing is a required module for students enrolled in the master program in Philosophy. It is designed to explore academic writing processes and strategies in the target language (English) and includes general lessons on genre-specific, topic proposal and thesis/dissertation writing. Those enrolled are expected to comply with and submit requirements that display writing and language proficiency befitting of students in a post-graduate program.
Year 1 Bachelor
This module examines the range of methods and strategies to teaching and learning. It provides a conceptual framework for understanding key aspects of pedagogy, including teacher and learner factors, characteristics of effective and intentional teaching; student diversity, differentiated instruction, motivation and creating effective lessons using a variety of approaches. It addresses the importance of diverse learning structure and management of diverse learning environments and examines teaching and learning strategies; management of learning; whole class, group and individual learning organizations; interactive teaching; social-interactive processes of learning; higher order cognitive development; collaborative learning; action learning; and monitoring. The module is designed to provide students with an opportunity to study, reflect, question, and develop skills in various instructional approaches while applying and practicing these methods in diverse classroom settings.
Year 3 Bachelor
This module introduces students to various important literature and poetry with a special focus on works that relate to public commentary and reporting of world events. A broad range of writing styles and approaches are canvassed and forms, strategies and techniques for effective writing are explored. A part of the module students write several short creative essays on selected themes, and for these works the critical importance of clearly defining the purpose and audience for a work and the need for revision and rewriting is emphasized. The best student works are published in the university newsletter.
Year 1
This module provides practice integrating those reading skills necessary for academic success at university. These skills include reading for detail, inferring vocabulary in context, finding main ideas, critical reading, understanding sequence, summarizing, recognizing organization, and outlining. In addition, it emphasizes academic vocabulary. Students are introduced to language skills for research and are expected to apply previously taught presentation skills to give more analytical presentations. In this course students are also introduced to basic components of the research paper: abstract, data analysis and interpretation.
The primary aim of this module is to assist students in preparing themselves for the type of writing required for themes, essay examinations, term papers, and lengthy reports. The principles of rhetorical organization and development are thoroughly presented within the context of each student's language and cultural background. Students will engage in problem solving and idea development through the combination of independent investigation, and consultation with peers.
This is an advanced interdisciplinary writing course module emphasizing critical reading and thinking, argumentative writing, library research, and documentation of sources in an academic setting. Practice and study of selected rhetorics of inquiry (for example, historical, cultural, empirical, and ethnographic) employed in academic disciplines, preparing students for different systems of writing in their academic lives. Throughout this course, students will: significantly improve their academic writing; develop an understanding of how members of a particular discipline conceive of and engage in the rhetorical practices of that discipline; demonstrate understanding of the key conversations, the forms, and the conventions of writing in a particular discipline; gain experience in the construction of knowledge within a discipline and practice using its discourse; read critically and analyze rhetorically writings from a particular discipline and use those lenses to frame their own discourses; write in the different forms and styles of a particular discipline; and develop techniques for conducting research on the Internet and with other electronic databases.
This module teaches advanced grammar necessary for academic writing. It includes a review of basic grammar and a detailed study of noun, adjective, and adverb clauses, as well as prepositional, participal, gerund, and infinitive phrases. It will also provide written composition practice. Students will be introduced to the argumentative essay structure including the refutation of counter arguments. Students will engage in more complex discussion forums, debates and participate in organizing public presentations.
Students will concentrate on gaining grammatical control of their communication (subject and verb agreement, modal auxiliaries, singular and plural nouns, pronouns, articles, sentence structure, statements, questions, simple and compound sentences, prepositions, gerunds and infinitives, adverbs and adjectives, punctuation, and some complex sentence patterns). At the end of the module, students should be able to write a paragraph without making major grammatical errors. Development of the five-paragraph essay format will continue and students will practice writing compositions that are opinion-based, persuasive and begin to compare literature from different sources. Development will continue in regard to presentation skills and discussion forums.
This module teaches advanced grammar necessary for academic writing. It includes a review of basic grammar and a detailed study of noun, adjective, and adverb clauses, as well as prepositional, participial, gerund, and infinitive phrases. It will also provide written composition practice. Students will be introduced to the argumentative essay structure including the refutation of counter arguments. Students will engage in more complex discussion forums, debates and participate in organizing public presentations.
Year 2
Students will learn and apply a variety of public presentation techniques useful for both individual presentations as well as participation in group discussions. An important aspect of the module is that it uses an active learning process whereby students learn a new skill and put it into practice. By the end of the module students will possess a number of public speaking strategies that will help them to prepare any range of public presentations, including proposals, as well as have the opportunity to participate in seminar organization and implementation.
The primary aim of this module is to assist students in preparing themselves for the type of writing required for themes, essay examinations, term papers, and lengthy reports. The principles of rhetorical organization and development are thoroughly presented within the context of each student's language and cultural background. Students will engage in problem solving and idea development through the combination of independent investigation, and consultation with peers.
Students will practice the process, purposes, and strategies of persuasive and explanatory writing. Students read and discuss works by both professional and student writers and explore techniques of argument and persuasion in writing a series of 5-6 essays. The module stresses revision, relies on frequent workshops of student writing, and aims finally to sharpen the student's ability to use evidence in a reasonable, convincing way.
This is an advanced interdisciplinary writing course module emphasizing critical reading and thinking, argumentative writing, library research, and documentation of sources in an academic setting. Practice and study of selected rhetorics of inquiry (for example, historical, cultural, empirical, and ethnographic) employed in academic disciplines, preparing students for different systems of writing in their academic lives. Throughout this course, students will: significantly improve their academic writing; develop an understanding of how members of a particular discipline conceive of and engage in the rhetorical practices of that discipline; demonstrate understanding of the key conversations, the forms, and the conventions of writing in a particular discipline; gain experience in the construction of knowledge within a discipline and practice using its discourse; read critically and analyze rhetorically writings from a particular discipline and use those lenses to frame their own discourses; write in the different forms and styles of a particular discipline; and develop techniques for conducting research on the Internet and with other electronic databases.
