You are right about schools being a fantastic testing ground – often driven by students’ interests. I wrote my first web page with 6th form pupils gathered round in an encouraging way, making jokes about my terrible keyboard skills. Maybe a good approach is for students to lead the way in using conferencing technologies to support their studies, though I don’t know if this is feasible for Beijing.

I also find that students prefer to look at screens rather than people. I have considered video conferencing from an adjacent room before to simply observe the results in attention from the students.

I was involved in the first school-to-school video conference between Beijing and London pupils in 2000, so it seems a long time since the technology was tried out. Best wishes for your idea of Mandarin teachers – though perhaps it could be English teachers delivering to schools in Beijing.

Coincidence – my mum has just Skyped me from Taiwan!