Bula! Ashley, I am one of Shawna BuShell's students.
I really feel bad asking you guys to do all of this stuff when you are
trying to wrap things up. We all appreciate any help that you can give
us.
I am designing my site for high school age people. One
of the things that I am going to have them do is to plan to actually move
to Fiji. There will be several activities that prepare them for this move.
I want to give them an idea of what being a teenager
on Fiji is all about.
To do this...
Task--Find a bunch or teenagers hanging out and talk
to them about this stuff. Explain that you are recording information for
Americans teenagers (15-18) who are moving to Fiji
It would be great if you could do this for both urban and rural teenagers.
But, if not possible, try to get a diverse group of urban dwellers. Of
course, feel free to paraphrase these questions, ask more/different questions,
and eliminate offensive questions.
- If possible use digital video or audio & photo...Identify
speaker for link to photograph. Try to find a representative sample...male,
female, Indian, Fijian, Christian, Muslim, Hindu.
- Describe the main things that you do on a typical
day?
- What food do you usually eat for breakfast/lunch/dinner?
Where do you eat? Who cooks? Where do you buy your food?
- What is your house like? Who lives with you? Pix inside
and outside if possible
- What is your family like? Number of brothers and sisters?
Is this typical? Are you close to your family?
- What are the main holidays that you celebrate? What
do 15-18 year olds do on these holidays?
- Clothing for 15-18 year olds [different in rural and
urban areas?> -> pix of different clothes
- Entertainment for 15-18 year olds [what do they do
after school, on weekends/holidays?]> -> What sports do you like
to watch? Play? Do girls and boys participate in different sports?
- What is your religion? How does your religion impact
your daily life?
- Is there racial conflict? How would you and your friends
feel about having an American friend? Would the race of American change
the way he or she was treated?
- Sex and dating? How does dating [or find appropriate
word] work in Fiji? Are there big differences on these customs between
religious and ethnic groups? Do you think that you will get married?
How old do you think that you will be when you get married?
- Drugs and alcohol> -> Do 15-18 year olds use
alcohol or illegal drugs? Is this very prevalent?
- School [length of school year, hours/day, how organized,
hours of homework, uniforms, teachers generally nice, subjects, PE?]>
-> Picture of school in session if possible
- Rules...Do most parents let their kids stay out late
at night?
- What kind of music do you like? Do you listen to radio
or mainly CDs?
- Do 15-18 year olds usually speak English or a regional/ethnic
language? How would this impact a new kid from America?
- Do you work at a job outside of school and home? What
do you do? Do most teenagers on Fiji have jobs?
- What do you hope to be doing when you are 21? 30?
Do you plan to live on Fiji forever? If you could move anywhere, where
would you go and why would you go there?
- Where do kids on Fiji go to hang out? What is their
favorite beach? Or do they even like the beach?
I mentioned several pictures up in the questions. Also,
if you could get a picture that compares the terrain on the inhabited
coastal regions with the inland regions that would be great, too.
I KNOW this is a lot to ask. Please suggest any ideas
that you have to achieve the same idea...anything that might save you
time. If you only have time to do a little. It would be great to get an
entire interview with one person to use as an example...and maybe just
have others answer one or two questions. This will give teachers an idea
of what I was trying to do.
THANKS!!!
Kathryn Brett
This one falls under the interviewing students theme,
which we will try to do tomorrow. We will follow her suggestion to get
an entire interview with one person.
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Dear Ashley,
The project that I would like my students to be able
to do is:
STUDENT TASK: Create an interactive, hyperlinked model-to-scale of a typical
home in Fiji using the shapes tools in Microsoft Word.
The items that would be wonderful to have are:
- Measure a typical home in the area, all three dimensions,
as well as the dimensions of each room.
- Take video and/or digital pictures of one or more
typical home layouts, especially including any animals, plants and decorative
artwork that are located in the house.
- Ask people about what they do in their houses. (Either
video, voice recording or written responses; any of these are fine).
Specific answers would be appreciated to any of the questions
above, but any general narrative about different activities that take
place in the different rooms would also be fine.
- What rooms are in the home?
- What types of decorations are in the homes?
- How big are the rooms?
- What does the family do in each room?
- Are there formal meals where the family eats together
during the day?
- What types of food are eaten at meals?
- How is the food served and eaten?
- What types of families live together on Fiji?
- Are meals eaten as a family?
- Who is responsible for different household tasks?
- Is there any sort of ritual involved with eating,
like praying or meditating?
- What types of discussions take place during meals?
- Do unwanted animals or plants ever come into the home?
Do you think that you would be able to do them?
Thank you for any help - I can't wait to meet you!
Jennifer Brinkmeier
This is a fantastic project idea. James has met another
girl here, so perhaps he can try to see if
between now and when he leaves, he can visit her house and get the info
she wants.
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Excellent idea! I will put James on this one and see
what he can come up with.
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Hello - greetings to the Reach the World crew!
I am a member of Prof. Shawna Bushell's class at Teachers
College - Columbia U. Here are my questions for the Fiji curriculum project:
- Two years after the coup led by George Speight, what
do Fijians from various ethnic backgrounds think of their general quality
of life? Has everyone moved on, or are there still lingering tensions
or regrets about the coup? Are people uncomfortable discussing it?
- How long is the school day?
