School: Hongyeh Elementary School
    Taitung, Taiwan, Taiwan

9 students, ages 10~11 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on February 20, 2005. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2004

Classes and Teachers: Ms. Mei-yu Bai, Mr. Wei-yueh Chen, Ms. Eng-ci Li

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.hyps.ttct.edu.tw

1. Description of Our Community

Hongyeh, located in the Yanping Township, Taitung County, and surrounded by mountains, is full of maple leaves and hot springs. The majority of the residents are Bunun people with rely on farming for a living. Under such poor conditions, downstream of Beisijiu (Hongyeh River) lies the Hong Yeh Elementary School at Yanping Township, Taitung County, a mini elementary school as the cradle of the Taiwan Minor League Baseball. It has developed the “Hongyeh Minor League Baseball Team”, which was trained rain or shine under strict discipline with great assiduity and perseverance.

2. Summary of Our Project

In 1960s, a team born in poor conditions took stones as the baseball and bamboo as the baseball bat. Despite the rough equipment and poor life, the young baseball players worked hard to make good performance repeatedly in the nationwide matches, especially beating the strong opponent--- Wakayama Team of the Japan Kansai Minor League Ball with score of 7A:0, which not only aroused the nationwide baseball craze but also set up a solid foundation for Taiwan as the future Baseball Kingdom. “Hongyeh Minor League Baseball Team” is a world famous team and a miracle.

3. Our Computer and Internet Access

A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:less than 20

B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom:4-6

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):

There is a computer room with only 9 computers for all students in the school, so we have to spend time queuing with others. In addition, most computers are of old type featuring slow execution speed and obstacle and inconvenience in use. The computer room is connected to the TaNET via Ethernet LAN. However, located in the mountainous area, the elementary school is subject to power failure or the open circuit caused by typhoon. Regarding the students, due to poor family background and economic factors, few students have computers at home. Yet most of these computers are too old to access to the Internet, which disables the students to keep in touch with the outside world.

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

(1) As the headmasters and old ballplayers to be interviewed lived in different places, we had to go down the hill in the teacher’s car to the headmasters’ or uncles’ homes. There were so limited seats in the car that we had to take separate cars with the residents’ or the teacher’s help. The young people from the IT Club of the National Taitung University also took us in their cars. Thanks to those people’s help, our interview was successful.

(2) This project planning was responsible by our fifth grade students. Out of practice, we were not good at speaking our mother tongue, which was used by both the literatures involved and the old ballplayers or pastor to be interviewed, so that it was hard for us to learn and communicate. Luckily enough, the dean, teachers and residents helped us with the translation, which made way for our interview and data collection. So we realized the importance and utility of languages, which encouraged us to learn our mother tongue well.

(3) From a remote mountainous area, we took the availability and use of digital equipments as the major problem. Fortunately, with the help of the teachers and the Hope Agent Development Association, we got the valuable equipments, such as the digital camera, digital video camera and the recording pen. Under the weekly instruction of the “Digital Radiant” teacher from the National Taitung University, all of us made great progress in terms of equipment operation, webpage design and art design.

(4) The stories and skills of Bunun and the Hong Yeh Elementary School became the focus of the social concern, so each child had his own view on the determination of the project theme. Later, with the teacher’s instruction and most students’ agreement, we decided to make the questionnaire to see what “Hongyeh” impressed the public most. From the survey, we finalized Hongyeh Minor League Baseball Team as our theme. So we found the theme and learnt about the significance and value of democratic at the same time.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

(1) From the project, everyone got a good understanding of the arising and painstaking training of Hongyeh Minor League Baseball Team and experienced their traditional training. From the interview with the former ballplayers, we explored and learnt knowledge instead of sheer textbook knowledge. From the use of information media, we learnt how to apply the technological production to our study.

From the survey and interview, we learned how Hongyeh students struggled in the past, which is a great drive to all students in the school today. In order to follow the trail of the former students and carry on the Hongyeh Spirit, everyone practiced baseball, billiard or other sports harder.

All residents from the community joined to help to bring back the traditional spirit and pomp of the Hongyeh Minor League Baseball Team. Besides the then headmaster Mr. Tzeng, such former ballplayers as Mr. Chun-guang Chiou and Mr. Hong-hui Jiang gathered together to have a baseball match, so that all students could see with their own eyes the eternal legend of Hongyeh Minor League Baseball Team. The whole Hongyeh Village seemed to have returned to the past. Thanks to the great support of the community residents, Hongyeh Village was activated.

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

During the project research, we combined the Chinese, art & human studies, comprehensive activities and information education with the school-based curriculum, so as to turn what we had learnt at school into practice instead of sheer textbook knowledge by applying the knowledge to the research and planning, ranging from the origination of Hongyeh Village and the foundation and struggle of Hongyeh Minor League Baseball Team to the interviews. What we had learnt was the way to get along with others rather than sheer historical stories.

The key to the success of an activity is a united group with team spirit and mutual study. In this activity, we were divided into the photography team, interview team and recording team according to different hobbies and specialties. In addition to individual study, we exchanged and shared opinions, which made the execution of the whole project research & planning more efficiently and more smoothly.

Information education is always our school-based curriculum. Via information media, we were able to record all interviews. More significantly, we got a lot of information about the project and communicate with different people in the world on Internet, which facilitated to spread the Hongyeh Spirit.

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

Oral interview: Interview the former ballplayers and headmasters to learn more about the foundation, origination and struggle of Hongyeh Minor League Baseball Team.

Field survey: Go to the former training ground to understand the training mode and even make bats of tree branches and bamboos.

Internet: (1) Collect relevant information on Internet. (2) Leave message on the webpages to cheer up each other.

Single Projector: (1) Show former wetpages for reference (2) Introduce the origination of Taiwan School Cyberfair.

