Teacher Spotlight: Stephen

With more than 13,000 hours of teaching, Stephen is one of our highly experienced and in-demand tutors. Wondering why? Let's get to know him a bit better to find out!

Q: How do you like to unwind on the weekends?

I have a couple of hobbies that keep me fairly busy in my spare time, two in particular. The first is scuba diving. As a Padi Divemaster, I often lead dives during the summer. Although the diving in Hong Kong isn't fantastic, it certainly could be worse – such as not diving at all! What a tragedy that would be. The second hobby is a mix of gardening and farming. I live in Sai Kung and have a 350 square foot plot of land that I rent. In this little bastion of colors and earthly delights, I am attempting to build an orchard of sorts. My main nemesis in this regard is of course the wild boars. They once raided my farm and ate my banana tree – even the roots! Such a pity. Luckily for me, I had another one on my roof and planted it at the farm now that I have a fence. We'll see how good of an engineer I am. My next endeavor is to improve my ability to play the guitar; we'll see how that goes also.

Q: What do you think is an important quality a student should have?

If there is any one quality in a student that I try to cultivate, it is self-reliance. This is essentially, in my opinion, the entire point of education: the ability to intellectually depend on oneself to solve problems, achieve success, and learn from failures. If I had to choose a second quality, it would be resilience.

Q: What has been your favorite piece of literature or poem to teach?

If I had to choose any one piece of literature that I enjoy teaching, it would have to be something sarcastic as I seem to have an appreciation for such a manner of speaking. A few pieces that come to mind are "A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift and "How to Be a Disagreeable Companion" by Ben Franklin.