Place: the square around the Dance City
Time: 10: 30 Am.
Who: 92 students from four schools + two Chinese Dragons.
THE LONG PROJECT
The start of 2008 has seen the UK develop and nurture its ties with China, as the Prime Minister: The Rt Hon Gordon Brown visited the Far East to discuss various key subjects including international and economic issues. The visit holds additional significance as the country hosts the 2008 Olympic Games later in the year, when all eyes will be on the nation's capital Beijing.
Closer to home, Tyne & Wear has become the unofficial hotbed for worldwide relations as artist Dr. Chun-Chao Chiu delivers the culmination of 4 months intensive work, which has seen four NewcastleGateshead-based primary schools develop an on-line relationship with three schools on the other side of the globe in China and Taiwan.
The Long Project has involved Dr. Chun-Chao Chiu teaching nearly 100 young people from Birtley East Community Primary School, Kenton Bar Primary School, Sacred Heart RC Primary School and Greenside Primary School - about the origins of Chinese culture, through the means of storytelling and the creation of two fabulous traditional Chinese Dragons.
The Long Project is a great opportunity for children to directly learn about and experience a different culture by interacting first-hand with people from other ethnicities. The programme is an ideal way for young people to develop self confidence through the various creative stages of the project, such as drawing, painting and the practical aspect of constructing the dancing Chinese Dragons. The project uniquely enforces the true meaning of team work as both the construction process and Dragon Dance procedures require groups of people to work closely together as a unit.
The unique aspect of The Long Project has been the way every step of the creative process has been captured and documented for the world to see on its very own BLOGSPOT - http://longproject.blogspot.com
The Long Project has developed a close relationship with Xin Yuan Xi Li School in Beijing (China), Chi Bi Lu Primary School in Nanjin (China) and WanFu Elementary School in Taipei (Taiwan), which has also seen the Far Eastern schools develop and post (upload) their paintings and facts about the Chinese Dragon online with the intention of sharing the information with their UK counterparts. It shows a clever use of technology to unify youth communities on a global scale.
The blog has served as a cultural platform for the pupils from the UK, China and Taiwan to communicate online with each other. All of the participants have been provided with access to the web-blog enabling them to contribute their views and feedback via the website.
The UK participants have been given the chance to sample an exciting and realistic experience, as they develop a cultural awareness by directly communicating with young people from a different society [Far East]. Likewise for those pupils in China and Taiwan, they have learnt how to appreciate the values and customs of their own culture by sharing knowledge about Chinese traditions and observing online how the information is interpreted by a group of children from a western country.
Quote from
Garry Smith, Strictly Press
Happy Chinese New Year! 新年快樂, 萬事如意!
