On today's show we hear from Robert Bauer at American International School Guangzhou, live at the 6th Annual #EdTechGZ Conference. 

Well done to Robert and the hard working team at AISG for an excellent conference.

More information to follow

Apologies for the sound interference in the middle section of the podcast. 

SWIS ROC Radio 

A reflection podcast from G5 Students SWIS Shenzhen about their recent camping trip to HK.

It sounds like they had an amazing time and it was fantastic to hear how grateful they are to the camp leader and teachers who brought them there. 

Well done G5 students and teachers. 

McCawley's Shekou (Seaworld) were the sponsors of today's show on SWIS ROC Radio. Craig Wildman, the general manager, kindly offered three loyalty cards to new members of SWIS Staff which we will give out on the next show. Thank you Craig. 

On the show, I was joined by Matt Manfredi (Long Island New York) and Emmet o Halloran (East Clare, Ireland)

We highly recommend McCawleys in the first part of the show. We hear about their steak and chips on Wednesday nights - 128RMB for an excellent dish. Wednesday is also their quiz night which we attended and came a respectable 3rd place. Interestingly, the winning team included the highly esteemed Mr.Wildman himself......now we are not suggesting anything untoward.........Realy enjoyable night and we will be back next week to win! Pizza and Margaritas are half price during the quiz. Matt and Emmet tell us about their excellent loyalty program which we highly recommend staff to sign up and avail of. Tuesday Night is teacher's night with a 10% discount with a valid ID!  Friday and Saturday have live music and just started at McCawley's on a Sunday is their Comedy Night. Check out their new food menu and the brunch is always a favorite of mine. Thank you Craig for your continued support.  

In the second part of the show we hear about different bars and restaurants which come highly recommended by the guys (and they're experienced lads in this area!)

We hear about The Evil Duck, Peko, Bionic, The Brew, Artisans, Volfonis, The George and Dragon, Artisans Houhai (Exit E1) Le5 Chefs, Cayotes, The Snake Pit and Xpats in Shekou. 

We hope you enjoy the show. 

SWIS ROC Radio

Listen, Like, Learn 

#swisrocradio #swisShenzhen #swisroc #swisrocs #newstaffSWIS

Today's show featured Cloe Lacombe Bar, Johanna Henson and Matt Manfredi who talked all about sports, health and fitness in Shenzhen! 

Our show this week was sponsored by Volfonis In Shekou. Owen very kindly donated 5x100 RMB vouchers for new/current staff. 

Jennifer Hager received a voucher for sending in an excellent question about cinemas and mobile phone providers which Santy Patel (SWIS Parent of G1 Boy in Mr.Paul Ward's Class)

All the information on Health, Sport and Fitness can be found on the Google Doc that staff have been adding to all week (thank you to all staff who have contributed information to the Doc).

There was a technical hitch on today's show so the format is a little different.....someone who cannot be named for reasons unknown forgot to press the record button the first time......so we had to record a much faster version the second time........ No names will be provided.....

We hope you enjoy the show. 

Finally and most importantly this weekend. 

There's a very special girl in Hanoi who is celebrating her 11th Birthday this weekend called Kayley (Matt's wonderful daughter) and we hope she has an amazing day. Eat lots of snails and enjoy the ice skating; you will be fantastic.

SWIS ROC RADIO

Listen, Like, Learn 

****If you like this podcast, share and subscribe and check out previous episodes as well as a new podcast series about expats in Shenzhen on PRS Radio******* 

#swisrocradio new staff #swisShenzhen orientation podcast E4 will be recorded tomorrow afternoon.

 Here is some information about the topics we will cover and there's lots of information about Sports/Health/Fitness Options in #Shenzhen in this Google Doc https://bit.ly/2KqfAUq 

Check out #PRSradioSZ as well for a new podcast series about long term expats in Shenzhen. 

https://anchor.fm/prsradio/episodes/Paul-Delahunty---The-Virgin-of-PRS-Radio-e477ff/a-ageqit

We welcomed Justin Barrett, MYP Drama Teacher, on to #SWISROCRADIO this morning.  

Our regular co-host Matt Manfredi was in the seat beside Justin to keep him in check....

Introduction (0.03-07.36)

We had some house keeping which needed to be addressed before we started the main show; 

Travel to Hong Kong/Macau/Zhuhai (07.39-22.05)

We talked about the various options including ferries from Shekou, buses from Shenzhen Bay, taxis and trains. 

Here is the timetable for the ferry. 

To book tickets you can create an account and buy here.  Tickets can be picked up at the Kiosk at the ferry terminal. You will need a chinese phone number to set this up. 

Shenzhen Party has lots more excellent information about the region. 

Quiz - Long Island v St.Kilda's (22.08-35.04)

In this section Matt goes head to head with Justin in a fun trivia section to win a 100RMB Voucher from Xpats Bar.  Check out this good website funtrivia.com to find some good quizzes! Justin beat Matt to win the prize thereby casting doubts on Dante's earlier assertions....

Travel within the Region (35.07-49.50)

We explore different options including Vietnam and Thailand and flight options. 

Questions from New Staff (49.50-51.00)

We take questions submitted by new staff members about banking and cycling and attempt poorly to answer them! 

