{"id":103,"date":"2008-08-22T14:30:21","date_gmt":"2008-08-22T12:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/?p=103"},"modified":"2008-08-25T13:14:25","modified_gmt":"2008-08-25T11:14:25","slug":"absolutely-intercultural-64-beijing-olympics-chinese-pod-guangxi-university-2-million-minutes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/?p=103","title":{"rendered":"absolutely intercultural 64 +++ Beijing Olympics +++ Chinese Pod +++ Guangxi University +++ 2 Million Minutes +++"},"content":{"rendered":"<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-103-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/podcast\/absolutely_intercultural_show_064.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/podcast\/absolutely_intercultural_show_064.mp3\">http:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/podcast\/absolutely_intercultural_show_064.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/tamaleaver\/2440146101\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-104\" title=\"2440146101_4c356a418d\" src=\"http:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2440146101_4c356a418d-300x125.jpg\" alt=\"Beijing Games mascots\" width=\"300\" height=\"125\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2440146101_4c356a418d-300x125.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2440146101_4c356a418d.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>With the Olympics in full swing it seems obvious to turn our attention to China this time round. However if you think that we\u2019re going to be talking about heights, lengths, points, timings and goals then you\u2019ve come to the wrong place. But maybe by now you have an idea what the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imeem.com\/tinahigh\/music\/q1Rx_W4g\/amei_sun_man_forever_friends_chinese_version\">intro music <\/a>was. It didn\u2019t sound stereotypically Chinese but\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.imeem.com\/tinahigh\/music\/q1Rx_W4g\/amei_sun_man_forever_friends_chinese_version\">Forever Friends\u00a0<\/a>is the official anthem for the Beijing Olympics.<\/p>\n<p>So what are the intercultural aspects of the Olympic Games? The list is long and could begin with the opening ceremony which was a lesson in world geography with the majority of the world\u2019s countries represented, even those currently in conflict such as Afghanistan and Georgia as well as many small nations such as Andorra and Cape Verde.\u00a0 Be honest, how many flags did you recognize? I was also struck by the number of parading athletes using their mobile phones mostly to take pictures but also in conversation. The formality of the occasion has obviously been very much reduced. I can feel a theme for a future show coming on!<\/p>\n<p>As the games swung into action inevitably another issue raised its head, that of cheating. What is cheating? I\u2019m not referring here to using drugs to enhance performance but of the strange story of the Danish sailors. The weather conditions for the start of the race were very rough and the mast of the Danish boat broke. Instead of bowing out of the race, the Danes asked the Croatians, who were no longer competing, if they could borrow their boat. The Croatians said yes, the Danes set off late and incredibly went on to win the competition on aggregate and were in line for the gold medal. But it took 18 hours for the judges to decide whether the Danes had broken any rules by borrowing the Croatian boat. In the end the Danes were awarded the medal but other nations have put in official complaints. So was that cheating? Let us know what you think.<\/p>\n<p><strong>absolutely yours<\/strong>:\u00a0<br \/>\nFirstly hello to Zohre Ovezliyeva in Turkmenistan who administers the American Peace Corps programme there. I was so interested in Zohre\u2019s work that I arranged to link up with her for a future show so watch out for that.<\/p>\n<p>Then we heard from Christopher Cummings who wanted to tell us about his Spanish language learning site at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.spanishdict.com\">Spanishdict.com <\/a>and who also told us that some of our pieces resonated with him as an Asian American. I hope that we can get Christopher to tell us more about his approach to language learning in a future show.<\/p>\n<p>Hello also to Eddy Van Hemelrijck in Belgium who was interested in getting his students involved in producing some material for the podcast. Yes of course, we\u2019re very open to suggestions like that and I am very much looking forward to seeing what they come up with.<\/p>\n<p><strong>absolutely olympic<\/strong>:<br \/>\nToday we\u2019ll be hearing from <a href=\"http:\/\/praxislanguage.com\/\">Ken Carroll<\/a>, a Dubliner who has lived in Shanghai for 15 years and who offers online language training through <a href=\"http:\/\/chinesepod.com\/\">Chinese Pod<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/frenchpod.com\/\">French Pod <\/a>and <a href=\"http:\/\/spanishpod.com\/\">Spanish Pod<\/a>. What does he think is the significance of China hosting the games? Inevitably we started talking about learning the Chinese language too.