In 2007 I set up a "Nursery Rhyme" Blog in the "Forest of Theme Blogs" series ... but was disappointed that I could not find any simple videos of someone just playing the music of well known nursery rhymes.
I approached a music teacher colleague and asked if he could help with this .... and as a result the series "Nursery Rhymes with Howard" was born ... designed and performed in the hope of providing a useful resource for the parents and for teachers of young children.
I've now posted the resulting videos on the Blog .... http://nurseryrhymevideos.blogspot.com
By the way .... Howard is the bear, who is assisted by John Barham on keyboards, x-Hong Kong (international school) teacher.

OMG ... what a day .... the February 2008 Shambles newsletter published and the official opening of the International Schools Island. in the 3D virtual world 'Second Life'
Check out the links to find further details ... now ... time to sleep

I've been having a play with a web application called Snapshots.

What this does is ... when you put your pointer over a weblink on a web page then a small window pops up and shows you an image of that page you would go to.

I've set this up on three of the pages on Shambles:
1. List of All International Schools www.shambles.net/allschools
2. List of Singapore International Schools www.shambles.net/singapore
3. The main Science page www.shambles.net/science

This seems a good idea initially but I'm not sure if this is something I should be implementing throughtout the Shambles website ... something is holding me back and I'm not sure what.

I do have a button on the pages which allows visitors to switch this function on and off.

What I would really appreciate is if you could visit one of the 3 pages above
... and try it out and let me have some feedback.

The free application itself is is called 'snapshot' from Snap at www.snap.com and just requires you to put some code onto your page.

I'm supposed to be a switched on ICT Educator but if you look at the date between these postings you'd think I was switched off or my time management skills were minimal ... so apologies of course.

The only subject in this posting is to let you know about a project I started in March 2007 ... building a "Forest of Theme Blogs" around Shambles in much the same way as a forest might grow around a township.
These Blogs showcase online (free) videos and PowerPoints that support a particular theme.
So why use Blogs rather than the regular webpages on Shambles for this particular growth?

• mainly because of the social aspect of Blogs which allows visitors to leave comments and suggestions on any or all postings
• also for the ability to subscribe to individual Blog pages using RSS in order to be automatically informed of new additions ... and eventually save you time

I both hate and love this project .... love because it's fun and I know it's going to be relevant and useful to teachers and will save them time ..... hate because although it is technically easy to grow (build?) it is both addictive and very time consuming. I suspect that online video addiction will be a topic appearing in the future for students and teachers even more so than the time wasted through poor search engine skills.

If you would like to see all of the Theme Blogs then go to the full list at http://www.shambles.net/blogforest

I just cannot believe that it is a couple of months since my last posting ... is anyone else in the world worried about how quickly time goes ... or is it just me? .... but a lot has happened so one of the problems is certainly NOT boredom.

Shambles Podcast Series www.shambles.net/podcasting
I'm having great fun producing Podcasts but strangely enough the series with ICT Technology co-ordinators is the one that is growing the slowest .. I thought it would be the fastest.
Just posted an interview with the Technology Director at NIST in Bangkok who talks about the 1 to 1 tablet scheme they have implemented ... they seem to have jumped past interactive whiteboards.
Have a number of Headteacher/Principal conversations where they include their favourite teacher interview questions .... so if you are going for a new job this year then this is a MUST listen-to.
In the librarians series I'll soon be posting a session I had with Doug Johnson (USA) who is running a one day pre-course (at EARCOS) for library staff in March .. the wicked side of me did try to get him to give out some homework .... I failed.
If you would like a quick fix on the growth of international schools worldwide then listen to my talk with Nick Brummitt ... one of the few people with their finger on this particular pulse.

