As you may know, an active lifestyle plays an important role in everyone’s life and bring countless benefits. For kids and teenages that are growing their bodies, doing sports regularly is not only fun but also improves health in many ways. Participation in sports also bring teens together from different schools, backgrounds, and communities, and very often, form intact bondings and friendships.
If you are in search of the best sport for your kid to take up, we have compile a list of some of the most popular sports and physical exercises for children and teenagers!
1. Jumping rope
A children’s game that has been around for generations, rope jumping is also an amazing physical exercise that offers your child a wide variety of different benefits.
Physically, it trains up muscular strength and endurance of kids as a fun and engaging full-body workout. Nearly all parts of your child’s body are used when skipping a rope, from the heart, arms, legs and the back, to shoulders and core. It is an extremely engaging form of resistance training as body weight is used as resistance, leading to enhanced body balance, muscle ratio and coordination.
In terms of cognitive and emotional advantages, rope jumping brings a sense of achievement for kids among peers. An excellent for releasing endorphins in the brain, continuous rope skipping help boost mood and even self-esteem.
Combining martial arts practices and values with physical exercises, Kendo is a sports that is widely practised worldwide with over 6 millions practitioners. A sports descended from ancient Japanese swordsmanship, bamboo swords (shinai) and protective armour (bōgu) are introduced in modern Kendo practices.
Through right and routine training, the art of Kendo aims to cultivate children’s vigorous spirit and mold their minds and bodies. Kids can learn the precious values of perseverance, focus, etiquette, and respect through continuous practicing.
Thanks to Edgar Cheung Ka-long’s recent yet historical, first-ever gold metal-winning in the Tokyo Olympics, the sports of fencing is becoming extremely popular in Hong Kong. Let’s know more about fencing before you get your kid jumping right into it!
Depends on the type of weapon being used and techniques to be picked up, there are 3 popular styles of the sports of fencing: foil, epee, and sabra. Most of the time, practitioners will start the learning journey with foil form, then move onto and perfect themselves in more advanced forms like eoee and sabra. The lightest weapon among three, the maximum weight of a foil is 500g, a contribubuing factor that makes it the most beginner-friendly form. Once a foil fencer hit the opponent’s torsi with the blade’s tip, he or she scores right away.
While saber is the quickest, most aggressive style of fencing among three disciplines, epee is the opposite side of things, being the most defensive with requirement of high-level skills and sharp counter moves.
In addition to bringing loads of fun, both skateboarding and rollarblading are exceptional and popular sports that exercise kids’ feet, legs, arms, and torso as they go straight, twist and balance with each trick and turn.
Speaking from the mental benefits that skateboarding and rollarblading offer, these two popular sports teach two crucial life lessons to children: “practise makes perfect” and “failure is an inevitable part of success”. As young skaters and riders proceed to master different tricks and techniques, in between every successful move, there must be setbacks and wipeouts. Only with persistent practices can the kid begin to see improvements. As so, skateboarding and rollarblading provide an incredibly rare sense of achievement for kids, while cultivate their growth mindsets along the learning journey that must be beneficial to their future.
A classic way to get the little ones away from the TV and out into the nature, cycling is a popular form of sports that can also turn into priceless family time! One of the major difference of cycling when compared with other popular sports, is that it does not essentially require a professional coach when your kid just start out. Instead, with mom or dad holding the back of the seat, children can already begin to enjoy the fun of riding on a bicycle.
Another great point about cycling is that, it is a popular sport that can be practise almost everywhere without age restrictions. If you are a parent with toddlers, you can still have your child start with a three-wheel tricycle simply on flat grounds, and then hop on a two-wheel with a training wheel once he or she grows older and starts to understand how balancing works. You can take off the training wheels according to your child’s learning pace.
All in all, countless physical, social and psychological benefits come with getting your child active in some sort of popular sports. If you are looking for a way to keep your kid healthy and happy, there is no better way than picking up a popular sports!
Wish to find out more parenting tips? Want your kids to acquire different skills and knowledge when staying at home? Check out ILK Learning’s Course Catalog to find THE course for your kids! Feel free to reach out for more information on WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram! We look forward to seeing your messages!
