Wireless testing

The original plan was to try out the Eee PC to see how well it could pick up wireless networks in different settings in London, eg, internet café and some libraries. A helpful friend also helped out to check the wireless networks in open spaces in central London. There were different strength levels of networks appeared on the screen, but not useful. There was one very strong.

It was another pleasantly warm day in London, after cool refreshments at Russell Sq, and then started to organize the China trip. Handy!

A small Eee PC

Today, in London, very warm! The sky is so beautiful and you can see clearly the clouds. I always prefer the British summer. I hope that the Beijing sky has been cleaning up more. I want to see that the Olympic Marathon runners can have fresher air, although they might not have the time to admire the clouds as I am doing here in London right now during vacation,haha...

Today I met my helpful colleagues who gave me instructions to use my new small Eee PC. We tried most of the functions and used the Sykpe again. The PC is so light I guess it is less than 2.5 pounds, but it has most of the communication functions, eg, internet web searches, Microsoft Work... Thanks to the new technology! The video and mic facilities are built in. I hope that I can buy a wireless broadband USB modem in Beijing and carry on writing my blog.

Chinese learn English to guide tourists during Olympics

It would be very useful if more Chinese people can speak English. Especially during this Olympics period of time, the lack of good communication will give visitors to China huge inconveniences. To sort out these problems, the Olympics committee invited a large number of foreign volunteers in Beijing to be guides and teach the locals. Ms Zhi Lijiang, A Canadian Chinese, 63 years of age, first time visited China, she could not believe herself could be playing the role to teach English and etiquette classes. A husband and wife students are Lu Baoli and Wang Xiuqin, aged 72 and 65, who have lived just around the corner from the classroom for most of their lives. Ms Zhi and her friends all live in Beijing's Dongsi Olympic Community, the only one of its kind in the city, not far from the Forbidden City. By teaching the residents English, it's expected they might be able to give directions to lost tourists.

The residents are more than happy to attend the Public Welfare English class for citizens in the Olympic community by doing role-play as guides and foreign visitors.

(Source: Reuters)

A call from Chinese - Channel 無線衛星台采访(Chinese TV in Europe)

Chinese - Channel (Chinese TV in Europe)

At noon time today, Mr Z Woonchee made me a call. He works in Chinese - Channel,a wholly owned subsidiary of TVB 無線衛星台. He mainly reports on cultural and educational events. He shows strong interests in knowing about our college partnership with Beijing Changing. He is excited to know that my colleague and I will be taking students to be in Beijing to build up our partnership further. Of course, we will visit many exciting Olympic Games related places, and we will see a lot of interesting people!

I mentioned to him that we are planning to set up video classroom teaching links from London to Beijing. We can have classes with Changping at the same time, eg, to listen to Air Cabin Crew expert’s talk through video links, general Travel and Tourism courses, and my Chinese Mandarin lessons - this is to share same contents of teaching and to discuss among students from London and Beijing, what a fantastic way to communicate in this global educational context! The best time can be in Beijing afternoon 5pm, London morning 9 am. He says that he can come to our classrooms to make some videos.

I believe it is wonderful to report on UK-China educational exchanges and cultural understandings through our partnership with Beijing Changping Vocational School. Time slots and details are to be set for meetings.

(The Chinese Channel Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of TVB. TVB established in 1967. It is the world’s largest producer and distributor of Chinese programmes. In Hong Kong, TVB secures over 80% of TV viewers. Many of its programmes are dubbed into other languages, and are viewed by over 30 million people everyday around the world. )

Beijing Changping Vocational School training Miss Olympic Etiquette

Beijng Miss Olympic Etiquette training

(Source: Radio86) "Changping Vocational School in the suburbs of Beijing is an ideal place for training many lovely students. It is the training base of the Beijing Olympic etiquette volunteers, and its graduates hope to become Miss Olympic Etiquette, serving at Olympic awards ceremonies....The closed intense training, which lasts for almost three weeks, includes figure training, etiquette training, awards ceremony practice drills, Olympic and cultural knowledge study, as well as communication skills. Every day, students must get up at 5 a.m. and go to bed at 10 p.m. "Every action in the awards ceremonies must be practiced repeatedly for hundreds even thousands of times..."

Pandas are also joining the fun of Olympic Games?熊猫也凑热闹－热身赛，参加奥运？

Chinese people love pandas,the pure black and white colour, the sleepy eyes... just so cute! Oh! are they playing Kungfu, watching games?
可爱的熊猫也在为奥运会在作严格的运动训练？

The song of Beijing Olympic Games 奥运会之歌

The song of Beijing Olympic Games

Miss Olympic Etiquette: Beijing Changping Vocational School 奥运会礼仪小姐

Our sister college students in Beijing,Beijing Changping Vocational School, will present in the Olympic Games opening ceremony, and will be acting as medal ceremony hostesses in the closing ceremony.我们在北京的姊妹学院（北京昌平）的学生。他们将会为开幕式当礼仪小姐，礼仪先生。为闭幕式亲捧奖杯。