Shambles Newsletter Feb. 2007
Have just published this terms newsletter ... www.shambles.net/newsletter
With each publication I feel it cannot beat the quality or richness of the last ... fortunately I'm proven wrong each time ... many thanks to the contributions and suggestions from those reading it.
I now also do a Podcast summary of the newsletter ... in just 3 minutes (OK .. maybe it did run to 4) ... listen at http://odeo.com/channel/143349/view

Workshops in Singapore http://singaporeworkshops.blogspot.com
Late in March I'm running some workshops in Singapore, two of the public ones are on "Web 2.0 in Teaching and Learning" and the other is "Technology for Primary English Teachers" .. visit the blog I've set up to support these if you would like more details.
These visits to Singapore are being organised by a local (Sg) company who you should contact if you would like to attend any or negotiate a private workshop in your own school on many topics related to Technology and ICT. email: Cheng Fun at Synergyst chengfun@synergyst.com

Finally .... best wishes for Chinese New Year
... the year of the pig (my birth year) ... please refrain from commenting on this ;-)

Over the last four years I've worked with a number of affiliates, obviously as part of the "Shambles" business plan to generate income but also to be able to offer relevant, easy to use, affordable and trustworthy services to Shambles (www.shambles.net) visitors.
Over the last few months some new partnerships have been formed which fit these criteria.

Packers and Shippers
On the Shambles China, Hong Kong and Singapore pages you will now find forms which allow you to get immediate (free) quotations for packing and shipping goods and household/office items. This is with "Links Relocations"
"Links Relocations specializes in international, Hong Kong, China (Shanghai/Beijing), Singapore and domestic household goods moving, office moving, office and companies moving project management, origin packing and storage. If you are planning on moving from or to Hong Kong or China in anywhere of the world, Links Relocations offers all the relevant relocation services."
So try the forms on the Shambles China, Hong Kong and Singapore international schools pages .... they are free to use and are especially useful as they do also highlight the questions that you should be asking if or when making a move.

Finding and Booking Hotel Rooms in Asia
(discounted rates)
www.shambles.net/hotels
Shambles now offers easy online access to a searchable database of hotels in individual cities in countries across S.E.Asia ... with excellent discounts.

We have partnered with "Wired Destinations" to offer this service, they were established in 1996 and now have over 70 employees with the main offices in Hong Kong and Bangkok.
The team has researched and negotiated some of the best hotel discount packages available which you can book immediately online.
Full details of individual hotels are available (free) and detailed location maps can be seen (free).
Wired Destinations is a recognized PATA member joining in 2004 (number: 558742)
The online enquiry form can be found at www.shambles.net/hotels

Airlines and Flights
I am still working on this to be able to offer access to an easy and trustworthy database of sources which can be trusted. There is a list of Asia budget airlines at www.shambles.net/pages/Countries/airlines but no one searchable location so it is time consuming for you to go through these.
BUT watch this space for a one-stop solution .... it will appear eventually providing it can satisfy the above criteria.

On the 10th July 2006 Shambles made the migration from its original server (hosted on a dedicated machine in iAdvantage, Hong Kong) to a managed shared hosting system.

The migration was done in order that I do no longer have to look after the technical aspects of Shambles .... and waste no more time fighting the spammers and hackers ... that's now in the hands of the professionals.

Up until this migration Shambles had been running on its own IBM server for 4 years .. running Windows 2000 Server software (IIS) .... both hardware and software were more than capable of providing brilliant reliability.

First impressions are that the new host is actually serving up pages faster than ever .... but if you come across any problems or noticeable slow down then PLEASE let me know.

Now I can concentrate even more on the 'teaching and learning' content and support ..... which is much more enjoyable.

There is a comprehensive list of links, advice and materials to help teach about time to young students that has recently been updated on Shambles.
The materials may also be of help when working with English as a Second Language (ESL) students.
The resources can be found at ...

An additional resource I built last year was a website collection of live "Flash" clocks that work online in a browser. These can be used for teaching or learning or for any timing needs in e.g. Sport, Science, Exam supervision ....
These can be found at ...

Teachers of young students are probably familiar with the (old) traditional 'Judy Clocks' where the minute hand could be physically pushed around the clock face and the hour hand would move as it should.
There are some good virtual equivalents of 'Judy Clocks' online.
These can be found at ...