School: Yeong-Fu Elementary School,Taiwan,R.O.C.
    Tainan City Taiwan R.O.C., Taiwan, Taiwan R.O.C.

35 students, ages from 10 to 11 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 30, 2002. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): No!But we do our best alw

Classes and Teachers: Daphne Shou,HSH,mainly from the class #409 and #410

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://library.taiwanschoolnet.org/cyberfair2002/C0232700103

1. Description of Our Community

【We are the world!】...We are from the ancient city Tainan, Taiwan R.O.C. where the spirit is moderate but filled with passion. We are the class#409 or class#410 students of the Yeong-Fu Elementary School.

The school has preserved its tradition of perseverance, maintained itself as a cradle where musicians are nourished and cultivated, discovered talents in science (mathematics and physics) and provided special education for the challenged (blind and autistic) children. We are going to march hand-in-hand towards a bright future and will be the 【e-Family】 to help each other！

2. Summary of Our Project

【We are the world!】...We are giving a hand to the blind & autistic people.We are so lucky with our partners' love and faith all together!

"There is joy in self-forgetfulness." The deaf-blind American writer Helen Keller once said, "I try to make the light in others' eyes my sun, the music in others' ears my symphony, the smile on others' lips my happiness." The feeling of happiness always originates from an optimistic mind.

We can honestly open up ourselves to handicapped (blind or autistic) kids. The brainstorming of gifted ideas from the class#409, thoroughly class#410 revealed music talent and children's innocence…these are efforts to overcome the blindness to initiate communication with the autistic children.

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:dedicated connection

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:2-3

E. Additional comments concerning your computer and/or Internet access (Optional):

30GB HD + Intel Celeron 1.2 GHz CPU + 256 MB RAM + Chunghwa Telecom ADSL conncetion. e-Family tries to overcome the technical difficulty in school to participate in the project of 【We are the world】.

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

Because of our last-minute decision to sign up for the fair, we were pressed for time. We also had to cope with final exams and activities for our school anniversary. Ms. Huang and Ms. Shou had to seek to fit the lessons in our schedule. We felt like Superman, because we had to simultaneously deal with school work and the project research for CyberFair2002. We had geared up our full energy to practice and take lessons at the computer lab during lunch break. The process was exhausting, but we gained tremendous experiences. Kudos to Ms. Huang and Ms. Shou for their hard work!

Our time to utilize the computer lab was relatively limited because the lab was reserved for classes. All of our research reports were mostly completed and uploaded to the website at home. Because the majority of us use modem (instead of broadband) for Internet connection, it was time-consuming, or sometimes we couldn’t even upload the information. Such problems abounded, so we had to ask the instructors to trouble shoot and resolve them for us.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

"There is joy in self-forgetfulness." The deaf-blind American writer Helen Keller once said, "I try to make the light in others' eyes my sun, the music in others' ears my symphony, the smile on others' lips my happiness." The feeling of happiness always originates from an optimistic mind.

6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?

A). "Ms. Shou, I uploaded my picture. It was cool!" We are learning how to use Ulead PhotoImpact 6.0 to edit images. When Ms. Shou took our pictures we wished to upload them to the Internet immediately so everyone could get to know us and start a friendship with us.

B). We also learned how to use a digital camera, which is the most fun thing. To see the emotional scenes or funny faces on the monitor, we deeply felt what was wonderful about life. What has made this experience invaluable is our first contact with a lot of technological information.

1) What information tools & technologies did you used to complete your CyberFair project?

1.Telephone: Used to communicate between teachers, students and the students’ guardians.

2.Television: We acquired the techniques to use computer software with the combination of computer and television. We also watched our documentary and pictures.

3.Video camera and digital camera: Used for videotaping, documenting of the process.

4.Scanner: Used for scanning pictures.

5.Software: Ulead PhotoImpact 6.0、Macromedia Flash 5.0、Dreamweaver 4.0、Fireworks 3.0、Ulead Cool3D…

6.Burner: Enormous amount of pictures have been burned onto CDs for files.

7.CD-Roms: Used for files, pictures, and to watch Chong-fu at the Sports Fair

8.Library: Made inquiries.

9.Books, Newspapers: Used for references.

10.Interviews: We interviewed the instructors at St. Raphael Opportunity Center for Ze-Yin, Chong-fu, and Hung-Yi.

11.Printer: Print hand-outs, items to note, tips on using PhotoImpact6.0.

12.Cellular phone: for communication among cars when visiting St. Raphael Opportunity Center

2) In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your CyberFair project both on-line and in person.

In the past two months the team members of 【e-Family】visited Ze-Yin Chang (blind) of the first grade class #2 at Yungfu Elementary, Chong-Fu Chen of fourth grade from Tu-Cheng Elementary (multiple handicaps: deaf-blind,) and autistic student Er-Fan Chen of the fifth grade class #1. We also took a trip to St. Raphael Opportunity Center in Tainan City and played games with the multiple handicapped children. These activities enabled us to gain some knowledge in multiple handicapped children, and we started paying more attention to the related news.

We specifically feel that the parents of the multiple handicapped children are just marvelous. They have make immense amount of efforts, yet they expect little or nothing in return. An author from the United Daily News said, "Next time when you run into multiple handicapped children and their parents, please just nod your head and smile to them to pay them some sincere tribute."

3) What has been the impact of your project on your community?

We will occasionally encounter physically or mentally challenged children in our environment. They are of similar ages to us, but they do not possess equal physical capability or intelligence. God is not fair to them, honestly. Therefore, we should provide all the aid we could to them, and do not disrespect or mock them, which will do even more harm to them. Consequently, we should learn the subject of how to sympathize with them.

Actually, besides providing help with their mobility, we should encourage them verbally, because their inners require friendship and attention.

4) How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?

We would like to acknowledge the special-ed teacher for Zih-Yin Jhen and Ms. Wu for Chong-Fu, who participated in our activities on numerous occasions. We are thankful for the guardians of Zih-Yin, Chong-Fu and Hung-Yi, who were willing to provide them rides to school during the winter break. This had allowed further communication and established meaningful friendship among all of us.

We are also thankful to all of the guardians of each member of 【We are the world】, for their encouraging support and tolerance of their children's late night uploads of their journals. They also provided car rides for us to St. Raphael Opportunity Center, participated in our activities and took pictures for us. We would like to thank for Ms. Chen and other teachers at St. Raphael Opportunity Center for their kind instructions on how to mingle with the kids at the center. Their patience and determination deserve our sincere respect. Although every child at St. Raphael Opportunity Center is multiple-handicapped, they wear an innocent face in brave struggles in life. In comparison, we felt embarrassed. We wish every one of them a wonderful life. We also are thankful to those who participated and encouraged us – 【Best wishes!】

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

After taking parts in a string of activities, we realize how lucky we are. We'd better cherish what we own right now, and also reach out to help the others.

We are a group of well-endowed people, living a rich life and possessing wisdom. We ought to make use of our intelligence to convey to the rest of the world, our knowledge of what we've seen and thought about the physically and mentally challenged people. We shall not despise or misunderstand them. Let us transform "small love"(i.e. on a personal level) into "big love!" (i.e. universal level)

【There are no perfect people in this world.】 【We are prone to face diverse obstacles. Some people can surpass the impediments with luck, but some can only strive at improving their circumstances. Face the difficulties in life with love…】