1. Lesson three: What is Hong Kong like?

2. Starter: Quick-flash photo
Study this photograph of Hong Kong for 20 seconds only, then try to redraw it including as much detail as you can remember.
Hong Kong Sunset © Mike Behnken, Flickr

3. What do you already know about Hong Kong?
In this lesson you will:
see a set of pictures
be given a word mat
This will help you to:
find out what Hong Kong is really like
choose geographical vocabulary to go with each picture
learn key words like weather, hill, coast, sea, harbour, city and village
develop sentences to go with pictures.

4. Similar or different to the our local area? City or village?
What do you think you are going to see in the photos?
Similar or different to the our local area?
City or village?
Hilly or flat?
Crowded or spacious?
Modern or traditional?
Or something else?

5. Hong Kong Harbour What do you see?
Hong Kong or Victoria Harbour is a seaway between Kowloon[top left] Hong Kong Island [top centre right], and other islands like Lantau [foreground] where this photograph is taken looking over Peng Chau [centre-right].
Key Questions:
What do you see in the foreground, in the middle-ground in the distance?
What do you think the weather is like?
What places in the picture would you like to explore further and why?
Ross Burrough ©

6. Ships, ferries and small boats cross the harbour.
Where might they be going?
Every day hundreds of ships leave Hong Kong for other ports across the world. Each container is full of goods ‘Made in China’. I am sure if you looked at some of your toys, bags or clothes, you will find on them a label or a mark - ‘Made in China’. Can you all bring one thing made in China from home for our display? This toy, bag or item of clothing may have travelled on a ship like one of these and therefore have travelled through the port of Hong Kong.
The ferries travel between the islands of Hong Kong taking people to and from work or sometimes families visit the islands for a day trip on the weekends. The traditional boats are used by fisher families who live on board and travel from harbour to harbour, selling fish and other things from the sea.
Which of these boats do you think is carrying things made in China? Which do you think is a ferry and which is the traditional boat used by fisher families?
Ross Burrough ©

7. Ships unload their cargo. Where might they come from?
What do you notice about the ship; what is happening in the picture?
Every day hundreds of container ships come into Hong Kong Harbour, unloading their cargo from all over the world. Small ships with cranes come and unload the containers onto smaller ships which take them to smaller harbours where they will be put down onto the land at the side of the sea. Then they are lifted onto a lorry to drive to where they are going.
Ross Burrough ©

8. Small boats are everywhere What might the different boats be for?
There are small harbours within the big harbour. This is important when the weather is bad – it is a safe haven from storms. In this small harbour there are boats for fishing, boats for transporting things, boats for leisure. Which are which?
Ross Burrough ©

9. Going up to the Peak What do you notice as you go up?
The left hand picture is lower on the Peak Tram route. The second is towards the top of the tram ride. This is a cable railway that takes people from the city to the Peak. The Peak is a very big hill, the highest point of Hong Kong Island. It is 554 metres high. The Peak Tram is pulled up by the cable, powered by electricity. People go up the Peak to see the view and because it is a bit cooler than down in the city.
What is the same and what is different about the two pictures? Which one is taken higher up the Peak, which one is lower, and why do you think that? Why might people want to go up to the Peak?
Ross Burrough ©

10. A city by the sea. What do you notice about the weather?
What do you think the weather was like when the photo was taken and what do you think it was like five minutes later?
This is a view from The Peak of Hong Kong Island, overlooking the harbour and facing east towards Kowloon on the other side of the water. Immediately below is the densely packed city of skyscrapers. The tallest building you can see is the International Finance Centre [IFC] in ‘Central’. There are banks and shops there, as well as blocks of apartments where people live.
Five minutes after this photo was taken, there was no view and it was pouring with rain.
Ross Burrough ©

11. Living in the city Where do people live?
What words would you use to describe the buildings and the streets you can see?
How many forms of transport can you see?
Hong Kong has many tall buildings are positioned very close together. People generally live in small apartments. There are lots of trams and buses and people can travel from place to place very easily. Builders in Hong Kong use poles made of bamboo which they fasten together to make scaffolding when buildings are being repaired.
Ross Burrough ©