Caring for a kid with special needs has many blessings but can also get extremely challenging. Following our previous, comprehensive guide of helpful resources for an SEN kid’s parents, this blog is going to navigate you through the journey of taking the best care of your SEN kid with other useful tips and information that parents and caretakers should pay attention to. Read on to learn more!
Be Empathetic
Things can get harsh for SEN kids. Countless studies have shown that a majority of SEN kids suffer from problems with interpersonal relationships and low self-esteem. While 61% of them often feel tense or anxious in their daily lives, half of them live with a belief that they would not succeed in life. When it comes to interacting with people around them, 42% of SEN kids think a lot of people dislike them. It is also common for an SEN kid to fall victim to bullying, ostracism, or inefficient communication with peers.
As a parent, who is the most intimate person with your SEN kid in the entire world, you could help by trying to put your feelings aside and walk in your SEN kid’s shoes. Nothing is more powerful than acknowledging and valuing their feelings especially when they are already struggling to find a way and express themselves well in other settings. Giving kids a chance to talk and elaborate on their points of view and feelings, helps them feel heard, validated and most importantly, loved. Instead of jumping directly into problem-fix mode and judging whether something they do is right or wrong, try instead to hear your SEN kid out and look for nonverbal cues first. Getting a better understanding of your kid’s individual needs and circumstances with a professional assessment also helps.
Motivate Kids with Learning Disabilities and Assess Their Emotions
For SEN kids with a learning disability, celebrating their efforts rather than outcomes and keeping a tab on how they feel, means the world to them. Children with a learning disability often receive and expect criticism more so than other children due to an issue with how their brain takes in, makes sense of, or conveys information. Some common characteristics of a SEN kid at risk of having a learning disability include but are not limited to
poor reading and/or writing ability
weak pronunciation
difficulties with decoding symbols
coordination problems
refusal to read or learn
attention fixation
difficulties in catching up with schoolwork
Imagine you are the one struggling with homework or everyday activities just because of that, no encouragement is too much. If you are suspecting that your children have not been tested or assessed, get help as soon as possible from a learning specialist or authority to identify their strengths, weaknesses and ways of expressing their emotions, which are of utmost importance.
Discipline ADHD Kids with Clear Directions
ADHD is one of the most common SEN that shows on kids. If you find it very hard for your kids to focus on orders and demands, instead of getting emotional and yelling at them constantly, Make eye contact or gently touch on arm or shoulder to get their attention. Make sure you do not drag on elaborated speech or lecture them with prolonged sentences. Instead, breaking tasks into smaller steps and giving brief instructions would make it easier for them to follow and execute.
While ADHD comes in many different forms and levels, you should first give your SEN kid access to professional assessment to tailor a treatment that works best for him or her.
Seek Specialists’ Help Right Away for Autism
Early intervention as early as three years old has proven to be beneficial to an autistic kid’s emotional, social, cognitive, and physical development. While there is currently no one standard treatment for autism spectrum disorder, experts have linked long-term, positive impacts with early diagnosis and treatment. Many of them not only develop a higher IQ than average for a kid with autism but also possess better motor and language skills comparatively.
Engage in extracurricular activities
Extra-curricular activities, especially those with a teamwork component, can provide SEN kids with a sense of belonging in a community and achievement. Apart from that, similar to other kids, learning while playing is always the most ideal way to pick up essential life learning compare to being confined to four classroom walls. Often parents of an SEN kid underestimate extracurricular activities’ effects in opening doors for other childhood development opportunities. It is understandable for them to put a bigger emphasis and more resources on school or therapy. However, most of the time, extracurricular activities in fact work amazing in stabilising emotions and improving social skills, with other perks such as enhancing concentration, resilience, problem-solving and creativity depending on your choice.
Some of the best categories of extracurricular activities depending across the board for SEN kids include:
Chess Training
Calligraphy and Art
Music
Adventure-based Activities
Organised Play with Other Kids
Conclusion
Despite the difficulties and frustration you might encounter while raising your SEN kid, with the right help and guidance from industry professionals, you can then tackle the challenges accordingly based on your kid’s individual needs.
