14 May 2015

Gentlefolk,

I thought I'd get another post in before our trip to Nanjing (we leave this afternoon).

This is Week 10 of the semester, so we have now passed the half-way mark.  Time flies when you're having fun.

Teaching has gone OK.  Just completed British Culture, and will now start on Australia.  For the past 4 years I've focussed on American Culture, so it has been interesting to discuss new countries.

News class

The News class has been 'up & down', but I think I've finally figured out a suitable format, as follows:

Each class I nominate 5 students to present news articles the following week. The first 50 minutes is taken up by these presentations; the second 50 minutes is me presenting five news articles I have selected/prepared.

We show each article on the computer, and describe the main points.  Then show a 'summary' based on the "five Ws": Who; When; Where; Why; What.

For the first few weeks the presenters basically read the article they had chosen.  That didn't go over too well - I could sense that the other 59 students in the class often got bored and just switched off.   So now I have asked all presenters to only outline the main points in their article, and then explain their 5W Summary.

Following each introduction I go around the class and ask five or six students for their opinions on the subject of the article just presented.

Most articles are about something topical or controversial, so students usually have opinions about the issue involved.  Getting comments from other students means there is much more inter-action and interest.

Key - keep things moving, so there is not enough time for the class to get bored and switch off!

I try to limit each article to about 10 minutes: roughly 5 minutes for the presenter to describe the article, and then 5 minutes of comments by students.

The following outlines will give you an idea of the kinds of articles we have discussed:

• Pranks by tech companies on April Fools Day.  The article described this year's pranks by Google, Tesla, Twitter, Tencent, Samsung, and HTC.  My favourite was Tencent (the Chinese equivalent of Twitter).  The company announced that their Headquarters will be relocated from Beijing to Antarctica - much cheaper real estate, and better cooling for their servers!

• Lin Dan, World #1 and arguably the best badminton player ever, has become a "brand ambassador" for Dolce & Gabbana.  To mark the occasion, D & G published a glossy coffee-table book of portraits of Lin (retails for $100).

• A company in Beijing sells fruit and vegetables via the internet.  People place their order and pay online; and must pick up their orders within 24 hours.  The company (xuxian.com) now has 19 "shops" around Beijing, mainly located near universities.

• To preserve precious farmland and water, in 2011 the government prohibited the construction of new golf courses.  But enforcement was lax.  Now they have cracked down, and 66 developers have been ordered to close unapproved golf courses.

• A young man in Changsha, Hunan Province was involved in a car accident and rushed to hospital. The medical staff managed to open his smartphone and sent an alert to all his contacts. Imagine the surprise and anger when 17 "girlfriends" turned up at his bedside!

An interesting range of articles, don't you think?



Here are some recent photos.

Vera hosted lunch for some of the International Students who are studying Chinese with her.  From left: Luciana (Brazil); Lee (US); Clara (Indonesia); Sandy (US); Andi (Hungary); Vera

The view of Tang Dao Wan Bay from our apartment.  What a wonderful view to wake up to every day!

View from our balcony. We are intrigued by the construction on the shore of the Bay.  The further buildings (with cranes) seem to be shops; and the building in front has something to do with the subway extension from Qingdao City.

A week later, this is the end result.  It has changed the view from our windows, but luckily not too drastically. It must have something to do with the extension of the subway from Qingdao City.  

In Brisbane in February 2015, with grandsons Nate (7), Kurt (9) and Sid (5).

Our 4th grandson Little Eddie, one year old, in Hong Kong. 

Andrew , Caroline & Eddie visited Beijing over the May Day holiday.  Little Eddie is surrounded by admirers.  

...

That's it for now.  Hope to do a post next week about our visit to Nanjing.

Best wishes, and keep smiling.

Alex & Vera Olah
English teachers at the China University of Petroleum, Qingdao
www.upc.edu.cn
Thursday 14 May 2015