Boaz International Education Institute Ltd
- HKGCC Membership No. :
- HKB0525
Leaving No Child Behind
When students do poorly in their studies in Hong Kong, they are often labelled as lazy, untalented or failures. These students often lack someone who is willing to understand why they underperformed as opposed to just criticizing them. It is a pity because the issue is often not that they don’t want to do well, but that they might have problems with reading, writing or memorizing.
Twiggy Chan, Founder and Director of Boaz International Education Institute, had to overcome dyslexia, a type of reading disorder that affects reading and writing skills. When she was young, she used to be afraid of going to school because of her reading and writing problems.
Today, not only is she the holder of two masters degrees, but she also runs an institution to help children overcome reading and writing issues.
“I hope they do not need to be like me and go through hard times at school,” said Chan, who believes that dyslexic students can do well academically if they are taught using the right methods.
Teaching method
“Every child is born unique. If a child does not learn the way we teach, we teach the way they learn,” said Chan.
Due to her experiences, she is well aware of the challenges children can face while learning. Their self-confidence might be damaged by parents, teachers and peers to the extent that they think they are worse than their peers in everything.
Chan believes that children just need to find the right way to learn. As such, Boaz offers a wide range of services to provide a fun and safe platform for children to discover their talents and “learn to learn” including read & write training programmes, social skills programmes, therapist sessions, gifted leadership programmes and parenting seminars.
Boaz believes every child can learn with the appropriate method so teachers are committed to helping every child find their most suitable learning method and be able to apply them at school.
Start-up business
Chan said initially, she had no idea how to start a business or do things like find a suitable office and marketing. Fortunately, she and her partner joined a programme organized by the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups and got support from a mentor. They then founded Boaz International Education Institute three years ago.
Last year, their efforts were recognized as they won the Gold Award in the HSBC Youth Business Award 2016. “Starting a business is challenging, but what’s more challenging is overcoming dyslexia,” said Chan.
Company position
Boaz International Education Institute is not a general education center or speech therapy center but instead combines services provided by both types of places. Dyslexia often exists in different forms that affect different abilities like reading and writing. Some children may only be affected in one way, but others may have several issues.
Some educational centers focus on repetition by making students do exercises like write words out multiple times. But for students with reading and writing dyslexic problems, writing a word even 100 times can be useless and cannot help them remember it.
Meanwhile, parents of children with speaking difficulties may take them to speech therapists. However, the therapists’ methods may not be fully effective in helping children with dyslexia deal with the school curriculum.
To offer solutions, Chan and her team came up with special methods, influenced by foreign ideas, for these children to help them overcome learning difficulties and deal with the school curriculum.
Spreading awareness
Besides teaching students, Boaz is also devoted to educating parents and society. The institution interacts with the public, students and parents actively through social networks like Facebook to increase public awareness of dyslexia and enhance communication with parents.
Chan wants to continue to raise public awareness of dyslexia. She also hopes that more people can devote themselves to special education to help more children in need. “We hope to build a productive society where everyone can see and appreciate each other’s abilities and potential,” said Chan.
Chan believes every student is intelligent in his or her own way. “There are only inappropriate teaching methods, not children who cannot be taught,” said Chan.
Company: Boaz International Education Institute Ltd
公司名稱：博雅思教育中心有限公司
HKGCC Membership No. 總商會會員編號: HKB0525
Established 創辦年份: 2013
Website 網站: www.boazeducation.com.hk
