The company I work for, Schoolshape, is supporting a number of new projects relating to online resources for French teachers.
The first is French Resources, a site on which teachers and small educational publishers can create and share resources. Publishers can choose to share resources for free or to charge a monthly subscription. There are already a large number of free resources present for listening, speaking, reading and writing.
The second is OpenExam, a charity focused on teachers more say in exams. Their initial project is to set up a collection of shared practice papers for languages commonly taught in the UK.
Thursday, 17 January 2013
Sunday, 12 April 2009
Tomb Sweeping Festival
Me, my gf and her mum
Today is tomb sweeping day, the last major date in the Chinese calendar for me to participate in. It's the day when you should pay respect to your ancestors by visiting their tombs and clearing them up. Only, in a tropical climate after a year's growth, this is easier said than done...
Then, you should make sure your ancestors are well supplied where they are in paradise, which involves offering food in front of the grave and burning paper money (fakes, usually made out for $1,000,000,000 or more!), but if you really love your ancestors, you can really make sure they're living in style by buying a whole house and setting light to it.
Especially note the right-hand house with the sports car in the garage.
Me playing Mah-jongg and winning lots of money (I wish).
Monday, 6 April 2009
Friday, 30 January 2009
Chinese New Year 09
A few (somewhat belated) pictures from Chinese New Year 2009
I went to Anhui, a province in central china to stay with a friend for a week and enjoy all the tradational trappings of the spring festival.
Fireworks on new years eve over a temple in the centre of Hefei
We take my friends cousins on a pedalo ride.
I also managed a quick trip to nearby Nanjing, though the smog disappointed my view from the top of purple mountain overlooking China's old capital.
An unfathomable astronomical instrument
Above is the Sun Yat Sen memorial, tribute to China's 'founding father'.
A 'wishing' tree outside a temple on purple mountain
A collection of bells in a museum in Hefei
Burning incense in a temple dedicated to Bao Gong, an official so fair and upright that he sentenced his own half-brother to execution.After visiting Nanjing, it was off to the Chinese countryside to visit my ex and her family. Which meant lots more eating - mmmm!
My ex eating her favourite snack - chickens feet!!!
The cutest little girl in China.
BETT 2009
We finally launched our Schoolshape software at the BETT 2009 exhibition in London Olympia.
Despite the small size of our stand we had plenty of interest, and praise was heaped on our work all round. This time last year it would have been hard to imagine the success we had that day.
Despite the small size of our stand we had plenty of interest, and praise was heaped on our work all round. This time last year it would have been hard to imagine the success we had that day.
Me chatting to a venture capitalist :-).
Tuesday, 6 January 2009
Preparing for the big day
Wednesday, 17 December 2008
Four Last Suppers
The moon hangs over a spreading swathe of pink sky in the wee hours of the English winter morning as I stagger off the 747 from Hong Kong in search of a double expresso. Inadequately dressed as usual, I shiver for the first time in seven months. Scenes from the last few days sputter through my semi-concious brain as I check the clock, 05:47, we’re early.
“Gan!! (dry it)”. Ruddy round expectant faces are eclipsed by glasses of clear, maliciously strong rice wine raised in a toast before the burning sensation kicks in running quickly from my through to my belly accompanied by the thought.. but I have to work this afternoon! What am I going to do when I get back to the office?? The piles of abalone and shark-fin soup on the heavily-laden hotel table swim in front of my eyes.
Quiet classical music plays and large dark eyes coquettishly catch mine beneath a sweeping fringe of lustrous black hair before glancing demurely away. My heart misses a beat and yet again the sentence I had in my head disappears without trace. She asks me if I have a reason to come back and I smile quietly.
Huge steaming pots of noodles are lowered over our heads onto the corner table around which we always sit. Zhiying (our secretary) is forced to interrupt her impassioned tirade on culturelessness of the Japanese for a breath to thank the proprietress, who acknowledges in her strong but comely Xi’an accent. Chopsticks are poised all round, other than those of Shijian, our senior programmer, who in keeping with the stereotype of his Hainanese heritage peers suspiciously at the northern chinese dishes, leery of anything that doesn’t come with rice. Andre, his massive German frame hunched over a knapkin where junior programmer Binyin is diligently tracing out the character ‘work’ for his benefit, carefully takes a pair of chopsticks and tucks in to his favourite egg and tomato noodles, dripping sauce across the table. Our only female programmer Zhang Yi grins cheekily as she glances sideways to catch Xiao’ou’s knowing glance… but quickly smoothing her features before Andre has a chance to look up. Our newest programmer Rongxing adjusts his glasses and looks around nervously, unsure whether he can start eating or not. I smile; these guys are my employees, my responsibility but also my friends, the closest I have to family here in Haikou.
Again we slam the drained-to-dregs mugs of northern porter back onto the little wooden table, the clanks mingling with the spattering of the mutton kebabs sizzling its center (throwing out drops of boiling oil in every direction) and peals of laughter from the girls. ‘You know, English character isn’t so different from Dongbei character’ booms little Bo. His deep resonant voice, befitting his work as a news reader and voice-over recording artist emanates from what can only be called his ‘Pavorotti’ chest. I can never figure why he’s called ‘little’. Dongbei is the ice-cold region north of Beijing up to Vladivostok and Siberia where temperatures regularly hit -40 at this time of year, but the inhabitants are incongriously famous for their hot tempers, warm hospitality and ‘Haoshuang’-ness, an untranslatable kind of machismo which involves fighting to the death for your friends, always draining your glass in a toast and telling the hard truth to your face. You put four Dongbei-ers together in a room with good food and beer and you get ‘renao’, the kind of noisy which takes a large bare empty room and makes it suddenly warm and cosy, makes a fire into a hearth and a house into a home.
