CWS Identified Internships

Summerbridge International
LUCE Hong Kong

Organization Description:

The mission of Summerbridge Hong Kong Limited (SBHK) is to improve the educational trajectories of low-income students by providing them with tuition-free quality English education and life skills development. For our student volunteers, it aims to foster cross-cultural exchange and a sense of civic duty.

SBHK was established in Hong Kong in 1992 and is based on an American model that was founded in 1978 at the San Francisco University High School. SBHK provides comprehensive year-round programs to develop Form 2 and Form 3 (Gr. 7/8) students’ English communication through an intensive English Language Development curriculum, small class size, individual mentoring, and hands-on learning strategies. In addition to English language development, SBHK programs develop students’ self-confidence and their interest in the learning process. Unique to this project and key to its success is the ‘students-teaching-students’ model, offering older Native English speaking students and local students with high-level English communication abilities the opportunity to teach and administer programs to younger students. This model creates a dynamic learning environment in which young people are both the initiators and beneficiaries of the educational process.

Students – SBHK students are highly motivated and committed. They are from financially and socially disadvantaged families, and include recent mainland immigrants or those from single parent homes.
Volunteer Teachers – SBHK faculty and administration is composed of academically successful university students and local upper secondary school students from Hong Kong, Canada, the US and the UK. The student teachers work closely with professional educators and administrators to develop the program’s curriculum and administration to create a rigorous yet fun academic environment.

Internship Description:

Depending on the interests and skills of the intern she will either conduct a research project or develop promotional materials. The intern may conduct a comparative research project involving the challenges facing the students from the low-income families in Hong Kong and evaluating the rate of success of Summerbridge students. Or she may develop promotional video materials intended for student recruitment. The intern will also have the opportunity to work directly with students in various programs.

Ideal Internship Qualification: