Introduction
Hola amigos! You are about to take a vacation, so pack up and get ready! You will be traveling to a foreign country via the Internet.
You are going to learn a new language, see historical landmarks, experience a new culture, and try new foods.
Get your camera and notepad ready for an incredible travel adventure! Zai Zian! (That's Mandarian for good-bye!)
Task
Each week your group will experience a different role in the world of tourism and travel.
You will be choosing from five preselected countries to research.
Each group will produce a flyer, itinerary, travel diary, autobiography, and a PowerPoint Presentation.
To polish off your hard work, you get to pick a food from that country and prepare it in class.
You will have exactly four weeks to prepare your presentation and a final week for cooking and presenting. You will be turning in specific graded assignments each week and will receive daily participation grades. Enjoy!
Process
THIS PROJECT HAS 7 STEPS
1. The teacher will assign you to a group or give you the option to choose your group.
2. As a group, choose one of the following countries and report to your teacher which one you will be "traveling" to. (Groups will not be allowed to research the same country as another group.)
China
Germany
Italy
Colombia
Israel
3. All group members will assume different roles each week: travel agent, tour guide, tourist, and native.
TRAVEL AGENTS
Week #1
- Research and choose the airline with the best round trip prices from the closest airport to your home to one of the major airports in that country. The trip is to be two weeks long - 14 days. Make sure your airline tickets are priced for the exact dates you will be flying.
- Research the following: flag, 5 major cities, name of money, geographical features of the country, weather and climate during the dates you will be traveling there, interesting facts (such as religion, literacy rate, and national sports), major products produced and foods grown, and tourist attractions.
- Use Microsoft Word to create a travel flyer for the country that shows all of the information gathered about the country, see item "b" above. Somewhere on the flyer show your names and the flight information (airline, dates, times).
- Your flyer will be graded on having all the required information with pictures using your creativity.
TOUR GUIDES
Week #2
- Pick at least 7 famous landmarks that you would want to take a group to and research why they are famous.
- Using Microsoft Word, create a detailed itinerary of the 7 landmarks for the trip and include a picture of each along with a short summary of the history of each landmark. Since this is a two week trip, you must specify what days you will go to each of these so you will need to include dates.
- Plan out Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, etc. Remember Day 1 and Day 14 you will be flying in and out of the country. Check the flight times to be find out what time you arrive and what time you will leave. Include hotel information as well as restaurants the group will eat at as you tour the country. Be sure to include the price of each hotel you will be staying at each night.
- Your trip should start at the airport and you should travel logically around the country and end back near the airport. Put your names at the top of the itinerary.
- Your itinerary will be graded on completeness. You must have all the required information - 7 landmarks and a hotel for each night. You can stay at the same hotel for more than one night but should stay at least 3 different ones during the trip.
TOURISTS
Week #3
- Focus mainly on the cultural differences between the United States and that country.
- Research the food they eat, the clothes they wear, their homes, their road systems and transportation, etc. Find out as much about the culture as possible.
- You will need to write a travel diary using Microsoft Word. Pretend you traveled to this country and use the itinerary written when you were the Tour Guides. Write about the things you did, the things you saw, the thoughts you had, the experiences you acquired, foods you ate, etc. Find photos and include those (they cannot be the same ones used by the Tour Guides) Be creative! The diary must contain at least 14 entries (one for each day) and each entry must be at least 3-4 sentences for each one. Put your names at the top of the diary.
- Your diary will be graded on having all the required information with pictures and should have at least a 320 word count.
NATIVES
Week #4
- Find the language of the country. Your group needs to learn eight words in that language. Find a video to share in the presentation of a person speaking the language.
- Research information about the education system. Find answers to questions like: What time does their school day start and end? Do they go year round? How many days a week? Do they have higher education? Do they wear uniforms?
- Research the primary religion in that nation as well as what everyday life is like. What is the typical family unit within that nation? What is the divorce rate? What are the wedding rituals? How many children do most families have? Are there child labor laws? Do children go to work?
- Using the information collected in your research, you need to use Microsoft Word to write an autobiography of a native teenager. Just pretend you grew up in that country and describe what your family is like, tell about a wedding you attended, how many of your friends have divorced parents, how many children most families have, what your school is like, what you wear, what you do when you're not at school, and what you will probably do with your future. Put your names at the top of the autobiography.
- Your autobiography will be graded on having all the required information with pictures and should have at least a 320 word count.
4. Once you understand each of your roles, begin your research. Work together, help each other, you will be given an individual grade each day as well as a group grade for the weekly project.
5. Put your flyer, itinerary, diary, and autobiography together to create a PowerPoint presentation showing all about your country, the places you visited, your thoughts during the trip, and information about your native. Each part must include several photos. Each week you will need to add your new information to your PowerPoint presentation so it will be complete on the final week. When it is time to present your trip to the class, each person in the group must particpate.
6. Pick a dish from the country you chose to research, get the recipe, and be prepared to cook it.
7. Give your presentation.
Evaluation
Week #1
Producing your FLYER about the country................ 0-60 points .......... same grade for whole group.
Daily participation grade.................................. 0-20 points .......... each person earns their own grade.
Adding new information to PowerPoint................. 0-20 points ......... same grade for whole group.
Week #2
Producing your ITINERARY for your trip ............... 0-60 points .......... same grade for whole group.
Daily participation grade.................................. 0-20 points .......... each person earns their own grade.
Adding new information to PowerPoint................. 0-20 points ......... same grade for whole group.
Week #3
Producing your DIARY about your experiences ...... 0-60 points .......... same grade for whole group.
Daily participation grade.................................. 0-20 points .......... each person earns their own grade.
Adding new information to PowerPoint................. 0-20 points ......... same grade for whole group.
Week #4
Producing your AUTOBIOGRAPHY about the native ......... 0-60 points .......... same grade for whole group.
Daily participation grade........................................... 0-20 points .......... each person earns their own grade.
Adding new information to PowerPoint.......................... 0-20 points ......... same grade for whole group.
Week #5 (if your group skips any part of the project, you will not be able to participate in the cooking activity).
Choosing your recipe and cooking your food ................. 0-60 points .......... same grade for whole group.
Daily participation grade........................................... 0-20 points .......... each person earns their own grade.
Presenting PowerPoint............................................... 0-20 points .......... each person earns their own grade.
Grade for the PowerPoint presentation ......................... 0-50 points .......... same grade for whole group.