Bailey Visits Hong Kong to Advance Emotion-Focused Teaching Practices with Early Childhood Educators

Dr. Craig Bailey, Assistant Professor at the Child Study Center and Director of Early Childhood Initiatives at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, will travel to Hong Kong this September for his second visit supported by the Education University of Hong Kong. This trip continues his collaboration with Dr. Catalina Ng following her recent visit to Yale in June 2024 and in anticipation of her return visit to Yale. Together, they are writing a proposal focused on Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in early childhood settings, which will also feature the work of former Yale postdoctoral associate, Dr. Zhenlan Wang, now an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Bryn Mawr College. Storybooks are featured in many SEL curricula, including RULER, which was developed at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. By collaborating with early childhood educators, the work will advance how storybook read-alouds[SW1] can be effectively used to teach young children how to better recognize, think about, and manage their emotions by emphasizing dialogic reading practices.

During his visit, Dr. Bailey will speak at the Education University of Hong Kong about his work on emotion-focused teaching in early childhood settings. Additionally, Dr. Bailey will engage in a joint talk and discussion with early childhood educators alongside Raymond Yang from the Just Feel SEL program. Just Feel adopts a preventative, school-wide approach to foster a compassionate school culture and includes a curriculum for students and training for teachers and parents with the goal of enhancing resilience, improving interpersonal relationships, and preventing emotional and behavioral issues. In parallel, Bailey will meet with Andrew Junker, Hong Kong Director [CB2] [CB3] [CB4] of the Yale China Association at the Chinese University of Hong Kong to further strengthen the collaborative educational initiatives between Yale and China. Dr. Bailey has worked with the Yale China Association since 2018.

Reflecting on the upcoming trip, Dr. Bailey expressed enthusiasm about the impact of these collaborations on early childhood education both locally and globally. “People have been telling stories all over the world for thousands of years. This visit represents a valuable opportunity to exchange insights and strategies with educators and researchers in Hong Kong,” Dr. Bailey remarked. "This work will not only benefit young children in Hong Kong, but what we learn will also enhance how we teach emotional intelligence stateside.”

For more information on this collaboration or line of study, please contact Dr. Craig Bailey.