今早為Asian Medical Students Association Hong Kong (AMSAHK)的新一屆執行委員會就職典禮作致詞分享嘉賓，題目為「疫情中的健康不公平」。
感謝他們的熱情款待以及為整段致詞拍了影片。以下我附上致詞的英文原稿：

It's been my honor to be invited to give the closing remarks for the Inauguration Ceremony for the incoming executive committee of the Asian Medical Students' Association Hong Kong (AMSAHK) this morning. A video has been taken for the remarks I made regarding health inequalities during the COVID-19 pandemic (big thanks to the student who withstood the soreness of her arm for holding the camera up for 15 minutes straight), and here's the transcript of the main body of the speech that goes with this video:

//The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, continues to be rampant around the world since early 2020, resulting in more than 55 million cases and 1.3 million deaths worldwide as of today. (So no! It’s not a hoax for those conspiracy theorists out there!) A higher rate of incidence and deaths, as well as worse health-related quality of life have been widely observed in the socially disadvantaged groups, including people of lower socioeconomic position, older persons, migrants, ethnic minority and communities of color, etc. While epidemiologists and scientists around the world are dedicated in gathering scientific evidence on the specific causes and determinants of the health inequalities observed in different countries and regions, we can apply the Social Determinants of Health Conceptual Framework developed by the World Health Organization team led by the eminent Prof Sir Michael Marmot, world’s leading social epidemiologist, to understand and delineate these social determinants of health inequalities related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to this framework, social determinants of health can be largely categorized into two types – 1) the lower stream, intermediary determinants, and 2) the upper stream, structural and macro-environmental determinants. For the COVID-19 pandemic, we realized that the lower stream factors may include material circumstances, such as people’s living and working conditions. For instance, the nature of the occupations of these people of lower socioeconomic position tends to require them to travel outside to work, i.e., they cannot work from home, which is a luxury for people who can afford to do it. This lack of choice in the location of occupation may expose them to greater risk of infection through more transportation and interactions with strangers. We have also seen infection clusters among crowded places like elderly homes, public housing estates, and boarding houses for foreign domestic helpers. Moreover, these socially disadvantaged people tend to have lower financial and social capital – it can be observed that they were more likely to be deprived of personal protective equipment like face masks and hand sanitizers, especially during the earlier days of the pandemic. On the other hand, the upper stream, structural determinants of health may include policies related to public health, education, macroeconomics, social protection and welfare, as well as our governance… and last, but not least, our culture and values. If the socioeconomic and political contexts are not favorable to the socially disadvantaged, their health and well-being will be disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Therefore, if we, as a society, espouse to address and reduce the problem of health inequalities, social determinants of health cannot be overlooked in devising and designing any public health-related strategies, measures and policies.

Although a higher rate of incidence and deaths have been widely observed in the socially disadvantaged groups, especially in countries with severe COVID-19 outbreaks, this phenomenon seems to be less discussed and less covered by media in Hong Kong, where the disease incidence is relatively low when compared with other countries around the world. Before the resurgence of local cases in early July, local spread of COVID-19 was sporadic and most cases were imported. In the earlier days of the pandemic, most cases were primarily imported by travelers and return-students studying overseas, leading to a minor surge between mid-March and mid-April of 874 new cases. Most of these cases during Spring were people who could afford to travel and study abroad, and thus tended to be more well-off. Therefore, some would say the expected social gradient in health impact did not seem to exist in Hong Kong, but may I remind you that, it is only the case when we focus on COVID-19-specific incidence and mortality alone. But can we really deduce from this that COVID-19-related health inequality does not exist in Hong Kong? According to the Social Determinants of Health Framework mentioned earlier, the obvious answer is “No, of course not.” And here’s why…