Final Section (51.00-54.00)

Thanks to our sponsors from the last three podcasts including Le 5 Chefs, Xpats Bar and HH Gourmet in Shekou. 

Matt at HH Gourmet has very kindly donated vouchers and coffees to new members of the SWIS Shenzhen Staff in August. Thank You Matt. I love the bagels there myself and can highly recommend this restaurant to all staff. 

Maggie at George and Dragon has also promised 3 vouchers for our hungry/thirsty new staff. The Shepherd's Pie is fantastic there and they have amazing offers on Monday nights. 

We hope you enjoy the show. 

SWIS ROC RADIO

Listen, Like, Learn. 

********

We have contacted The Guinness Book of Records to see if we managed to break the record for the amount of time we blatantly unashamedly promote our sponsors Xpats Bar this week. 

Did  we mention that we were sponsored by Xpats Bar this week? 

We will record the 3rd in our series of orientation podcasts tomorrow morning with Matt Manfredi, Long Island, New York and Justin Barrett, SWIS MYP Drama Teacher from Australia. 

We will talk about transport and travel within China and further afield during holidays. 

The aim is also to discuss the weather and what to expect when you arrive and what to pack/not to pack for your move!

I am sure we'll go off task......

On the show tomorrow, there will be three 100 RMB vouchers to be won from Xpats Bar in Shenzhen (3 locations). Thank you to the owner Phenix for sponsoring these. To be in with a chance of winning, please subscribe and share the podcast and leave some audio feedback or questions which we will add to the show or leave an audio message introducing yourself. 

Finally, we will have a fun quiz on the show tomorrow......

Dante in Long Island, the father of Matt Manfredi, our Number 1 fan will be spoken about........

SWIS ROC RADIO

Listen, Like, Learn 

SWIS Shenzhen Orientation Episode #E2 

Today we welcomed Tuula Webb & Matthew Manfredi on SWIS ROC Radio for the second in our orientation podcasts. 

The focus of this podcast in the first part of the show was housing; we looked at the advantages/disadvantages of both living on/off campus. 

To live off campus, we recommend that new staff be aware of the costs involved in getting an apartment. 

You will need cash upfront to pay; 

So typically to rent a 9000 RMB apartment (typically a 90sqm 2 bedroom) you would need 31,500 up front to move ($4556) A 3 bedroom (140sqm+) can be anything from 12,000-17,000 RMB. 

We will send you on WeChat agents which can help you find accommodation. Thomas is a reputable agent in Shekou who may staff have used and his WeChat ID is; shekourent

Housing Hidden Costs; 

Management Fee (between 300-600 per month depending on size of apartment) 

Faipao (need for reimbursement from school) - The cost is typically 4% of Rent to get the Faipao ( 360RMB per month on a 9000 rental) 

Electricity/water/gas (typically about 300 per month)

 Internet (1800 -2000 per year - Some apartments have bad internet/some are very good)

Banking 

We talk about banking in the second part of the show. This is a process that is not overly liked by expat staff in general as it takes time. You need documents from HR and Finance each time you go to do this; I generally go to the bank once a year at most for this reason and am creative with this process. However, if you have bills at home to pay each month then we suggested that you leave cash in your account at home to cover these for the first couple of months. 

Get WeChat Wallet set up as soon as you get your bank account set up is our top tip! 

Voice Messages/Questions/Feedback 

Finally, we deal with a number of animal questions from incoming staff. Thank you David Platt and Angela Morris for sending in voice messages on Anchor and you are the worth recipients of a 100RMB Voucher each from Le 5 Chefs Shekou. Laura Michelle Loran added a comment on Podomatic and also receives a voucher! Well done to the three of you! Thank You Claudio for the vouchers! David and Angela, we will try and find you information and send on WeChat. 

On next week’s show Phenix at Xpats Bar Seaworld will provide 3 Vouchers for another three members of staff. Thank You Phenix. 

We’ll then be knocking on Craig Wildman’s Door at McCawleys Seaworld to see if we can get some vouchers…. 

We hope you enjoy the show! 

SWIS ROC RADIO 

Listen, Like, Learn 

#swisShenzhen #swisROCradio #swisroc #swisrocs

This morning at SWIS, Matt Manfredi from Long Island in New York was the guest on SWIS ROC Radio.   We hear a little bit of information about his family; his mother and father, Lois and Dante and his wonderful daughter, Kayley in Hanoi (who eats snails....).   

Matt has been an educator for 18 years and it does not show in his youthful appearance!  

On the 11&12th May at Level 5, Shekou, Matt will lead a workshop designed to explore the use of student-centered, discussion-based education described as the Harkness method. It’s a collaborative approach to problem solving and learning. This method was created and is used daily at Phillips Exeter Academy located in Exeter, New Hampshire. Phillips Exeter has been consistently ranked as one of the top ten best prep schools in America.   

 It was enlightening listening to Matt explain the Harkness method in greater detail and it was very obvious that he is very passionate about it and is eager to share more details with the participants at the workshop.  

 Matt finally admits (we all knew) that his hero is Tina Turner. It was a fitting way to end the show.   We hope you enjoy the show and if you would like to find out more information about the Harkness method or if you'd like to meet Matt in person (?) then pop along to the INS department at SWIS Shenzhen. 

SWIS ROC RADIO

Listen, Like, Learn