<\/p>\n<p><strong>absolutely proud:<\/strong><br \/>\nWe\u2019ll also be hearing from Yaodong Chen, a professor of English at Guangxi University in Liuzhou and one of his students Justina, currently working as an intern, about whether they will be watching the games or not.<\/p>\n<p><strong>absolutely behind:<\/strong><br \/>\nA\u00a0recurring theme seems to be homework in China. This reminded me of an interesting initiative happening in the USA at the moment called <a href=\"http:\/\/www.2mminutes.com\/\">2 million minutes<\/a>.\u00a0 That is the amount of time available to the typical teenager to qualify themselves for university in high school. The project is making a series of films documenting how teenagers in India, China and the USA are spending their time during this critical period and it will be no surprise to learn that the Chinese students spend a great deal of time doing homework compared to the Americans. Although you need to buy the main film there are many short clips available for free on the project website and on <a href=\"http:\/\/uk.youtube.com\/user\/2MillionMinutes\">You Tube.<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/uk.youtube.com\/watch?v=EVTbCs9ib7Y\">One of them <\/a>features Bob Compton, the executive producer, giving his answer to a typical question about how students in China feel when they get low marks.<\/p>\n<p><strong>absolutely olympic (part 2):<\/strong><br \/>\nWhat? More inter-cultural aspects of the Olympic Games? Well how about, is it about individuals and teams or about countries? I know many people are simply looking at the medal tally for each country but in the<a href=\"http:\/\/multimedia.olympic.org\/pdf\/en_report_122.pdf\"> Olympic Charter <\/a>it does explicitly say, and I quote:<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;The Olympic Games are competitions between athletes in individual or team events and not between countries.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Finally, isn\u2019t there a tension between the supposed coming together of nations and the inherent rivalry in sporting events? I heard one athlete interviewed who said \u2018I didn\u2019t come here to socialize with the other athletes!\u2019 and in fact there doesn\u2019t seem to be anything in the Olympic Charter compelling him to do so!<\/p>\n<p>Well that\u2019s it for today. Thank you to everyone who took part, we couldn\u2019t do this without you!<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;\">\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;\">So long! Stay tuned.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"EN-US;\"><span style=\"small;\"><span style=\"Calibri;\">The host of this show is:<a title=\"Anne Fox\" href=\"http:\/\/eduspaces.net\/annef\/weblog\" target=\"_blank\">Anne Fox<\/a><br \/>\nEditor: Peter Kron<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div><span style=\"EN-US;\"><span style=\"small;\"><span style=\"Calibri;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/poddownico.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" \/> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/podcast\/absolutely_intercultural_show_064.mp3\" target=\"_blank\">Download<\/a><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/podfeedico.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" \/> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/absolutely-intercultural\" target=\"_blank\">Podcast-Feed<\/a><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/podaboico.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" \/> <a href=\"http:\/\/phobos.apple.com\/WebObjects\/MZStore.woa\/wa\/viewPodcast?id=137617215&amp;s\" target=\"_blank\">iTunes-Abo<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<p>The next show will be coming to you on September 5 from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.laurent-borgmann.de\/\" target=\"_blank\">Dr. Laurent Borgmann<\/a> in Germany.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With the Olympics in full swing it seems obvious to turn our attention to China this time round. However if you think that we\u2019re going to be talking about heights, lengths, points, timings and goals then you\u2019ve come to the wrong place. But maybe by now you have an idea what the intro music was. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/?p=103\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;absolutely intercultural 64 +++ Beijing Olympics +++ Chinese Pod +++ Guangxi University +++ 2 Million Minutes +++&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[356,357,355,358,359],"class_list":["post-103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-podcast","tag-2-million-minutes","tag-chinese-pod","tag-guangxi-university","tag-olympic-charter","tag-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=103"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":314,"href":"https:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103\/revisions\/314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}