Not a cram school. Not homework help. Every month your child takes on one project and finishes it: a debate, a trial, a podcast, a published book. Stronger English is what the work leaves behind.
One speaker against one, arguing not what is true but what is right. It is standard in American high schools and almost unheard of in Asia. Our students argue Blackstone’s ratio, that it is better ten guilty men go free than one innocent suffer, and defend a value under cross-examination.
A method from Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. Students sit facing one another and carry the discussion themselves; the teacher asks one question, then stops talking. We run it online, in groups small enough to see who has not spoken yet.
We write the curriculum we teach. Schools including Diocesan Girls’ School and The Harbour School buy it from us, and education organisations abroad build with us. We are not a tutorial centre delivering someone else’s syllabus.
One theme a month, all year round. We do not run summer camps or holiday courses. One weekly class is the only thing we do.
Justice and bioethics, argued from Harvard’s open courses.
The American format almost nobody teaches in Asia.
Four teams, one motion, and a floor vote to close the house.
Defend a country’s position: negotiate, concede, hold the line.
Forensics, police interviews and a mock Hong Kong trial.
Students research the colonial city, then guide the public through it.
Written, recorded, then aired on Spotify.
Biographies of resilience, published on Amazon.
University-level writing for the world’s toughest school prize.
From stage fright to a talk the whole room remembers.
Two real months from last summer, exactly as they were taught.
By the fourth week a student can take either side of a motion, rebut on the spot, and close a speech without notes.
Vocabulary arrives through the case, not a word list. Scuffed marks, testimony, burden of proof. It stays because it was used.
Three to six segments of fifteen minutes, each feeding the next. Recall last week. Read the brief. Work the evidence in pairs. Question the suspects. Deliver a verdict in English and get feedback while it is still fresh, alongside classmates in Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing and Sydney.
Secondary teachers come from Oxford or Cambridge. Primary leads have six or more years building foundations with children. All are native English speakers, and all are trained to keep an online room warm and lively, so a quiet child is drawn in rather than left out. Your interviewer and your teacher are two different people: the interviewer holds an Oxford doctorate in education and speaks Chinese with parents, then hands what she learns to the teaching team.
Small enough that every child speaks in every lesson, and no one hides. Classmates come from schools including Chinese International School, The ISF Academy, Hong Kong International School, Harrow International School Hong Kong, St Paul’s Co-educational College Primary School and Diocesan Girls’ School.
Most classes running now are Bud and Bloom. Bulb and Blossom run alongside them.
First words in a room of listeners. Stories, questions, and the habit of speaking up.
A rock-solid foundation. Science, history and stories woven into discussion, until speaking up feels ordinary.
Argument, structure and voice. Model UN, parliamentary debate, and essays with a position worth defending.
Liberal-arts depth. Law, medicine, economics and PPE-style thinking, at university-interview standard.
Ninety minutes, live, in English, on Hong Kong time. Weekday afternoons and early evenings. Lessons run month to month and nothing locks you in. Your slot is confirmed at the interview, because places go in interview order and the popular times fill.
We are not a cram school. Exam technique helps a child up to a point, then stops. Strong English, the nerve to speak in front of a room, and the skill of changing someone's mind keep paying off for life. Your child builds those by making something real every month: a speech, a trial, a podcast episode, a published essay.
Quiet children often do best here. A class of three to seven has nowhere to hide but nothing to fear, and the teacher’s job is to notice who has not spoken. Roles are assigned, so no child is left to volunteer or stay silent.
In-person places are closed. Every class is online, and that is what lets a child in Hong Kong argue a motion against a classmate in Singapore or Sydney and have to answer them. Students say the international room is the part they remember.
A one-against-one American format about values rather than facts: the question is not what is true but what is right. It is standard in American high schools and almost never taught in Asia. Project Agora is one of the few Asian organisations that trains students in it.
A discussion method from Phillips Exeter Academy in the United States. Students face one another and carry the conversation themselves, while the teacher asks a question and then stops talking. We run it online, in groups small enough for every child to speak every lesson.
We teach ages 7 to 18 across four stages: Bulb (7–9), Bud (10–12), Bloom (13–15) and Blossom (16–18). Most classes running now are Bud and Bloom. An interview is required at every stage.
Classes run 4:30pm to 7:30pm Hong Kong time on weekdays. That is 4:30 to 7:30pm in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Taipei and mainland China; 3:30 to 6:30pm in Jakarta; 5:30 to 8:30pm in Tokyo and Seoul; and 6:30 to 9:30pm in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, an hour later during Australian daylight saving. London falls in the school day, so UK families cannot join a weekday class at present. Tell us where you are at the interview and we will say honestly whether a slot works.
Three to seven, with one or two teachers. Small enough that every child speaks in every lesson and no one hides at the back. Classes run once a week for ninety minutes, at the same time each week, all year round.
Secondary teachers come from Oxford or Cambridge. Primary leads have six or more years building foundations with children. All are native English speakers, trained to keep an online room warm and lively. The person who interviews your child and the person who teaches them are two different people: the interviewer holds an Oxford doctorate in education and speaks Chinese with parents.
Yes. We write everything we teach rather than delivering someone else's syllabus. Schools including Diocesan Girls' School and The Harbour School have used our curriculum for their own enrichment classes, and education organisations abroad develop material with us.
No. One weekly class, all year round, is the only thing we do. The theme changes each month, so a child who starts in any month walks into a new project rather than the middle of one. Lessons run month to month and nothing locks you in.
Thirty minutes online, in English. We will tell you honestly if it is not the right fit.
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Project-Agora