In addition to the direct disease burden, the COVID-19 outbreak and its associated containment measures (such as economic lockdown, mandatory social distancing, and change of work arrangements) could have unequal wider socioeconomic impacts on the general population, especially in regions with pervasive existing social inequalities. Given the limited resources and capacity of the socioeconomically disadvantaged to respond to emergency and adverse events, their general health and well-being are likely to be unduly and inordinately affected by the abrupt changes in their daily economic and social conditions, like job loss and insecurity, brought about by the COVID-19 outbreak and the corresponding containment and mitigation measures of which the main purpose was supposedly disease prevention and health protection at the first place. As such, focusing only on COVID-19 incidence or mortality as the outcomes of concern to address health inequalities may leave out important aspects of life that contributes significantly to people’s health. Recently, my research team and I collaborated with Sir Michael Marmot in a Hong Kong study, and found that the poor people in Hong Kong fared worse in every aspects of life than their richer counterparts in terms of economic activity, personal protective equipment, personal hygiene practice, as well as well-being and health after the COVID-19 outbreak. We also found that part of the observed health inequality can be attributed to the pandemic and its related containment measures via people’s concerns over their own and their families’ livelihood and economic activity. In other words, health inequalities were contributed by the pandemic even in a city where incidence is relatively low through other social determinants of health that directly concerned the livelihood and economic activity of the people. So in this study, we confirmed that focusing only on the incident and death cases as the outcomes of concern to address health inequalities is like a story half-told, and would severely truncate and distort the reality.

Truth be told, health inequality does not only appear after the pandemic outbreak of COVID-19, it is a pre-existing condition in countries and regions around the world, including Hong Kong. My research over the years have consistently shown that people in lower socioeconomic position tend to have worse physical and mental health status. Nevertheless, precisely because health inequality is nothing new, there are always voices in our society trying to dismiss the problem, arguing that it is only natural to have wealth inequality in any capitalistic society. However, in reckoning with health inequalities, we need to go beyond just figuring out the disparities or differences in health status between the poor and the rich, and we need to raise an ethically relevant question: are these inequalities, disparities and differences remediable? Can they be fixed? Can we do something about them? If they are remediable, and we can do something about them but we haven’t, then we’d say these inequalities are ultimately unjust and unfair. In other words, a society that prides itself in pursuing justice must, and I say must, strive to address and reduce these unfair health inequalities. Borrowing the words from famed sociologist Judith Butler, “the virus alone does not discriminate,” but “social and economic inequality will make sure that it does.” With COVID-19, we learn that it is not only the individuals who are sick, but our society. And it’s time we do something about it.

Thank you very much!//

Please join me in congratulating the incoming executive committee of AMSAHK and giving them the best wishes for their future endeavor!

Roger Chung, PhD
Assistant Professor, CUHK JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, @CUHK Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong 香港中文大學 - CUHK
Associate Director, CUHK Institute of Health Equity

《回應連登仔 能者多努 話我英文廢，憑咩教人》

一定有followers話，Tiffany其實你已經做得好好，唔需要為呢啲hater煩心。我知道。但我想藉此討論下香港學英文風氣嘅問題，因為香港學英文同教英文嘅風氣真係好有問題。

1）50000人follow就算上位？
Po主好介意我英文咁廢，都有50000幾60000人訂閱我channel。

唔好傻啦，我地啲片平均幾千到萬幾人睇，其實我有咩影響力丫。

2）我唔係聖人，我英文都會錯。
的確，睇番你改我篇文，如果我唔寫could have spent呢一句，文句的確會容易明啲。其實我當時係想講could have spent more wisely；再加上當時寫文係DSE之後，我覺得學生本身可以花喺理解英文嘅時間花咗喺背誦度，所以我先咁寫。

Inculcate呢個字我用得唔好，其實講cultivate或者foster會好好多，brain fog寫錯，多謝你指正。

曾經有學生同我講software唔加s，我先突然恍然大悟省起，係wor，software唔加s。

我冇話自己勁，亦冇話自己唔會錯，不過我可以將生活裡面都八九成思考嘅嘢，都可以同舒服用英文講。我覺得呢樣嘢，比起錯唔錯緊要好多。

3）有時算錯定唔算錯，係主觀嘅

“能者多努”話我唔可以講Teachers either don’t have the time, resources, permission, or expertise (cultural, literary and general knowledge)Teachers either don’t have the time, resources, permission, or expertise (cultural, literary and general knowledge) to
foster real and two-way interchange among students. They resort to imparting knowledge through lecturing,
to make English lessons interesting, engaging or even exciting.