Sometimes referred as the “School for All” with “No Child Left Behind”, the Nordic education model is one of the most renowned and praised education approach in the world, characterised by its emphasis on rights for every child to have quality education in a common school regardless of social class, abilities, gender, or ethnicity. The Nordic education model is also known for being extremely holistic, flexible, inclusive, and creative, receiving global accolades for its achievements in academic performance, student satisfaction and kids’ cognitive development.
Read on to explore how the Nordic education model helps kids and contributes to whole-person development.
Why Is the Nordic Education Model Beneficial to kids?
1. Nurtures Creativity
Instead of adopting arbitrary learning standards, regular tests or assessments, Nordic schools focus on empowering students to explore their natural creativity, discover their true passions, and shape their own future. Students are often encouraged to take risks, explore new opportunities in every possible way by teachers. Instead of giving concrete answers, teachers are more like providing guidance and directions for learners to come up with their own answers and solutions, with nothing being seen as wrong or false. Even if unconventional results and thinking pop up, students still get compliments for simply thinking outside the box or inspire new ideas.
The truth is creativity lights up the brain. Numerous studies link creativity with the intrinsic motivation to learn, along with the sense of autonomy and the building up of confidence. Not to mention how critical creativity is to establish problem-solving skills to tackle obstacles throughout our lives and future developments.
In the Nordic education model, students are encouraged to learn alongside each other in a social setting. Cooperation is the norm instead of competition. Through interacting with each other, kids get to observe, model, and imitate behaviours, attitudes, and emotional reactions of others. Children are consciously trained to get along with others from an early age. Ever since the very beginning of education processes, mutual respect is highly valued in Scandinavian countries. Observational learning is known to be one of the most straightforward and efficient way of learning, especially for things with which young children have no direct experience. Not only can kids nurture long-lasting friendships with this emphasis on interpersonal relationships, but also to prepare themselves for the future.
The Nordic education model puts transversal competence as the core of their teaching approach. One of the most noticeable features that reflects this value, is Finnish people’s love for nature. By taking education out of the classroom rain or shine, Finns believe that students could then acquire interdisciplinary knowledge and skills for life. Ever since kindergarten, Nordic people are passionate about letting children to learn in nature in ways like going to the beach, singing, dancing, experimenting, interacting with animals, and playing games. Research and evidence from around the world prove that by putting education in place beyond the confined classroom walls, learners can not only to learn about plants, for example, but also to develop diversifying skills include but not limited to physical skills, numeracy, literacy, motor skills and social skills.
All the above characteristics of the Nordic education model contributes a high level of emotional intelligence. From the building up of empathy through social interaction with peers from a young age, being in tune with personal ambitions and emotions to better relationship management with loved ones and having positive mental health status, the Nordic education model makes up learners ’EQ development that basically, help them excel in every part of their lives.
Compared with the standardised and cramming education method in Hong Kong, we can get inspiration from the education model of Nordic countries that promotes social and happy learning to keep kids motivated on the lifelong journey of learning.
Wish to find out more parenting tips? Want your kids to acquire different skills and knowledge when staying at home? Check out ILK Learning’s Course Catalog to find THE course for your kids! Feel free to reach out for more information on WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram! We look forward to seeing your messages!
Need not to mention, our society has been struggling under the devastating impacts of the pandemic. While we reach the 3-year mark of the “new normal”, the education sector has gone through significant changes along the way. As we continued to experience pandemic-induced school shutdowns, academic normalcy remains cumulatively out of reach for many students, educators, and parents. As an indispensable part of the Hong Kong education system for decades, the private education industry has strived hard to guide students through the challenges of online classes and the suspension of normal school life.
The 2022 HKMOC Award Ceremony brings together more than 60 guests and education centers with an aim to recognize and encourage all the efforts contributed by seasoned, private educators in town. As a co-organizer, the ILK team is here to highlight the main takeaways and all you must know about this award ceremony!
What are the HKMOC Awards?
As a veteran in the education industry, HKCEC has been committed to connect and unite like-minded experts in the sector and bridging up the gap between private educators, the government and the general public with enhanced communication. Under difficult times like COVID-19, HKCEC emphasizes on fighting for the rights and improving the business environment of the industry by acting as a recognized representative and the voice of the private education industry.
Established under the pandemic influence with a firm pursuit to provide quality education for parents to cope with the challenges brought by COVID-19 , ILK Learning leverages advanced technology to offer a wide range of course selection to parents in town. ILK’s founding concept coincides with the speech delivered by the Under Secretary of Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, Dr. Bernard Chan Pak-li, JP at the ceremony: "Through respective education centres that make good use of technology and innovative thinking, we can help cultivate students' independent thinking, creativity, logic and problem-solving skills, and contribute to the construction of Hong Kong’s future talent pool.”
With a vision to acknowledge and express our appreciation to the dedicated educators in the city, under the challenging circumstances brought by the pandemic, ILK Learning and The Hong Kong Chamber of Education Centers (HKCEC) joined hands and initiated the HKMOC Awards.
All the winners were evaluated and selected by a joint effort of HKCEC and ILK Learning based on 5 major principles: economy, society, culture, academics, and technology. All the participants are nominated online anonymously. Details of the selection criteria are as follows:
Economical
Number of students/parents served
Sustainability and scalability of the business
Technological Application
Efficiency improved by the use or application of innovative technology in products, services, teaching models or working procedures
Cost reduction or significant revenue increase
Academic
Student performance
Appropriate classroom arrangements and learning outcomes
Cultural
Robust corporate and crisis management strategies
A successful product or service recognition with a good brand reputation
Social Responsibility
Adopt socially responsible business practices
With a sense of mission and to contribute to the society
The grand award ceremony of the 1st HKMOC Awards took place at Ballroom Centenary II - III Marco Polo Hong Kong Hotel on the 25th of August 2022, with leaders and elite members of the local education sector as guests of honors, including:
Former Secretary for Education, Mr. Eddie Ng, GBS, JP
Member of the Legislative Council and Vice President of Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers, Principal Mr. Chu Kwok-keung
Founder and CEO of Bridgeway Prime Shop Fund Management Limited, Dr. Edwin Lee
Honorary Advisor of HK Aided Primary School Heads Association, Mr. Leung Siu Tong, MH
Under Secretary of Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, Dr. Bernard Chan Pak-li, JP
Principal of Tseung Kwan O Methodist Primary School, Mr. Eddie Lam Tak Yuk
Founder of SocioEducation and Researcher of Hong Kong Policy Research Insititute, Mr. Jacky Fung
HKMOC Awards - List of Awardees
The list of winners of the 1st HKMOC Awards in 2022 is as follows:
Final Thoughts on HKMOC Awards
With the purpose of commending the outstanding performance of a plethora of private education centers in these difficult times, the HKMOC Award selects distinguished education centers from a list that consist of more than 3,000 registered and nearly 5,000 non-registered institutions. The centers all provide excellent educational services in the field of academic studies, music, sports, arts and others.
Just as Mr. Leung Siu Tong, MH, Honorary Advisor of HK Aided Primary School Heads Association, made a message to the private education industry at the HKMOC Awards ceremony: "Different learning elements are changing with each passing day. It is not just teachers who pursue these elements, but this group of private classrooms to pursue them, and then work with schools to maximize the efforts. Let’s work together to provide and improve the learning experience for students. We need to formalize and recognize extra-curricular activities so that teachers and principals can accept this concept.” Principal Chu Kwok-keung, member of the Legislative Council of the Education sector and Vice President of Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers, also shared a similar idea: “ Through close communication and cooperation with the government and various educational institutions, we optimize and stabilize the educational ecosystem in Hong Kong, and provide high-quality and diverse teaching to bring out students’ potential."
It is hoped that the award can serve as a huge affirmation and a token of hard work for all the participants, while at the same time reinforcing the professionalism of the centers. Families can establish faith and trust towards the award receivers accordingly.
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