What have I been getting out of exercising my S & S skills?  Curiously I’ve found that by subscribing to several news feeds from the US and China, I have learned a bit more about how each country portrays itself and others in media.  Admittedly I’m reading Chinese news in English, China News Wrap, which has a unique slant and a more narrow audience.  I am also learning that generalizing about either country cannot be done faithfully.  A truly great variety of news and opinions are available on the world wide web from each nation and this effectively negates the question of “free press” that is often used against the Chinese government.  Even as I experience blocks against some websites here, I have learned that the Chinese people using the internet are as adept as any at getting around restrictions.

Here are my thoughts on pruning so that the reader doesn’t get clogged like the SPAM box of my email account.  If I haven’t found anything interesting to read for 2 weeks, cut it.  If my reader has more than 10 feeds trim it to 8.  And finally so as to keep a healthy balance of feeds, if any one topic reaches 5 feeds, cut it to three and look for variety.  A good garden has an assortment of crops, for good nutrition and a healthy environment.

Now I’ve set up the Google reader online which allows me to follow the feeds from any computer.  This is useful as I’m sharing our laptop with Jenny this summer and she needs it most.  As I browse the new material I was surprised to find on Infinite Thinking Machine that there is an organization called Teachers Without Borders which, like it’s predecessor and Nobel Prize winner, Medicine Sans Frontier (Doctors Without Borders) is working to improve educational opportunities and access for kids and teachers in impoverished areas of the world.

The second feed I read was a student post on Students2oh called “Don’t Save the World” about students traveling the world looking for good college resume building activities and not looking for their own passions.  Quite a contrast.

If I ever get students to China I’d like them to do something meaningful for the Chinese but I also hope they will do it because it is memorable for them.  I would think any student who chooses to leave home and travel abroad has already got the interest to make a major commitment to their education at least.

As a language teacher, I’m particularly interested in the ethnographic inquiry of blogging language centered around writing and reading.  And not surprisingly, my students need more practice in these two areas of communication because these are key elements of academic.  Technology opens up an interesting middle ground between speech and writing that is particularly valuable to my second language classes.  It provides a place for language development in a shared space.  It allows more connection between speech and writing.  And the web links classroom discussion and dialogue from day to day.

Previously looked at blogs and websites within my field of ESOL teaching, but the blogs from our course list opened up new thoughts.  Three I found most valuable were EduBlog Insights (Anne Davis) , Discourse About Discourse , and NeverEnding Search.  What I liked about each of these was their attention to the use of language and how their thoughts paralleled my experience with students use of techno-tools.

In Anne Davis’ “A Rationale for Educational Blogging” her brevity and focus were particularly useful.  She reminded me that when I ask students to write  blog posts they should be brief.  When we read online we’re looking for a quick fix.  That’s OK.  Leave the longer more in depth readings for books.  Blogs should not replace books.

In Discourse about Discourse, Ben Wilkoff writes about the need to contextualize the use of web resources within an environment of interested learners.  Several of his points rang true for me but especially his notes on collaboration.  Both educators and learners “have a genuine need to be heard by others and, in one way or another, receive feedback for contributions.”  The value of the public sphere of writing is that your classmates and the teacher can make comments that everyone can appreciate and learn from.  Commenting, complimenting and critiquing are skills that need practice as well.

Lastly, Joyce Valenza Ph.D touches some key issues in my classroom in her blog called “Power Point Reform“.   She writes about limiting language on PP slides so that the presenter can truly present and the slides can provide visual support of concepts, not words.  I appreciate her insight because my students more often than not use PP slides as presentation notes.  Instead, I tell my students that speaking is still the most important part of a presentation and the slides merely allow you to focus audience eyes away from you but their ears are still relying on your speech – slow, clear and directed at them.

web.mac.com/jghdibook

Yesterday was a muggy, smoggy day in Beijing which compounded my exhaustion.  We had to check Jenny into her student dormitory and then find a nearby hotel for Bean and I.  We did not come with a map of this area of Beijing so we had to rely on locals to give us directions to accommodations.  The first few people could only give us vague general descriptions of where we might find places to stay.  We walked around campus looking for their guest rooms first but were not successful.  Someone told us there was a youth hostel “right across the road from the main gate”.  We stood at the gate and scanned the shops across the 6 lane road.  Bikes, motorcycles, taxis, busses passed by interrupting our gaze.  Still no sight of a hotel.  I was wearing out and suggested that we just hop in a cab and have the driver take us to the nearest hotel – any price.  We would only be there three nights anyway and then move to my friends house on Monday.

Jenny, however, fell back on the advice a good friend of ours once gave us.  ”In China, you need the three Ps – Patience, Persistence, and Politeness.”  Jenny gently asked a woman standing at the bus stop.  She turned to us as husband handed her a lemonade in a Starbucks cup.  ”There are several hotels just around the corner here.”  She pointed to the right.  ”How much do you want to spend?” she asked.  ”We’re looking for something less expensive,” Jenny replied.  ”Oh, well there’s a youth hostel just over the bridge and about 50 meters ahead.”  I breathed a sigh of relief.  We thanked the woman and walked 10 minutes to our destination.

In China, persistence with patience and politeness works!

I’m intrigued by these futuristic communication tools and confident (#4) that I can make good use of them.  I think it’s important that we are engaged as a community online for the best kind of learning to happen (#7).  I also enjoy learning more when I can do it with others.  I really enjoyed listening to everyone’s comments on the Habits video.  And I grasped my own focus for this course better by doing so.

My goals in this course will be to keep my toolbox from getting too full (#5) and to create clear objectives for the use of technology in my classroom (#1).  There’s so much fascinating information on the web that I have a tendency to spend far more exploring and bookmarking sites than actually finding effective ways for students to use web resources.

The differences were not a stumbling block however, they were a curiosity.  The fact that China wasn’t like us made it attractive, engaging and ‘wonder’ful.  30 years later I feel more knowledgeable but no less fascinated by the history, traditions, languages and cultures of all Asia – most of which seem to originate along the two rivers of Chinese civilization, the Yellow River in the north, and the Long River of the south.

I extend an invitation to all readers, but especially to my colleagues and coach of “23 Things”, to travel with me as your guide to visit varied and wondrous places, to meet Chinese people and hear their voices tell about life in China, and to join in the search for a better understanding of the enigmatic realm on the far side of our planet.

Got your shovel?  Start digging!  We embark on June 25, 2009 and return to the States on August 15, 2009.