因為either or只可以跟either A or B，其實喺informal contexts，好多人都會講either A, B, C or D。呢篇文只係一篇listacles，我簡單抒發己見，唔預學生睇，當我要教either or呢個conjunction我當然唔會舉either A, B, C or D咁嘅例子。

就好似both呢個字，傳統想要講Both A & B，如果要講三個或以上items，理論上要講all A, B and C。但現代英文裡面，大家都會講 both A, B and C。

如果你大學有讀descriptivism同prescriptivism嘅分別，應該會明白。

4）Youtube同社交媒體都係產業，我好相信quality follows quantity，所以我每個禮拜都出緊大量內容

或者你會覺得咁樣係誤人子弟，但我好相信我每出一篇文同一條片，學生都係係咁綺larp兩眼，因為我地世界步伐太快，佢地唔會當我每條片同每篇文章係精讀篇章咁「倫」。

當我每個禮拜都推出內容，我出咩錯嘅時候自然就會有觀眾出黎指正我，呢樣嘢我不嬲都好歡迎，我會心心晒佢地啲comment。

當一個禮拜出緊>5 Medium文；3套Youtube片；2集podcast；2篇email newsletter同>10嘅IG post嘅時候，雖然我儘量避免，但忙中有錯係必然。

如果你覺得能夠做到咁樣製作內容嘅速度，加上有你滿意嘅英文水平嘅人，可以喺Youtube出樣教英文？如果你識得有咁嘅人，希望你介紹比我識。

5）回應世界英文資源咁多，多我一個唔多；少我一個唔少

我自己好相信我嘅分享有用；而我呢個信念亦得到我好多嘅followers確認，我先會繼續做落去。

如果我冇我嘅存在價值，我相信好難做到多人訂閱。因為Youtube係一個競爭激烈嘅空間，演算法係民主嘅。有英文channel係教英文嘅，但好多都係用普通話或者英文。English with Lucy、Papa Teach me、English Like A Native，普通話嘅有阿滴英文等等，呢啲頻道我全部都有睇，佢地當然有佢地嘅作用。但我覺得自己channel嘅價值在於聯繫香港同亞洲文化落英文度，我覺得咁先可以令學生原本唔鍾意英文，變成發現英文同佢地有興趣嘅嘢其實好有關係。

有一句說話係咁講嘅：No one can do what you do, the way you do it。唔好成日集中精神喺人地叻唔叻，留意下人地幫唔幫到人。呢個世界已經夠黑暗，可唔可以欣賞下會攞個心出黎幫人嘅人，幫唔幫到人，而唔係人地有冇資格；叻唔叻？

6）呢個世界唔係你踩其他人，人地就會認同你叻
就算我同其他教英文嘅人，包括蕭叔叔、阿滴英文、馬米高、English Lesson for Freedom、Miss Charlotte、哥倫布等等嘅教學理念未必完全一樣，我從來冇走去踩佢地。

如果一定要搵，每個人嘅英文同知識面都一定會搵到可以挑剔嘅地方，但係咪代表我需要搵佢地錯誤出黎挑機同批評？

我從來冇咁做，除咗因為我focus on我自己做好之外，因為我知道佢地做嘅嘢最起碼都係啱多於錯；幫到人多於害到人。

我唔會嘗試批評佢地，顯出我自己幾叻，無論佢地教英文係為興趣定牟利都好，我覺得最緊要大家個mission有意義；做嘅範疇係自己鍾意，能力範圍內儘量做好，已經好好。

7）你話我屋邨英文水平，唔同我有IB同拔萃學生黎搵我教佢地Eng lit，又同你講咩？

又唔通，我走去Youtube教IB英文咩？會唔會有人睇？會唔會有說服力？唔通我UE A CE 5*又同你不斷同你講咩。

唔同有band 1學生走黎比我我幫佢地出mock卷，我又同你講？

有咩意思？

人地只覺得我精英主義同show quali。

8）香港，需要唔怕錯，勇於表達嘅老師

我覺得香港嘅老師真係好怕錯；學生都係，當老師咁怕錯，點說服學生唔怕錯？

因為香港太多鍾意品評其他人英文嘅唔出樣但寸寸貢嘅鍵盤戰士，所以好多英文老師怕比人捉到錯處，而唔拍片。再加上Youtube動輒會有幾廿萬人睇到你犯錯，好多人都承受唔到呢個心理壓力。

