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.