CyberFair Project ID: 7397

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International Schools CyberFair Project Narrative
Title: Pray for Good Luck
Category: 4. Local Specialties
URL: http://librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2013/gsh7397/index.htm
Bibliography: http://librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2013/gsh7397/pray8/pray8.html

School: Victoria Academy
    Douliu, Yunlin, Taiwan

10 students, ages 13-14 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on January 14, 2013. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012

Classes and Teachers: Chang Yuan-Zheng, Yang Ting-Ting, Henry Su, Zhang Xiang-Yi

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.victoria.org.tw

Project Overview

1. Description of Our Community

We are in Yunlin, a county in central Taiwan, but we define our local community according to our subject – Taiwanese folk religions, so it covers more than one county. We visited famous temples, stores and organizations in central and southern Taiwan (Nantou County, Changhua County and City, Yunlin County, Tainan County and City…etc.).

2. Summary of Our Project

Our subject is mainly focus on Taoism customs and rituals in south central Taiwan. Categories of our project's website: 1. Preface: Introduce Taiwanese folk religions. 2. Exhibition: Survey on our students’ religions, introduce worship culture and interviews with foreign teachers. 3.Temple Tour: Introduce several famous or extraordinary temples 4. Tips: taboos and babai related utensils 5. Rituals: Introduce several gods and how to worship them 6. Temple Fair: Temple fairs, Din Tao, our experiences 7. Victoria Pilgrims: about us, Our reflections, pop quiz

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:more than 6

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

We wanted to do surveys by questionnaires to know our students’ beliefs and how much they know about baibai, but we didn’t get a lot of questionnaires back. The statistic was not easy to get. Besides, we didn’t know how to sort the data until being helped by our instructors. Regarding the baibai exhibition we held at school, we needed to collect a good amount of utensils for baibai. Fortunately, Chaotian Temple in Beigang lent us an antique fortune stick container. When we explained baibai to foreign teachers, we had a big problem with translating proper nouns and technical terms. We spent much time looking them up and discussing with teachers. Moreover, because we have to go to school, we could only use spare time to visit temples and stores. After visiting more than ten temples and sorting the information and writing reports, we were exhausted. However, we still managed to take good care of our heavy schoolwork and gained a lot from making this project eventually.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

After much research, a lot has been learned. We can now say that we have experienced a saying by Confucius something along the lines of “do not be ashamed of asking questions.” Researching requires the gathering of massive amounts of information, visiting temples, shops, passing out surveys and questionnaires. This task allows one to learn how not to be afraid of asking questions and furthermore, how to ask a good question. By gathering so much information, it is important to be able to distinguish useful facts from that which may not be needed. The most impressionable feeling is one which you may feel very touched. This study of Taiwanese culture is one that might make a Taiwanese person feel proud. We are not just people who hold incense and worship deities, but rather a media to pass culture onto generations to come.

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

Our school arranged a one-semester special course for the CyberFair project, so we can learn how to do research. This course contains many lessons, such as, Research Approach, Questionnaire Design and Statistics, Din Tao Culture and Practice, Field Survey and Report, Internet Data and Copy Rights, Organizing Exhibitions…etc. These lessons cover history, geography, arts, humanity arts, physical education. Through group study and internet data searching, we can learn more than usual. We are able to understand the speciality of a place, accept it and promote it!

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Project Elements

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

telephones, interviews, questionnaires, internet, books, reports, tape recorders, pen recorders, digital cameras, scanner, printer, laptop, flash discs, software - FrontPage2000, dreamweaver3.0, PhotoImpact7.0, Golden wave3.0

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

In order to understand temples and taboos better, we invited Mr. Huang Xinji, a previous officer of Zinan Temple in Nantou to be our tour guide. He also mentioned how Zinan Temple’s community coordinated with them to develop their community. Mr. Tsai Yongde, the chairman of Chaotian Temple in Beigan arranged a tour guide for us when we visited this temple and lent us a hundred- years old antique from the temple. When the exhibition we held at school was on, we had annual sports day. Therefore, we got to introduce our research to the guests and alumni. Also, we had all our homeroom teachers from grade one to grade twelve bring their classes to visit the exhibition. We were in charge of guiding our visitors. The director of Student Affairs Office invited a local TV station to write a story about our exhibition. We performed two Din Tao shows, the dragon and lion dance, and figure drum dance, to show the audience a little bit of temple fair culture. Ms. Daphne Li, the vice principal helped us with arranging interviews with foreign teachers. Although baibai terms were hard to translate, through a communication like this, we got to know what foreigners think about our culture.

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

We organized all the information about Taiwanese folk religions, held an exhibition and promoted baibai culture, so from six-year-old to eighty-year-old, Asian to foreigners all got to experience our folk religion. In short, it seems that we wrote an encyclopedia about baibai!

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

We would like to thank Mr. Huang Xinji, a previous officer of Zinan Temple in Nantou – as our tour guide Mr. Tsai Yongde, the chairman of Chaotian Temple in Beigan – offered us a tour guide and lent us a hundred years old fortune stick container Mr. Lin Zhuhan, the director of Student Affairs Office – helped with the exhibition decoration, ushered visitors at the exhibition and contacted with the press Beatrice, our PE teacher – trained the performers for the “dragon and lion dance” and “figure drum dance” Santiago, Carolyn and Yao, our foreign teachers – the interviews

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

We visited so many temples for this project. We used to baibai in temples, but we actually knew very little about it until now. Through those awesome tour guides at temples, we knew the history and culture of each temple we visited. Moreover, sometimes we saw our parents do baibai, but we had no idea what kind of joss paper offerings to use, not to mention its taboos. However, now we are like a baibai master! We know what god we should worship for certain purpose, what temples to go, how to burn joss paper and prepare the right offerings!

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View our CyberFair Project (Project ID: 7397)

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