Yes, I have a reason or two to come back.
PS I have a new year's resolution - a regularly bi-weekly posting schedule.
* * *
“Gan!! (dry it)”. Ruddy round expectant faces are eclipsed by glasses of clear, maliciously strong rice wine raised in a toast before the burning sensation kicks in running quickly from my through to my belly accompanied by the thought.. but I have to work this afternoon! What am I going to do when I get back to the office?? The piles of abalone and shark-fin soup on the heavily-laden hotel table swim in front of my eyes.
* * *
Quiet classical music plays and large dark eyes coquettishly catch mine beneath a sweeping fringe of lustrous black hair before glancing demurely away. My heart misses a beat and yet again the sentence I had in my head disappears without trace. She asks me if I have a reason to come back and I smile quietly.
* * *
Huge steaming pots of noodles are lowered over our heads onto the corner table around which we always sit. Zhiying (our secretary) is forced to interrupt her impassioned tirade on culturelessness of the Japanese for a breath to thank the proprietress, who acknowledges in her strong but comely Xi’an accent. Chopsticks are poised all round, other than those of Shijian, our senior programmer, who in keeping with the stereotype of his Hainanese heritage peers suspiciously at the northern chinese dishes, leery of anything that doesn’t come with rice. Andre, his massive German frame hunched over a knapkin where junior programmer Binyin is diligently tracing out the character ‘work’ for his benefit, carefully takes a pair of chopsticks and tucks in to his favourite egg and tomato noodles, dripping sauce across the table. Our only female programmer Zhang Yi grins cheekily as she glances sideways to catch Xiao’ou’s knowing glance… but quickly smoothing her features before Andre has a chance to look up. Our newest programmer Rongxing adjusts his glasses and looks around nervously, unsure whether he can start eating or not. I smile; these guys are my employees, my responsibility but also my friends, the closest I have to family here in Haikou.
* * *
Again we slam the drained-to-dregs mugs of northern porter back onto the little wooden table, the clanks mingling with the spattering of the mutton kebabs sizzling its center (throwing out drops of boiling oil in every direction) and peals of laughter from the girls. ‘You know, English character isn’t so different from Dongbei character’ booms little Bo. His deep resonant voice, befitting his work as a news reader and voice-over recording artist emanates from what can only be called his ‘Pavorotti’ chest. I can never figure why he’s called ‘little’. Dongbei is the ice-cold region north of Beijing up to Vladivostok and Siberia where temperatures regularly hit -40 at this time of year, but the inhabitants are incongriously famous for their hot tempers, warm hospitality and ‘Haoshuang’-ness, an untranslatable kind of machismo which involves fighting to the death for your friends, always draining your glass in a toast and telling the hard truth to your face. You put four Dongbei-ers together in a room with good food and beer and you get ‘renao’, the kind of noisy which takes a large bare empty room and makes it suddenly warm and cosy, makes a fire into a hearth and a house into a home.
* * *
Yes, I have a reason or two to come back.
PS I have a new year's resolution - a regularly bi-weekly posting schedule.
Sunday, 27 July 2008
Rui-te-meng company of Hainan officially established
We are in business - officially! It's been a longer road than first anticipated and very tiring..
but finally I own my own Chinese company!!!!!!
Get the word out, we can do websites, logos, graphic design, web applications and other software projects at high quality and great prices! If you think you might know someone interested in our services get in touch, we have a commission program! See www.island.je for more details.
Hanging our license to do business on the wall.
Time for a little celebration at the new office and I introduce a little bubbly European tradition...
Celebration calls for some good food.
The core team! We have four programmers and another graphic designer joining us next week and then work can commence. I don't know about you, I'm excited!
One thing you learn about being a foreigner in China is that you're ALWAYS the one who gets picked on to go up on stage...
For a minute, it looked like I was in danger of getting married against my will yet again...
But at least I got a free hat out of it this time.
but finally I own my own Chinese company!!!!!!
Get the word out, we can do websites, logos, graphic design, web applications and other software projects at high quality and great prices! If you think you might know someone interested in our services get in touch, we have a commission program! See www.island.je for more details.
Hanging our license to do business on the wall.
Time for a little celebration at the new office and I introduce a little bubbly European tradition...
Celebration calls for some good food.
The core team! We have four programmers and another graphic designer joining us next week and then work can commence. I don't know about you, I'm excited!
One thing you learn about being a foreigner in China is that you're ALWAYS the one who gets picked on to go up on stage...
For a minute, it looked like I was in danger of getting married against my will yet again...
But at least I got a free hat out of it this time.
Monday, 7 July 2008
Logos
Though company registration isn't yet complete, we've still managed to get started on doing some actual work! Check out these logos for the schoolshape project. Which one do you like best? Any ideas? Let me know, we need some feedback!
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