School: Ren-Ai Elementary School, Taipei City
    Taipei City, Taiwan, Taiwan

6 students, ages 11-12 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on November 30, 2003. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): No

Classes and Teachers: Wang, May-Lan、Hsu, Jui-Feen、Lee, Fang-Chi

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.japs.tp.edu.tw/

1. Description of Our Community

Our local community Is Taipei city. In Our community, we can find so many Foreign Maids, take care of our families . Taipei City has about 340,000 Foreign works ,they contribute to our economic and provide home care assistance.

2. Summary of Our Project

Taiwan has tens of thousands of foreign maids providing childcare, looking after the sick and the elderly. They are part of the community members and partners getting along with the local people. Through our study, we try to understand their interaction with the land and people and their experience living in this foreign land.

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:1

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dedicated connection

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:4-6

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

Teachers and students use ADSL、CABLE MODEM surfing the Internet for information, Net meeting via Microsoft MSN Messenger 6.

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

A. Six participants all come from different classes. It is difficult for them to get together all the time. Other than interviewing foreign maids, writing, music performance, we have used on-line meeting via MSN messenger for discussion and distribution of the study reports since May 2003. B. Since the object of our study is foreign maids from various countries: Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, we have encountered various difficulties in interviewing, but thanks to the Department of Labor’s assistance, we finally were able to communicate with those foreign maids who did not understand English. In our team, we have a good English-speaking teacher Fang-Chi Lee who has translated our web pages. Another teacher Hsu, Jui-Feen also helped translate during the interview process. C. Most team members play musical instruments except Chen, Yu-Hsi, but he finally managed to present two musical performances with other members. D. Though the project study started from May, it was not until November that we completed the most part. E. In the project study, all participants showed their talents fully, according to the demand of the project.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

After the project study, all participants know more about love and luck.

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

“Foreign maids in Taiwan” research project enabled students to see and experience personally the actual life situation in Taiwan of those maids from various foreign countries. Through personal contact, they understood how perseverance and hard-working those foreign maids were. They came from poor families in other countries and relocated to Taiwan to earn money to improve their own families back home.

Students also learned from the perspective of global village; foreign maids’ hard-working spirit enlightened the society, also reminded the Taiwan’s next generation of full employment. Otherwise, Taiwanese could be part of the “foreign maids” in the coming years. Thus the project study provided the students opportunity to learn international economic topic in an actual experiment.

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

We use PC and Net Meeting among participants. Further, digital camera and digital video recorder are our tools. We also use web page software to make homepage and related contents in Chinese and English versions.

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

Foreign maids are a very special group in local community. They lead a lower level of social life yet provided so much needed assistance to children, the sick and the elderly in various communities.

Our team members play peaceful ambassadors bridging up the distance between foreign maids and the local people. After our study, we are to present our findings to the school that will enable all students to understand how precious it is to cherish interaction with the foreign maids and respect their contributions to this land as their second home country. To express our gratitude, other than our projected interviews with the foreign maids, we have formed a small group of musical band to perform their individual countries’ music and ours.

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

Through the project study, the participants, who are among 5th and 6th grade students, not only learn to take care of others but also improve their English speaking ability. They turn out to be sensitive to news about foreign maids and engage dialogues of such thru Internet. Foreign maids are not only a group of people from other countries; they are part of their life partners now. Without those insightful interviews with foreign maids and the hirers’ family, we could not have had the opportunity to understand the issues happened to the sick, the elderly and the children. The biggest impact on the students as they have gone through “personal” life experience of foreign maids was that they finally realize how hard it is to serve other people. They totally changed their attitude in housework. Also the students have improved their creative writing and key-in speed capability during the project study. Particularly, team leader Chin-Yi Lin and vice leader Kristy Peering were given the best and the second best awards for creative writing contest. Kristy and Timothy also got awards in information searching category while Shu-An Chang was given the second best award in Internet reading category.

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

We thank the Department of Labor of Taipei City Government, Southeast Asia Group, United Daily News for quoting background information. Some came from Tunghai University and Hong Kong Baptist University. All interviews were also conducted with permission from the Department of Labor, foreign maids themselves and the employers. The poetry was quoted with consent from Labor Bureau and the writer. The most updated May 2003 statistical data quoted in our report come from the Labor Commission of the Executive Yuan. We also were granted permission to use related data from the Department of Labor.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

No pains, no gains. “Foreign Maids in Taiwan” is not only a study but also an action plan for the students who appreciate the aids from the foreign maids and introduced their life experience to the outside world. It is a sacred mission indeed.