INTRODUCTION
This WebQuest is self directed, which means that it has been created by
my friend Giugi, who lives in Europe and me, for our own learning purposes.
Alan, an actor, friend of ours, left for Japan a couple of years ago and
has left no trace. We know he was going through a mid-life crisis. His
favorite topics of conversation were the theater, holistic medicine and
Buddhism. We don't know what happened to him but have come to believe that
he has turned into a guru and we are determined to go to Japan and look
for him. And .....perhaps ... who knows? We may decide to change our lives
too........
THE TASK
Before we are going on a real journey to Japan we would like to start
our virtual journey and be immersed in the Japanese culture. Our task
it to browse the Internet and find information about japanese Buddhism
and rituals, Japanese holistic medicine, and Japanese theatre. We will
need to identify Buddhist temples, farms where holistic medicine is practiced,
and traditional theatre performances. Then we need to plan an itinerary
and decide where we are going to stay . (We are on a limited budget).
We also need to get to know basic Japanese customs and learn how to read
a few basic signs for survival purposes . We will use search engines, Excel
for the budged and will post a diary of our research process in a Blog.
THE PROCESS
The process for this WebQuest involves various phases
1)The first phase will be an exchange of emails used a brainstorming technique
to determine dates of our journey, exchange info on suitable travel agent,
ask general information about Japan with our contacts and exchange the
info . This process will take approx. 1 month
2) We will draw a profile of Alan, his likes and dislikes etc , and on
the basis of the profile we will browse the internet to find out as much
info about these three aspects of japan: Temples. holistic farms and traditional
Japanese theatre.
3) We will exchange the information we have gathered to plan an itinerary.
We will divide our roles , Giugi will plan the itinerary and decide what
parts of japan we are going to explore, I will plan the accommodation on
the basis of our budget
4) We will read recommended books about Japan and share our feedback,
we will go to see Japanese movies and plays if possible and will go to
Japanese restaurants so that we will deepen our sense of the Japanese culture.
4) Finally we will record our itinerary on our blog
RESOURCES
We will need these basic resources
Map of Japan
http://www.ease.com/~randyj/japanmap.htm
Japanese Guesthouses
http://www.japaneseguesthouses.com/index.htm
Tokyo Toilet Map
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~AD8Y-HYS/index_e.htm
WOOOF Japan(
Willing Workers On Organic Farms'
)
http://wwoofjapan.com/index_e.shtml
Japan Society
http://www.japansociety.org/about/
Learn the Japanese Characters
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~ft5k-ymd/learn.html
Japanese Tourist Board
http://www.jtbusa.com/enhome/
Japanese Signs
http://www.sla.purdue.edu/academic/fll/JapanProj/FreePhoto/p-pictures.html
EVALUATION
- Did we feel each of us contributed positively to the final project?
- Did we find the web useful or did we need mor of a personal contact?
- How much did we learn about WebQuests?
- Do we feel we are going to find our friend Alan
- Do we feel confident that we are not going to be lost in Translation?
CONCLUSION
By the time we finish our Blog we will have learned about Japanese Buddhism,
organic farms and Kabuki theatre. We will be ready to start our journey
REFLECTION
We will reflect on the entire process and will write to each other summarizing
the experience , sharing what we learned.
EXTENSION
We will go to Japan, compare our real life experience with the webquest
experience, perhaps find our friend or perhaps end up in a Buddhist temple
and become gurus for good .
Kabuki Theatre