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1. Description of Our Community
Guangzhou is the capital city of Guangdong Province in China. It locates in the south-east of China and is considered to be a pearl that shines splendidly in south-east of mainland China. It has been more than 2,000 years, covering an area of approximately 3,843 square kilometres and accurately there are 10 districts and 2 counties. In October 1949, Guangzhou was liberated and in 1954, it was incorporated into Guangdong Province and became the capital of Guangdong. Guangzhou has a large population of over 6.17 million and 70.1% of the citizens live downtown. Located near Hong Kong, Guangzhou has been highly developing with the light industry shift from Hong Kong to Guangzhou. A few years ago, with Guangzhou being the central part, the Pan Pearl River Delta Cooperating Region was set up and then brought up the development of the whole region especially Guangzhou. Now Guangzhou has become an international metropolitan with large potential for lasting development. Besides, Guangzhou is a gem for eating and tourism. Since we were young, it has been regarded as “a city for eating”. In every corner here, you can find large or small restaurants and enjoy yourself with low payment. There are various kinds of food in Guangzhou, and as a result, the food industry in Guangzhou is prospering compared to other cities in China. Everyone here is a specialist in eating, and many kinds of eating customs are formed and developed here. When you are in Guangzhou, you’ll be surprised not only for the plenty of restaurants, but also local attractions. These attractions are mostly in small sizes compared those in Beijing, the capital of China, but they are stylish. Some of are historical while some are modern and urban. In a word, it is really a place full of joy and fun!
2. Summary of Our Project
The purpose of selecting this topic and do this project is to publicize the local attractions in Guangzhou and let more people understand Guangzhou City. There are 8 members in the team and they were divided into 4 groups which were responsible for 2 tourist attractions in Guangzhou. Later, one of the groups, Group “Hans and Qu”, added one more place to introduce. So there are totally 9 places the project concerns. The title and theme of the project is “Attractions along Guangzhou Metro”. We picked up the most popular or potential tourist attractions along the metro, but one of them- the Xinghai Concert Hall is far from the metro. After consideration, for its popularity among Guangzhou citizens and tourists, we still put it as one of the items. The welcome page of the website is the Introduction part which particularly introduces Guangzhou. And there are several items in the website: Introduction, Metro Map and Attractions, Album, Working Process and About Us. The characteristic of the website is that on the Metro Map and Attractions page, visitors can have a brief look of the Guangzhou Metro and get the attractions’ location on the metro lines so that they will have a picture of how to get there.
3. Our Computer and Internet Access
A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:more than 50%
B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom:more than 6
C. Connection speed used in the classroom:not sure
D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:2-3
4. Problems We Had To Overcome
It is an unforgettable experience for the students to do this project. Mainly, two barriers came and stuck us for periods. The first barrier is the conflict between the project and the stressful studies of the students. All of them had to be at courses from morning till dusk, and after school students had to finish homework as well as extra exercises. Even though there’s spring vacation, the hard working students still had to sit at the table and did homework and exercises. Well, how about their personal hobbies like ball games and reading? At the same time, as this is the second year that mainland China has teams to participate in this project, the students really wanted to do a good job. All of these things came, and then the students were nervous and felt the stress which was caused by the shortage of time. Actually, with the help of their parents and friends, also with the encouragement among each other, the students managed to make schedule and follow it so as to do all the things in apple-pie order. They learned how to economize on time, which will be a great help in their future life. Then it came to the free space problems. Originally we planned to have videos and audios on the page, which would have to occupy much space. It is Qu that came across an idea that we should turn to the school for help. And eventually, our school promised to offer us with maximally 1 G. But as the students couldn’t set time to videotape and edit the materials, there are no videos or audios this time.
5. Our Project Sound Bite
Through participating in this project, both the adults and the students cultivated ardour for improvement of the community. Besides, facing the conflict between studies and this project, the students have learned how to economize on time and to do things in order, which will be a great help to both the studies and the business in their future.
6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?
The theme of the cyberfair project this year is “Empower and Unite”, and as Guangzhou has been working hard to create a nice and warm community for all citizens these days, our students focused on how to improve our community. The main task of the students was not only to simply describe the attractions and community, but also to dig out some problems of them and to think of ways to solve these problems. In the process, students learned how to improve their communicating skills when they speak out their ideas to the departments of the attractions, which will be helpful in their future lives. And also, by working hard together to polish the website, many of them learned or improved dreamweaver skills and something else about internet and software. They worked together, and usually helped each other. For example, some of the members help to build up the webpage by making and editing photos and pictures. Also, when Qu was doing the construction job, Brook and Hans sit beside and gave instructions and ideas. When the articles were collected, some of the students who were excellent in English helped to polish. In a word, the group showed a spirit of collaboration. Through the project, the students felt more that there were something more than studies and work. Usually people could do many things to improve the community, and every can play a role as ambassadors to improve and polish their communities. Well also, both the students and the adults realized that using Internet for teaching and learning is a more convenient way compared with the traditional ways. It is quick, efficient, and usually accurate. Things will move faster with the high speeded Internet and that will make a contribution to the development of a community.
