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Anonymous.
clay dubeI have attached a copy of the study tour application. Please click on the icon below to download and work on the application. The due date is Feb. 8, 2006.
AnonymousHere is some "STUDY TOUR INFORMATION" You will find it interesting.
China's Long (holiday) March
1.9bn trips will be made in next three weeks as world's biggest country celebrates Year of the Monkey.
By Guardian Newspapers, 1/16/2004
It promises to be one of the greatest migrations in the history of humanity. Not Muslim pilgrims on the hajj, but record numbers of Chinese holidaymakers heading for their ancestral homes to celebrate the start of the Year of the Monkey next Thursday.
The government estimates that 1.9 billion journeys will be made in the next three weeks as the world' s most populous nation goes on Asia's biggest holiday.
The vast majority are domestic trips back to their rural homes by the hundreds of millions of migrant labourers on the production lines and construction sites that have powered China's spectacular economic growth. But rising urban incomes and relaxed passport regulations have also prompted a surge in the number of international journeys - a source of mixed feelings among government officials who fear that Beijing's overseas image could be hurt by the spitting, littering, queue-jumping and noisy chatter they blame some Chinese tourists for.
Last year, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported a government education campaign to address tourist habits that, it said, "seriously marred China's international reputation", such as chatting noisily on planes, ignoring no-smoking signs and spitting in the street.
The exodus has already begun. In recent days, long lines have formed outside travel agencies. Stations and airports are packed with holidaymakers. During the three-week holiday period, the transport ministry forecasts that 1.7 billion journeys will be made by bus, 137 million by train, 26 million by boat and 10.5 million by air.
Most people will be heading home for whatever new year customs are traditional in their region. In the north, mountains of dumplings will be consumed. In the south, people will tuck into sweet rice cakes. Outside the cities, the nights will echo with the sound of firecrackers, while red lanterns, fairy lights and monkey decorations will brighten up streets and homes. Everywhere, television viewers will be tuning into a live song and dance extravaganza that has become as much a part of the new year festival as wishing family and friends good luck.
But an increasingly mobile middle class is looking beyond such customs and heading to more exotic destinations. According to the government, the number of air journeys this year will increase by 9.6%. Although new year trips to sunshine resorts are fairly new, the China Travel Service says its tours to the Maldives and Pacific islands have sold out.
Zhang Wen, a professor in the tourism management department of Beijing Second Foreign Language University, said people's perceptions of the holiday were changing. "They are thinking of different ways of celebrating, rather than just following the tradition to stay with the family," he said. "It's a sign that living standards are improving.
"It is not just at new year that China is on the move. Since 1998, the number of overseas travellers has almost doubled, to 16.6 million.
While the number is still only a fraction of China's 1.3 billion population, the trend is skywards. With the economy growing at more than 7% per year and formerly stringent travel restrictions slowly being lifted, the World Tourist Organisation predicts that more than 100 million Chinese will head overseas in 2020. This would put them ahead of Americans and Japanese as the world's biggest travellers.
"China has huge potential," said Charlie Li, the Visit Britain representative in Beijing. "Every tourist organisation in the world is trying to get a piece of the action."
But the movement of people is also a source of alarm. Government officials, academics and travel industry workers have expressed concern about the behaviour of first-time Chinese tourists who are unused to the different norms of the countries they visit.
Experienced travellers are clearly sensitive to criticism, usually made domestically, that people from rural areas are uneducated and behave as if they are on a farm.
"The first time I flew overseas, I was so embarrassed by the racket made by my fellow Chinese travellers on the plane," said Song Yankun, a Beijing teacher. "They were very excited because they were from the countryside. But I felt I had lost face as a Chinese."
Such cultural slips are certainly not restricted to Chinese peasants. On New Year's Day, more than a few foreign residents in Beijing are expected to commit such faux pas as sweeping their homes (seen as brushing out the bad luck that is expected at this time of the year), giving a friend something sharp (seen as cutting the ties of friendship) or opening a present in front of the giver (considered impolite).
© Guardian Newspapers Limited[Edit by="rrustamzadeh on Dec 17, 1:18:52 PM"][/Edit]
AnonymousHere’s an interesting Japanese festival that will be happening during the study tour this summer:
Tanabata, also known as the "star festival", takes place in Japan on the 7th day of the 7th month of the year (July 7th according to the modern lunar calendar). Several days before July 7, children and adults write poems, proverbs, and wishes on narrow strips of colored paper (tanzaku) and hang them on bamboo branches. Then, they put them in their backyards or at the entrance to their houses on the night of the 7th.
This history of this event is quite interesting. In fact, the festival was imported from China during Japan's feudal period, but has been modified by the Japanese. It goes back to the Chinese legend that two stars, Altair (the cowherd star) and Vega (the weaver star) were split apart by the two banks of the River of Heaven (the Milky Way), Ama-no-gawa. The lovers are allowed to meet only once a year and come together on this night. Although the festival was originally carried out among the Court nobility, it’s quite popular in Japan today.
Are you excited to celebrate the star festival? Here’s a very famous song called Tanabata that you can sing. Practice it!
Sasa no ha saara sara
Nokiba ni yureru
Ohoshi-sama kira kira
Kin-gin sunago
Here’s the English translation:
Bamboo-grass leaves flowing in the wind
Swinging by the edge of the eaves
Stars are shining
Like fine gold and silver sand
AnonymousJust wondering how Americans are recieved in China and Japan. I am certain that American culture (especially music) is vastly popular in Japan (excuse my ignorance about China, as I have only read that Japanese youth are really into reggae and hip hop culture). However, for the participants who may be attending the trip, are Asian countries welcoming to Americans?
Do citizens feel that Americans are rude, uncivil, and miseducated about culture?
I'm curious, I don't remember having this conversation in seminar.
Has anyone else thought about this?
jem
AnonymousI was able to watch the Eating the Scorpion DVD that documents a group of teachers who go to China as part of a study tour. This DVD made my desire to visit China even greater. You can see how the study tour experience changed the ways in which the teachers thought about China and its culture. The teachers had realia for their students, but most importantly the teachers had first hand experience and pictures as evidence of what they experienced. I thought of a few lesson plans that I could incorporate this year, because of this DVD. It provided me with a sample of what may be in store for me someday.
jem
AnonymousHelp! Help!
Could somebody, anybody, please, tell me where to find " The Way Home"!
AnonymousHi all...I"m also looking for a movie, one we talked about in our seminar. The movie is Black Rain...not the Michael Douglas movie, but the one about Hiroshima and the effects of the bomb on survivors and their descendants. I saw one place that had it available for sale, but it was a few hundred of dollars.
Thanks..and hope you all had a good summer..