Free Articles

This page contains many articles I've written over the years in pursuit of learning, reflection, and personal development.

Themes include productivity, wellbeing, teaching, defusing bullying, culture, heritage, facilitation & more.

You will find that some of these posts are originally published on LinkedIn.

Blog: Text

Sumbella

Oct 24, 20201 min

When you forget which character it is...

Chinese text reads: Ahh... I've forgotten which character it is! The phone shows multiple characters that are pronounced similarly to...

Sumbella

Oct 17, 20201 min

Just when you thought you learned all the ways to say 'I can' in Chinese...

I have had a few requests for comic style sketches from students, along with some discussions on what's fun and helpful when getting...

Sumbella

Oct 3, 20202 min

Teacher = Motivator

“There are no unique messages in this world: only unique messengers” When you’re learning something, you somehow need someone to be...

Sumbella

Sep 26, 20202 min

Yes, you can. 你可以！

Caption reads: '我的天啊！' - meaning 'Oh my goodness!' I've written before about how motivating, inspiring, and encouraging is such a...

Sumbella

Sep 19, 20203 min

加油 | Add oil, keep building your skills

Doodle reads: "加油！加油！Jiayou, jiayou - Keep going, come on! Go go!" In Chinese there is a word for encouraging others, called 加油 jiayou....

Sumbella

Aug 1, 20202 min

Time: the greatest sacrifice

Did you know in Chinese, and in English, both languages can talk about time by using the word ’spend’? For example, in Chinese - the...

Sumbella

Jul 31, 20202 min

The power of a 'Pai-shou'

Note: about the word ‘Pai-shou’ in this post - Pai is pronounced like ‘Pie’ from Meat Pie in English, and shou is like ‘Show’ in ‘TV...

Sumbella

Jul 31, 20202 min

And why you need to meet (Ha)moody's friend: 'Tingxie'.

There is a moment in the early stages of learning Chinese where I will tell my students something along these lines: “Next week, come to...

Sumbella

Jul 31, 20202 min

Why you need to meet (Ha)moody, a lot.

(Note: the word 'mudi' in this piece is pronounced like the word ‘moody’ in English). I look at my students, all ready and waiting for...

Blog: Blog2