12. Living in the city What can people buy?
What is for sale in the two shops? Which would you say is traditional and which is modern?
People go shopping for all kinds of things in Hong Kong. There are expensive designer shops and traditional food shops. The traditional goose, chicken and pork shop sells cooked meat ‘Cantonese’ style. People buy food ready to eat at home as it is difficult to have space for ovens in many homes. The shopping malls of Hong Kong provide expensive shops which sell clothes, jewellery and other ‘designer’ goods.
Ross Burrough ©

13. Living in the city Where do people buy fresh food?
What do you notice about these stalls? What are they selling? What is familiar to you and what is unfamiliar?
Markets are very important in Hong Kong for fresh food. People do use supermarkets for many groceries but markets are often visited daily for the food people will eat that evening.
Ross Burrough ©

14. Not all Hong Kong is city What is this tiny village like?
This photograph is of a small village in the New Territories of Hong Kong, near to the Chinese border. This is a typical small village of Hong Kong and southern China. Some houses are modern, some traditional, some derelict (not being lived in). The four traditional houses pictured are each in different states of repair. Often when someone has died in a house, it remains unlived in and falls into disrepair. Often the family who own it will build a new one next door.
Key questions:
What do you notice about the buildings in the photo?
How are these buildings different from the house you live in and how are they different from the photos in the city?
Ross Burrough ©

15. What would it be like to live here?
Wetlands and ponds
What would it be like to live here?
This is the same small village as on the last slide. This is a common setting for small villages of Hong Kong and southern China. It is a wet landscape and rice would have been grown in the past. There are some traditional crops grown such as lotus [big leaves with pink flowers] in the pond and fish would be farmed, but nowadays mostly these quiet rural landscapes are alive with birds and other wildlife.
Key questions:
What different things can you see in the scene?
What might you enjoy doing?
What would it be hard to do here?
Ross Burrough ©

16. Sun and shade. What is the weather like in summer?
Key questions:
Why is the girl cycling with an umbrella when the sky is blue?
What do you notice about the shape of the farmers’ hats?
How do the hats protect the farmers from the weather?
The umbrella is also a parasol in Hong Kong. The traditional hat is a ‘lampshade’ shape made from dried reed grass. In summer it is degrees Celsius usually and the sun can be very strong.
Ross Burrough ©

17. Wet and warm What is the weather like here?
How can you tell from the photograph that it is summer and not cold?
Summer is when most of the rain falls in Hong Kong. The rain will lower the temperature from over 30 degrees Celsius and cool the city down by a few degrees.
Ross Burrough ©

18. Dark skies and downpours What is the weather like here?
Key questions:
What time of day do you think the pictures were taken?
What do the clouds tell you about what is about to happen?
When rain comes it is spectacular in summer. The sky goes very dark in the middle of the day, before it rains very heavily indeed cm can fall in a hour. Flash floods happen. It is dangerous to be driving and walking – people are advised not to go out when the rain warning alert system goes from amber to red to black. Every so often a typhoon passes over Hong Kong and then it can be spectacularly windy and wet.
Ross Burrough ©

19. Playing on the beach Why no swimming costumes?
How can you tell that this is winter in Hong Kong?
Families head off to the beach all year, but most will not swim in winter. In the summer they swim in the sea.
Ross Burrough ©

20. Main Activity
View and discuss the image of Hong Kong in the centre of your word map. Think carefully about the human (made by people) and physical (natural) features.
Use the word mat vocabulary as a guide to create sentences to describe the place in geographical terms.
Record your sentences ready to share with the class.

21. Extension
Swap your word mat with another group and use the vocabulary to describe a different place in Hong Kong.

22. What is not in the video that you learned about in the photos?
Plenary
Do these videos show the real Hong Kong?
Video one
Video two
What did you see in the video that was in the slides in this presentation?
What is not in the video that you learned about in the photos?
This is a spectacular time lapse photography made by two young Hong Kongers. The first [ ] is about the city The second is about Lantau Island and gives a sense of space [ ]. Both are hyper-reality and romantic should be used after a careful building of students understanding so they can be critically aware.

23. To discuss
Have you ever been to a place similar to the images of Hong Kong in the photographs?
Are you surprised by any of the photographs of Hong Kong?
Is Hong Kong as you imagined?