我曾經去過香港Google嘅event同教師分享點做Youtube，我覺得就係呢種熱愛批評嘅態度，令到好多教育工作者都唔敢拍片。

英文，唔應該係用黎突顯自己英文有幾叻；自己有幾叻；英文係一個工具比我地更加豐富咁表達自己同睇呢個世界。

9）我冇睇唔起香港嘅日校英文老師，請你唔好亂咁解讀。
我話明好多英文老師冇時間培養香港學生對英文嘅興趣，因為好多時學校冇呢個自由度比佢地；至於expertise，一定有啲老師都係喺expertise上面有欠缺的，只不過呢個唔代表呢個一定係佢地錯，又或者佢地就係好廢，又或者我睇唔起佢地。

10）英文裡面，溝通裡面，grammar唔係唔重要，pronunciation唔係唔重要，但仲有更加重要嘅，係attitude，同識得match番溝通嘅objective同埋講嘢方式

我成日都講beyond grammar；例如歌詞裡面嘅smile a little smile；Star Trek裡面嘅To boldly go where no one has gone before；蘋果嘅think different；麥當勞嘅I’m loving it，因為我知道rules are made to be broken。grammar只係達意嘅工具，最重要係你用嘅語言同你溝通嘅objective match。我唔覺得你有領會一點，一個人英文叻唔叻唔係在於一個人寫嘢有幾正確；而係在於佢嘅語言可以達到幾versatile/wide-ranging嘅objectives同purposes。

例如一個人識得用英文寫DSE文章或者office嘅email，唔代表識得寫blog posts；識得寫詩；識得拍Youtube video。我喺寫作上面，一直都experiment緊，以前都有幫人寫詩，自己寫literary essays，唔係淨係你講嘅Medium文。

Attitude方面，我一直都覺得香港學生（正如林沛理所講），淨係留喺read for information，未做到read for style、賞識英文呢個境界，亦有好多學生對英文冇興趣，只係當英文係生存嘅工具，咁樣係好難學好英文，只會搵捷徑（例如將好多時間投資喺考試技巧）同囫圇吞棗咁背詞語/句式。

11）Medium係我碎碎念嘅地方
我日日都寫Medium文，我寫Medium文多過我屙屎，好多都唔打算係比學生精讀嘅，更莫講或中學生。如果你睇我嘅中文文章，或者同樣係錯漏百出，但我嘅文係寫比讀者略讀嘅，每日當專欄咁寫，我唔覺錯有咩大不了。

能者多努，如果你仍然想批評，可以批評埋我喺Medium寫嘅其他英文文章，唔好淨係執我篇Listacle；同埋唔好喺連登出post問人有冇見過女仔屙尿，咁樣只會顯得你心理變態。

I am not the brightest; I am not the smartest. But I show up for my audience. That's what that matters.

Medium原文link：https://medium.com/@tiffanysuen/whats-wrong-with-hong-kongs-english-education-14bf7d0ca73f

LIHKG原link：https://lihkg.com/thread/2005909/

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#構造詩 —2020 #實構築
Poetry of Construction - 2020 Tectonic Becoming
策展人 I #劉克峰
展覽日期｜2020.3.21(六)-5.17(日)
展覽地點｜文化部文化資產園區 國際展演館
展覽地址｜台中市南區復興路三段362號
No. 362, Sec. 3, Fuxing Rd., South Dist., Taichung City 402, Taiwan
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東海大學建築系策展團隊提出以三個相互獨立、卻又彼此對話的空間策展，來表述現代到當代、台灣到亞洲的時空脈絡下，展現出對於建築文化地域性的真實發展樣態，並以構築的現代性為論述主軸，探尋當代台灣、亞洲建築日常建造文化中，若隱若現的空間詩意。(文/ #台中文創園區 官網)
The curation team of Department of Architecture, Tunghai University proposes three independent but complementary architectural exhibi.. tions to demonstrate the architectural reality from historical (modern to contemporary) and geographical (Taiwan to Asian countries) contexts. With the concentration on the modernity of architectural tectonics, this trilogy of exhibitions explores the emerging poetics of space hidden in the everyday construction culture of contemporary architecture in Taiwan and Asia.
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#taiwan #taichung #architecture #museum #art #building #台灣 #台中 #展覽 #手機旅行 #Mobiletrip #sancezine #expo #建築 #空間設計 #structure #interiordesign #PoetryofConstruction #TectonicBecoming #Tectonic @ 2020實構築