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1) What information tools & technologies did you used to complete your CyberFair project?
In the process, we mainly used telephones, mobiles and Emails in the Internet to communicate with each other. Also, for most of the students, they used OICQ (a kind of communicating tool in the internet which is similar with the ICQ, and was developed by Chinese and widely used in China) to connect each other. What’s more, we built up a blog for the project, and exchanged ideas on the blog. When some news had to be published, we mainly use our blog. These are the communicating tools. And there are other tools we used such as digital cameras to shot photos and to video tape the tour process in the journey. We widely used the internet to search for useful information, and to scan those winners’ projects in the past in cyberfair. And we used several softwares to build up and polish the website, such as Macromedia Dreamweaver, Frontpage, Microsoft Word, Open Office series, Adobe Photoshop, Macromedia Flash MX, ACDsee and WinRAR. At the same time, in both the library of our school and the other libraries in Guangzhou, we hunted for source we needed and have read several kinds of books. Some of us went to the attractions souvenirs’ and bought books and VCDs or DVDs which detailedly described the places. And because two of the attractions themselves are museums, we had a good time exploring the museums! Among all these tools, we considered the Internet the most useful one. For it’s high speed, efficient, and usually accurate. With the assistance of books, we did the project in a modern but not a traditional way.
2) In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your CyberFair project both on-line and in person.
We set tasks to the students to think about the apparent problems and potential problems of each attraction and the community, also to think about ways to solve these problems. And in the process, one of the students-Michelle, phoned to the department of the Yuexiu Park to talk about setting signs that reminds the tourists to protect buildings, and the officers promised to check the condition around the park and set such signs as well as other signs for tourists. When Brook faxed to Chen Clan Academy telling that she hoped to get help and guidance to finish the project from the academy, and the officers in the department immediately showed their welcome to the project and offered help by offering a tourist guild. Brook and the academy have contacted for long and have discussed how to go on the project. But as the department wasn’t free enough to go for further discussion, Brook and Jane had to set aside their suggestions of improvement of the academy. At the same time, the members spread out the project to their teachers, parents and friends, which has left an impact at least in the school.
3) What has been the impact of your project on your community?
We convinced that the finished project has made a difference to the community. With the encouragement of the members and teachers, people around them began to think about apparent problems and potential problems appeared in the community, and to think of ways to solve these problems. These have been showed in their daily lives and business or studies, making a wide spread and an influence around the small communities of themselves. But it is a pity, that we didn’t know whether people around the world had learned something from the project or not. As we finished the project and published on the net, we’ll hope to see that. Besides the members themselves, teachers, parents and friends have visited the website. Well actually, whether the suggestions work or not, it is a fact that the project has already caused the attention of the departments of the attractions to focus on their own problems in order to make improvement. And as a result, the project has undoubtedly coloured the life of the students and extended their social experience. What’s more, the project led them to realize that there were lots of unsolved problems which would be the obstacles and barriers to the development of the community, and they set goals to make contributions to solving those problems, which is actually the most valuable things they gained.
4) How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?
During the project, we had met quite a few problems, the following people offered us help, and we want to show great thanks to them.We have adult helpers and teen helpers. Here they are. Adults: Alan B. Fenwick: gave us advice about the project. Benjamin P. Virgo: gave us advice about the project and taught us to set timeline and to follow the schedule. Bai: gave us advice and provide us with help. Cai Chuanye: helped to upload the website and gave advice about the project. Chen Jian: offered us computer room to do the project. Lin Wen: helped to solve some problems during the project. Liu: offered us a laptop to do the project. Quan Hanyan: offered cash help from the school and gave us advice Wang Xi: gave us advice and provide us with help especially in the Chen Clan Academy part. Zheng Shengjian: helped to upload the website and gave advice about the structure of the website.
Teens: Li Wei: helped to solve some problems during the project. Pang Yiyun: spread the news of the project, gave advice and helped to build up the team. Zhang Teng: photographer in the University Zone, Pearl River CBD and Guanzhou Biologic Island parts, and gave us useful and helpful advice. Zhong Wanting: discussed with us about the project and gave helpful advice.
5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)
During we did the project, we discovered several interesting facts about the attractions and Guangzhou. Here we will list the most interesting ones: 1.Guangzhou had been for more than 2800 years, the evidence is a stone archway in Yuexiu Park, with words “Chuting”, which was considered to be the earliest name of Guangzhou, on. According to a research, this archway was carried here in Guangzhou in B.C.887. 2.There are several statues outside the Chen Clan Academy which are about the stories of the Yue Empire in Guangzhou. Inside the academy, there are statues about the characters in Lu Xun’s novels. 3.As the boys went to explore the Guanzhou Biologic Island, they discovered natural scenery and villages, which they have never seemed in Guangzhou.
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View our CyberFair Project
(Project ID: 4902)
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