I use a VPN (virtual private network) for my internet in China so that I don't run into any restrictions, otherwise I wouldn't be able to have this blog, get on facebook, etc. I had never even heard of a VPN before coming; thank goodness someone that knew I was moving asked me if I had gotten one yet before I left and recommended theirs. My layman's understanding is that the VPN basically routes my internet through a city in the States to avoid any censorship issues and you pay a small monthly fee for the service. You can use a VPN on your smartphone too. This article on Chinese internet censorship just popped up on
my Yahoo news bar; I always find these kinds of things interesting (and it inspired this post).
Articles like this are always good discussion starters for my students too, once I get them past all the new vocabulary (the Chinese have a really hard time seeing the forest for all the trees, one new word in a sentence that makes perfect sense even without the new word can become impossible to understand). I have also recently covered this BBC article on the Great Firewall allowing access to Google+ and this one from Yahoo Sports about Ben & Jerry's changing the ingredients to Jeremy Lin's ice cream flavor. That one was especially fun, trying to explain the fortune cookie Chinese connection and why this would possibly be upsetting to anyone.
My absolute favorite new things to discuss with my students though are David Thorne posts and any kind of "would you rather" situations (preferably with pictures). They're funny and great for making people feel more comfortable with talking about anything and experimenting with language.
No comments:
Post a Comment