Author: TYH

A Singaporean Chinese Language Teacher
Posted on

Monitoring Blog updates and Bloglines HOWTO

In order to monitor updates in students’ blogs, we will have to use the “Rich Site Summary” or “Real Simple Syndication” (RSS) feeds.
RSS feeds are generated automatcally generated by blog engines and it saves users from having to repeatedly visit favorite websites to check for new content or be notified of updates via email.
In order to monitor multiple blogs, we would strongly recommend the use of Bloglines.com. A whole class of 40 or more can be monitored with this web-based tool.
A detailed user guide has been created and you can download it here.

Posted on

《字痴告大侠的启示》

今天拜读了汪惠迪先生的这篇文章之后，不禁有些许感想。尤其是这一段：

钱钟书、余光中、林海音、余秋雨、二月河、柏杨、李敖、董桥、王蒙、王朔、贾平凹、张抗抗、赵忠祥等名家的作品都被李延良点校过，人人有错。

以上所列者，皆为大家，大家都有犯错别字的问题，试想我们的学生也还正处学习阶段，纠正他们的错别字固然重要，但若太过执著则可能忽略了其他可取之处了。
语言仍约定俗成也，试问是”å¹´è½»”还是”年青”，是”莫名其妙”还是”莫明其妙”，是”唾手可得”还是”垂手可得”，有时还难说得准呢。电脑时代，我们大可借助电脑来帮助语言使用者进行规范，但大凡电脑软件也还是人造的。不信的话，试试上列第三个例子，你可能会有意外的发现！
凡事适可而止，不要太执著，顺其自然吧！
（下列原文，供日后参考用）

Continue reading “《字痴告大侠的启示》”

Posted on

Podcasting, a close look

Spent some time today to look at podcasting, one of the hottest thing lately, and well to look at its possible use for teaching and learning of course.
In short, if we compare podcasting to blogging, a blog post is a typewritten post, while a podcast publish an audio clip. The content for both can be similar, it’s the form that is different.
To begin podcasting, you simply need a digital device that is capable of capturing sound/voice. One commonly used piece of hardware by podcasting fans is the iPod. (origin of the pod in podcasting)
In this experiment, I used the built-in microphone of my latest toy. You need a software capable of capturing your voice and converting it to MP3 format. The freely available opensource software Audacity is the perfect choice. And here goes my 1st ever podcast!
Looking from the perspective of language(s) teaching and learning, podcasting is most useful for the developing of oral skills. Students can be asked to tell a story, to comment on any issue (just like in an oral exam), or simply to retell their day’s event! These are but some possiblities. Teacher may also use podcast to give assignments, such as ‘completing the story after you have heard this podcast‘.
As this tool is most useful in the development of the oral skills, where Mother-Tongue Languages are concerned, it may be more suitable for the primary level, where they are still learning to speak/narrate. For the secondary level, the Normal(Techinical) students would benefit most as a large proportion of their examination is based on the oral component.

Posted on

Constellation; Soul Type

During a self-declared break this afternoon, went back to the student’s blog that inspired the HPINIT project.
Found 2 recent entries quite intersting, one is about Ophiuchus, the 13th constellation not found in this day’s zodiac. Well, constellations … stars … reminds me of the physics module Understanding the Universe back in NUS. One most unforgettable thing is the quiz, where you witness MCQ questions with choices ‘A’ to ‘N’ (yes, 14 choices)! *faint*
The other entry was on one of those personality tests easily found on the web. After making a few clicks, it seems that I belongs to the “Hunter Soul“, the result of my responses obviously 😛

Proudly powered by WordPress