- When young people are preparing to finish high school,
do they think about emigrating? Why or why not?
- Are there dances that people do in groups together?
Groups of only men? groups of only women? Children's dances?
- Suppose someone is living outside Suva in a rural
area. What are some of the first household tasks or chores that need
to be done after waking up in the morning?
Thank you very, very much! I hope that the next leg of
your journey is safe and that the experience continues to be enjoyable
and interesting.
Zola Mumford
We will try to find out the answers to these questions
in an interview.
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Dear Ashley,
I am excited to be working with you this week. Shawna
has told us that you are all ready to start your vacation so I thought
I would just tell you my plans and you can let me know what is possible
or impossible. If there is something that is undoable the next few days
would you please add a note as to whether is could be done during the
regular school year?
My project revolves around students learning another
point of view different from their own. At the end of their studies they
will become a Fijian child and create a multimedia journal explaining
their day to day life. During the time of their journal they will >
'> travel by boat> '> to another island and experience a holiday
celebration. The kinds of things I think I would need from you are in
three sections: daily life and activities, sailing, and holidays.
Daily life and Activities:
Interviews of various students of all ages asking about
hobbies, music they like, games and sports they like to play, the language
they speak, what they do in school such as subjects they study, rules
they follow, homework and schedules. What kind of home do they live
in? Also, their favorite holiday, what they do to celebrate and why
they like it. How do they earn money for themselves. What are their
favorite foods? What kind of clothes do they wear? All of the above
could be done on video or audio or just sent to us via
e-mail.
I think I would need pictures of various kinds of homes, clothes (sulus,
saris as well as western clothes), a beach, palm trees, an ordinary
street, a school, transportation. I would also love a short video of
children playing games or sports. I know time doesn't permit all this
but I can dream can't I?
Sailing
My concept is that they will travel with you for a
few days but they must help navigate. I would like them to learn latitude
and longitude, nautical miles vs. land miles and other facts to get
them where they are going. Some questions students might need answered
are: a brief description of setting out, starting and ending coordinates
(approximately), your time schedule for getting there (we can make this
up), how do ocean conditions effect your travel, what happens if your
engine breaks or the GPS stops working, how does the weather effect
what you do sail vs. motor. What kinds of situation would make you change
course? I don't know that much about sailing but I'm looking into it.
During the school year would it be possible for the students to send
you plans for your next destination and you check it for accuracy? I
would also like to have pictures from the boat, crew pictures working,
etc. I know there are some
things on your web site.
Holidays
I am having trouble finding specific info on Fijian
ceremonies. I would like to have pictures, descriptions, video of some
kind of celebration, feast, or holiday and the background for why they
celebrate it. Are here special clothes or food or instruments associated
with this holiday (we have colored eggs at Easter, trees at Christmas,
turkey at Thanksgiving)
That's all I can think of now. It seems like a ton but
I think a lot of our topics overlap one another. Thanks for your help.
Since interviewing students seems to be a common theme
among the questions, we will try to find some students and ask about hobbies,
music, games, sports, language, etc. Since we are holed up here at the
marina, I do not think the sailing portion of her request is doable.
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The purpose of my project is to design a living textbook
that teaches nautical position. The objective is for students to use mathematical
and nautical methods to determine shipping routes for Fiji's major importers/exporters.
Preliminary Questions:
- How does one determine a nautical path?
- How does a crew captain determine nautical speed?
- What is the unit of measurement for nautical speed?
- How does a captain determine ports of entry?
- Once a captain determines ports of entry how do you
determine the native language?
- How does the captain determine the maximum load of
a vessel?
- How does the captain determine the buoyancy of the
ocean that they are in?
- As a navigator, how do you determine how the weather
is going to effect your travel?
These are just some preliminary questions to be asked.
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Thanks for helping us out with this. As I am sure everyone
else has said, let me know what of the following we can accomplish. I
am hoping to focus my unit around the ocean. I would like to focus on:
Biology:
- fish and underwater life
- effect and impact of man on the ocean- how, if at
all, Fijians protect or give back to the ocean environment.
Physics
- Look at time, distance equations and aspects of speed,
velocity, and acceleration using data from Mokulu.
Economics
- What part does fishing and other ocean related industries
play in the overall economy of Fiji?
- Does this relate to economics at home or internationally
(ie- do they export their catch)
- How do the natural resources of Fiji dictate the percentage
of people in the fishing industry? (Scarcity)
- Other possible job alternatives.
- Possibly some information on economic system
Geography
- Underwater geographic formations and physical maps
Not sure if anyone there likes to Scuba dive, but I thought
some underwater images would be great (especially if it is an excuse for
someone who likes to dive)
I like the part of your website that talks about life
on the boat: what you are reading, number of showers, games, etc. I thought
I might add/expand some of this in the project, if you think this might
interest students. Maybe include some photos from traveling between destinations
and stories about difficulties/problems and solutions.
As a group, we could also use a good bank of digital
photos for use in our design of the portal we are creating. General things
like people, houses, buildings, beaches, trees, animals, etc.
Thanks again for the help with this, especially as your
trip is winding down.
Regards,
Eric Totten
Again, since we are holed up in the marina, I don't think
any of these (biology, physics, economics, geography) are possible given
the limited timeframe. He could look at some of the science topics already
existing on the site, i.e. fish adaptations and use those instead of Fiji
specific ones.
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