Digital Camera: Record interviews and field survey for the project with the digital camera.

Digital Video Camera: Shoot the interview and survey to set up data and files to show the past glory of Hong Yeh Elementary School.

Recording Pen: Record the interview to facilitate proofreading and filing.

Portable Disk,CD-RW: Save relevant data to PC off line.

DC,DV,Video Capture Card: Take pictures and make a video recording on the interview, and then shift to VCD.

Telephone and fax machine: Communicate with the interviewee by phone or fax.

Computer software: Build webpages, do art design and upload files by means of Dreamweaver, PhotoImpact, FlashFXP, Office, etc.

Videotape,VCD: Watch videos on the baseball match and the TV interview with little ballplayers and the team leader to understand the legend and training of the Hongyeh Minor League Baseball Team in the past.

Scanner and Printer: Process videos with the scanner and print data with the printer.

*The above equipments came from the school, the teachers and the IT Club of the National Taitung University. In addition, Tungsen Shopping supplied a PC, a DV and a DC.

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

In order to collect the literature and documentation directly, we went to Hongyeh Minor League Baseball Team Memorial Hall first. The hall staff introduced the pomp of the baseball team in the past as the valuable data. But the problem was that the data wouldn’t be convincing enough without the interview with the former ballplayers. Unluckily, it was hard to contact them, for they all worked in other places.

Fortunately, Mr. Bai suggested us to interview the former headmasters who founded the Minor League Baseball Team, Mr. Chu-peng Lin and Mr. Jheng-tung Tzeng, so as to get more data or even the contact information of those former ballplayers. During the face-to-face interview, we noticed that the former headmasters and teachers still kept a lot of photos and baseball stuffs, which was really the God’s gift to us. More significantly, we got their contact information.

So with the help of the tribe residents and the school and by phone or mail, on the one hand, we arranged the interviews with them, and on the other hand, we invited them back to Hongyeh Village for a friendly competition. Luckily, all former ballplayers were willing to come back to join the pageant at the news. So we took this opportunity to get a lot of first-hand data.

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

(1) When time goes by, the past glory of Hongyeh Minor League Baseball Team gradually fades from the tribe members’ minds and is thus seldom mentioned, so that us young generation know little about it. So we set up the research team to lead the parents and even the whole village to discover the forgotten memory, so as to arouse their passion on baseball. In this year, the villagers even called for the former ballplayers to join the friendly baseball match against the neighboring villages, so as to recall each villager of the Hongyeh Spirit and arouse it to pass on to us.

(2) To acquaint the younger generation of the Hongyeh Village with the Hongyeh history, the villagers even reorganized the literature and video material from the Hongyeh Minor League Baseball Team Memorial Hall, and laid out its interior facilities for a better study by the students and tourists. We believe that our own participation will pass on the Hongyeh Spirit from generation to generation, so that Hongyeh Minor League Baseball Team will stand at the peak of the world forever.

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

Community Residents: During the planning, the community residents provided the literature and video material actively to show us the charm of the Maple youth on the baseball field. In addition, many residents would bring the old photos to the school telling the Hongyeh stories, which gave us extensive historical knowledge.

Former headmaster Mr. Chu-peng Lin: Mr. Chu-peng Lin was warmhearted and ready to accept our interview. He entertained us well, provided many old literatures, and told us how they founded Hongyeh Minor League Baseball Team and how they overcome the difficulties to make good achievements.

Former team leader Mr. Jheng-tung Tzeng: Despite his difficulty in walking after retirement, Mr. Jheng-tung Tzeng was ready to tell us about the origination of Hongyeh Minor League Baseball Team and the development of Hongyeh Village. He even demonstrated the traditional training methods and skills with gesture frequently.

Former ballplayer Mr. Hong-hui Jiang, Mr. Chun-guang Chiou, Mr. Yuan-sing Jiang: To make way for our interview and field survey, the old ballplayers from different places even asked their working units for leave and joined the baseball match held by the community. They explained and shared the past experience in match, and even showed the skills personally to acquaint us with the characteristics of Hongyeh Minor League Baseball Team.

Headmaster of Hongyeh Elementary School, Mr. Shian-de Yu: Mr. Shian-de Yu spent some office hours on our interview. As the key leader of Hong Yeh Elementary School, he narrated how to carry on the Hongyeh Spirit to open up the future, and to exert individual potential to overcome the difficulties.

Dear friends: First of all, we owe thanks to ET Mall, who provided the digital products to create the digital learning environment. Another thank is to the staffs from the Hope Agent Development Association, who provided us with the study orientation and resources every time we were in trouble. We should thank the eight young men (such as Jia-nan Chen) from the IT Club of National Taitung University even more, as they came from the urban area afar to Hong Yeh Elementary School instructing us on IT and interview skills every Monday afternoon.

There are too many people to thank. Thanks to you, we can thrive; thanks to you, we can learn about the maple history. So here we would like to thank those who used to give up helps.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

(1) From the project research, all students learned the team spirit and even reduced the quarrels. Everyone worked hard to learn and understand more about the history concerned. When time went by, they were glad with a sense of accomplishment to see the fulfillment of the research schedule.

(2) During this research & planning, the most exciting thing was to see everybody made great progress in Chinese writing and information abilities. Judging from the mid-term exam, everybody made improvement to some extent. We were even able to finish the IT work quickly. All this should owe thanks to those who helped with the project. Your great help enabled us to grow up well and make progress.

(3) From this research, we understand the true Hongyeh Spirit---“Be Brave and Assiduous and Never Give Up”, so as to win honor for the school, the community and the tribe. Therefore, we should carry on the Hongyeh Spirit and apply it to everything, which will win honor for both the public and ourselves.