http://toshuo.com Chinese, Linguistics, Science, Cultural Observations and whatever else I feel like writing about Tue, 13 May 2008 22:12:13 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Muninn has made my Pinyin Tone Tool into something more useful-- an OS X dashboard widget! I’m happy to announce the results of a few hours of tinkering: The Pinyin Tone Widget. This OS X dashboard widget will take a series of Chinese pinyin words with tone numbers appended at the ... http://toshuo.com/2008/pinyin-dashboard-widget/ I watched Paul Graham's talk Be Good last week, and I really enjoyed it. It's always nice to see benevolence rewarded. It's also had me thinking about my old school and its success-- Ron was always completely focussed on what was best for the kids. "If the ... http://toshuo.com/2008/be-good/ Things have been busier than ever at work. I had to meet a new student at 2:00 to help her with a homework assignment that she didn't understand how to do. From then on, it I was pretty much constantly dealing with parents of students who were originally ... http://toshuo.com/2008/a-busy-saturday/ I've been glossing the Penguin Reader version of White Fang for my students tomorrow. It's the story of a 3/4 breed wolf/dog who lived around the Mackenzie River. The book's a bit harder than what my kids have been reading, but it seems pretty accessible to them since ... http://toshuo.com/2008/white-fang/ I'm exhausted. Over the last few weeks, my partners and I at the school have been negotiating an offer we received from a competing school, Ding's English. It's been far, far more time consuming and draining than I had ever expected. Finally, the initial steps are behind ... http://toshuo.com/2008/buying-out-dings/ This Chinese mother's ability to block out her son is nothing short of jaw-dropping. Related Post: You Can't Touch this English! http://toshuo.com/2008/unfazable-knitting-under-pressure/ Hackers may have taken it down for a while, but the Taiwan Blog Feed is redesigned and up again! I have no idea why it was under such a brutal attack. I added any sites which met the criteria of being about Taiwan, teaching English or learning Chinese, ... http://toshuo.com/2008/the-taiwan-blog-feed-lives/ One of the really great teachers I've worked with before has put up what appear to be training videos for new teachers at his school. Ross's school could be the best 1st and 2nd grade English program in Taiwan. Dick Whittington: Hansel and Gretel individual reading: A fun civilization board game: Discussing an ... http://toshuo.com/2008/great-videos-from-a-great-teacher/ What a day. I rolled out of bed at 10am, brushed my teeth, and sleepwalked over to Starbucks for a business meeting. It went pretty well. Then, it was to the school, where I had to so some last minute editing for my Tuesday/Friday class's first semester exam. ... http://toshuo.com/2008/a-busy-day-work-bookstore-post-election-meetup/ For the last several days, I've been woken up by an obnoxious blaring sound coming from just outside my window. A "colorful feature" of Taiwanese life is to blame-- trucks with loudspeakers that drive around just to get their message out. Back when I lived in Guishan, these ... http://toshuo.com/2008/trucks-with-loudspeakers/