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1. Description of Our Community
With the changing of Taipei County to the special municipality of New Taipei City on 25 December 2010, Yonghe City was officially changed to Yonghe District. Yonghe District is an inner city district in the southern part of New Taipei, Taiwan. Yonghe District is the smallest district in New Taipei City. It is primarily a residential area, and serves as a bedroom community for industry in Taipei and surrounding areas. Yonghe District (previously Yonghe City) had the highest population density of any city in the world. People living in Yonghe District tend to not be from there originally. That increases diversity in terms of human ability, customs, cuisine and style, making it one of most diverse and treasured cultural places in Taiwan.
2. Summary of Our Project
Hong-Chi Ho serves as the associate director of the Ju Percussion Group and the instructor of the Pisilian Paw Paw Drum Troupe. He is also the head of Polar Light, a percussion group. His achievement in rhythm training and music education is well-known in Taiwan. In addition, his works, such as “Dancing Rhythm” and “Drumming Fest” have been performed on international stages.
He was not a high achiever in school, though he excelled in getting into mischief. He was even put in the lowest class in junior high school. He was also bullied and seemed to always be getting into fights and causing trouble. This began to change when he met the important mentors in his life, music teachers Wong Chin-chu and Ju Tzong-ching. After he gained admission to grad school, he stepped his efforts in school. He made a great effort to confront his own limitations. Eventually, he earned his master’s degree with outstanding grades.
Hong-Chi Ho said that percussion music changed his life. His motto is, “All things in their being at good for something”. He always feels that each person can shine if given a chance and encouragement. He has a dream to turn the physically-challenged into percussion artists. It is what I want to do, he said. He believes music is like a set of wings to open a window of hope for children with multiple disabilities in addition to indigenous children. Therefore, the main purpose of teaching them drumming is not to train them to become professional percussionists, but to help them build up self-confidence and a sense of belonging. His aim is to let them lead a colorful and joyful life.
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
E. Additional comments concerning your computer and/or Internet access (Optional):
The school has applied to Chunghwa Telecom FTTB for two 20M broadband internet so we could learn and use the internet at the computer room. Currently there are two computer classrooms with a total of 100 computers available for internet use. Additionally there are one computer and single-shot projector per each classroom. Other than that, we have our own online hardware to save our work and files. We also have computers at home so apart from the collective working time in school, we could only collect and sort data at home. We also used email and cloud storage space to share and transmit our own data.
4. Problems We Had To Overcome
1. Scheduling Teacher Ho is very busy with performance work; not only does he have to rehearse for multiple tour performances but he also has to travel to China each week for instruction and cultural exchange. It took us a while to schedule an appointment with him. It was the regular rehearsal time for the Polar Light Percussion Group. 2. Guided Tour Skills This was our first time to conduct guided tour and do a presentation in front of all schoolmates. We were requested and encouraged under the rigorous instruction of the teachers. Eventually we evolved from the initial discomfort to the confidence and courage in front of the schoolmates. 3. Interview skills Interviewing was one highly unfamiliar and special skill that we even feared for. However after the teachers and parents have instructed us through continuous practice of simulation, we finally made more progress. 4. Complicated tasks In particular, we sometimes encountered discrepancies but we learned to analyze by reasonable discussion and drafting plan schedule in addition to dividing work through mutual cooperation. Consequently we were able to receive excellent results for all details required for designing the website. 5. Final Project We could only communicate via internet, email and phone contact in winter vacation. After full communication, we could integrate our opinions under the assistance of the teachers even if there were some difficulties. The experience of designing the website and conducting the project research was the most fruitful outcome. 6. Achievement We learned a lot from the entire process such as collecting data, drafting topics, writing working logs, and reviews, conducting an interview, and planning a visit. We further perceived his passion in dedication and sacrifice for culture and the community. We really appreciated the teachers for giving us this opportunity to learn.
5. Our Project Sound Bite
We have learned the skills for organizing, collecting information, planning exhibition and conducting a guided tour. We appreciated Teacher Ho’s contribution to society and his passion to teach percussion to mentally or physically challenged children.
6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?
The School CyberFair encourages students at all levels to explore local culture and environment through project research and teamwork, using the internet as the communication tool. The activities require interaction and exchange online to share and explore into the rich and diverse learning experience of Taiwan to students and teachers worldwide, thereby enhancing the international horizon of the students in Taiwan. The CyberFair also cooperates with the educational department, family and civil enterprises through joint promotion of information, environment and homeland education. Moreover, the context of information education and philosophy of English education can cultivate the future generation with the horizon and capacity to connect to the world. The guidance of competition process penetrates into the education of care for the environment and implements the junior high school and elementary school instruction on information, internet, English and care for the environment. The Nine-Year Integrated Curriculum emphasizes on the cultivation of healthy Taiwan nationals with humanistic sentiment, integration capacity, democratic qualities, native and international awareness, and lifelong learning. We expected to develop the capacity for students to carry with them through drafting a plan, collecting data, interviewing, planning an exhibition, conducting guided tour, and creating a website. Field of Language: Student could bring their creativity and thinking capacity into full pay in terms of discussion, progress report and response writing, training them to voluntarily explore and research, and learning the capacity of expression, communication and sharing in interview activities. Integrated Field: In the research process, students learned how to design, organize and implement during the exhibition. Students also experienced the idea of respect, care and teamwork in order to build solid foundation for the basic capacity of lifelong learning. Field of Arts and …
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