Long Live the Rubber Duck!

The Rubber Duck rules, OK!

New post from new students at HKIT!

Here are some of my students at HKIT!

Phoebe
Jeff
Joey
Tony
Felix the Cat
Wing
Rosemary
Felix the Cat

Regarding web pages

I had some issues with my web site and the web developer was nowhere to be found. I think this is par for the course! I was unable to post images to my web site and far worse unable to backup the site I did get some useful information from the web host . It seems I had a permissions issue. This all sounded way too geeky for my liking. It seemed that the web developer had changed the password and not told me about this at all. ABCHK changed it back and pointed me in the direction of the DirectAdmin site. I had to enter an IP address and then my user name and a password. I then had to wade through the files and find the gallery in question. This was carefully hidden in the wp-content folder. The gallery folder had to be opened and then the required gallery had to have the permissions changed to 777. The required gallery had to be opened and then the "Thumbs" folder had to be given the 777 permission. I was then able to upload whatever images I wanted. Giving permission to the Thumbs folder enabled the thumbnail to be generated and thus shown on the web site. Then the image had to be changed from being owned by apache to being owned by me. This was done by the click of a button. After that had been done the permissions had to be returned to normal. If you fail to return the permissions to the normal code of 755 anybody can alter the posting and that would not be good at all. This took me ages to figure out the hard way. However, it has now been done. Had I not had prior blogging experience I don't think I could have managed this at all.

Lyuba

I went to an exhibition at IFC to see Lyuba. This is a 40,000 year old baby mammoth.

To the best of my knowledge mammoths are a bit rare in Hong Kong. This is the first one I have seen here. A Russian friend has told me there are many in museums in Moscow.

It seems that Russian and Japanese scientists are trying to clone a mammoth. The idea is to remove some DNA from the soft tissues of a mammoth like Lyuba and insert them into the egg of an elephant sans the elephant's DNA. With luck this will result in a live mammoth being born. The mammoth was probably the first species to become extinct at the hands of mankind. Fortunately, we have got a lot better now and we are killing many more species each and every year now. So it would be poetic if we can somehow reintroduce this long extinct species to the planet again. Maybe a far simpler way would be to ensure that we don't wipe out any more species. The tiger is on its way out. Maybe a reserve island could be established. All the corrupt politicians and bankers could be sent there so the tigers would not go hungry!

Burns Night

I have Scottish ancestors so I have embedded this You Tube clip in honour of Burns Night!

Happy New Year

This is now the Year of the Dragon. Gong Hay Fat Choy to everybody.

So true!

Blogging days

It seems like my blogging days are not over yet.

One my clients needed their students to build a web page so what better way to do it than by using www.blogspot.com!

Re: QR codes

I put some QR codes on my business cards.  The QR code is about 18mm square.  What is far more important is it can be read by a smart phone !

Re: QR codes

This is a QR code "Quick Response code".  They seem to be catching on here in HK.  I made some up from this web site.  If you have a smart phone you can download a free application called QR Droid Private to scan these codes.  I had a chop made up by http://www.applestamp.com.hk/  with my company contact details.  I took an image on MS Word and a pdf file to my local stationery shop and it was made in 24 hrs for 100 kwai.  What's more the chop actually worked.  So I can chop a piece of paper, envelope or such like so it can be scanned by a smart phone.  So there is no need to write things down on paper as it can be scanned straight into the phone.

Pretty clear to me !

"The trouble is, this sort of transfer window... it sort of creates a window where transfers have to be done.”
GARY NEVILLE
Sky Sports 1 With thanks to Private Eye

Crashed computer 8-(

My Acer notebook fell over and needed a new graphics card.  It was out of commission for a few days.  I had to rely on my nasty but dependable netbook.  This certainly did the job but I was pleased to get the Acer back.

I am still trying to survive.  I had to have an audit done, the down side of being a limited company.  Ah well it is only money, company money at that  !

I have had to make recordings for my students and I am pleased with the results.  I used a free download called Audacity and it seems to work quite well.

One of my students has been reading a series of books called "Magic Tree House" by Mary Pope Osborne.  I searched and found this web site that is related to the books.  It is almost ready made for teaching.  This web site is http://www.mce.k12tn.net/reading27/revolutionary_war_on_wednesday.htm.  Would be teachers please note !

Origami tie

Here is a video of how to make an origami tie.  An advantage of origami is that no cutting is required. 

Re: You Tube

It seems that some universities are starting to take You Tube seriously.  This was highlighted by an article I spotted in a Kiwi newspaper.  To the uninitiated Kiwi = New Zealand.  The article points out that by exploiting You Tube students are more inclined to turn in their assignments The article is here.  I have heard of students putting a lot more effort into their presentations when it was going to be uploaded to You Tube.

I worked at a school in Wong Tai Sin and the school had an orchestra that used a lot of Chinese instruments, the likes of which I have not seen before.  It is fortunate that schools try and preserve Chinese music in this manner.  I suggested to the principal that she should do a You Tube presentation of the orchestra playing. 

Maybe teachers should exploit this idea to encourage their students to put more work into assignments.

I maintain a collection of potentially useful You Tube clips as I feel they have much use to students of all ages. Some students, particularly younger students do not seem to be motivated by the endless photocopies that learning centres often rely on.  These same students take notice of a suitable You Tube clip.

Re: You Tube clips

A centre mentioned to me that parents do not like You Tube clips.  This is unfortunate as there is a wealth of usable material out there.  Here is a clip I found that children will love!

Re: Gifted students

I have a 6 year old student who started learning English this January.
She appears to be like a native speaker.  Sometimes very young learners can be very gifted indeed.

Useful site

Unfortunately I seem to have to do an awful lot of commuting this is why I find this web site MTR very useful for journey planning.

Sophisticated electronic teaching aids !

I have been using a sophisticated electronic teaching aid, OK well sort of, it is a plastic microphone that used to hold candies, the candies have long since disappeared as I disposed of them...8-).

I normally use this with kindies, however I have been using them with teenagers as well.  Maybe it is the theatrical prop that helps them overcome their shyness.  After speaking the speaker then has the option of selecting the next victim.  This seems to be popular with all, apart from the next victim.

These microphones can be purchased at a candy store for about 5 kwai (OK kwai =HKD).

Re: Web site development

So much for the web site developer.  Half the job was done and the web site is not completed.
So I have engaged another web site developer who, hopefully, will be able to finish off the web site. 
This time I think I will have buttons to provide a translation into traditional Chinese and simplified Chinese.  Some of my clients do not speak much English at all.  I have noticed that having my own private students might not pay as much as the language centres but they are much easier to deal with.

Re: Testing

I conducted a test on Sunday.  A little girl came top of the class.  Two very mischievous boys did surprisingly well and one quiet but somewhat weak student did better than I expected.  The girl revealed to the Chinese staff that the mischievous boys had copied off her, this explained their unexpectedly good performance.  All of the students will get suitably rewarded.  The two naughty boys will get some writing exercises from this web site this web site and the girl and the weaker student will get certificates from this web site.

In all cases the students will get their just rewards.