Touch typing refers to the art of typing without looking at the keys. This is achieve though practice using various types of available software and using muscle memory. Touch typing typically involves placing the eight fingers in a horizontal row along the middle of the keyboard (the home row) and having them reach for other keys. This is a pretty convenient skill to have and many computer users today hardly use one, two or sometimes three (!) fingers out of the ten available for typing. Since there was no Open Source application compiled for the Gdium for that we just ported the latest version (1.8) of Tux Typing. The RPMs are attached to this post (one attached, and the data file which is 9.2MB is available here) and have been tested under G-Linux 2008.1. The latest version (2009.1) of Glinux should be available very soon and already incorporates Ktouch which is a different application doing the same thing (and using different libraries as well) AND Tux Typing as well. I would say that Tux Typing is more geared towards primary school children whereas Ktouch is a good application for secondary and above. But give both a try, you might just love to see Tux all smiling when you win! The RPMs should work on both 2008.1 and 2009.1 versions of Glinux.

Part of our ongoing pilots in China is to identify applications that match teachers and teaching needs. We've recently identified an old application (which hasn't been updated in a while apparently) which is a letter (and number) learning game for children. In our context this application provides 2 main benefits: the first one is the ability to display words with the playing of a native speaker (English) soundtrack associated to it, the second is that anyone can add their own images and recorded soundtracks without recompiling the application, enabling possibilities like vocabulary list revision and much more. English learning is very popular in China, and this is definitely a good way to get younger children initiated, especially when the teachers themselves don't always pronounce right. Of course we have a few ideas on how to improve the application and get more out of it, but that's another story!
So we've attached the 2 rpm (app+data) at the bottom of this post and they should work just fine on G-Linux!