As Paula Abdul of American Idol would say, "I'm so proud of you!" These are my thoughts about students in two classes, E5 and E6, who worked diligently on projects over the past 3 weeks. The process started with choosing a topic. They were required to create a travel brochure about a city or Emirate in the UAE. Most chose the city or emirate of their origin and completed a draft writing on 3 specific sub-topics--the most common of these being "Where to Stay," "What to See," and "What to Eat."
The Process
The students had already created email accounts at Excite.com or Yahoo.com, as having an email account is the first step required in setting up a blog online. They next set up free user accounts with Blogger.com and Photobucket.com. Blogger.com would be the site to build and host their blogs. Photobucket.com was necessary for storing photos online to which links could be placed in their blogs. The remainder of their project task was spent revising their drafts and sourcing information, photos and relevant links from the internet. Finally they filled in a brief profile which can be viewed at the About Me heading in the sidebar of their blogs. These profiles are set up within Blogger.com to enable fellow bloggers to find and contact others with common interests.
Below are links to the students' projects. As they describe places very familiar to them, the information should in deed be of value to travellers. The students were encouraged to write from a personal perspective, although most pictures and some of the information was gathered from other sources online. They were instructed to provide only the most useful links for further information on the topics covered. I encourage the prospective traveller to explore these links as well.
Teacher Interviews
As an alternative project a few students chose to interview a favorite teacher. This involved first making a list of questions to ask on topics including personal background, educational qualifications and work experience. They next interviewed the teacher and used this recording to compose their documents.
Without further ado...
E5 Blogs
Greeen City ...by Abdullah Ali Al Hasani
Hatta Village ...by Abdullah Rashed Naseeb
An Amazing City, Dubai ...by Abdullah Salem Al-Tumari
An Amazing Emirate, Abu Dhabi ...by Abdulmonem Saleh AlMusaabi
Wonderful RAK ...by Ali Saeed Al Naqbi
The Best City Dubai ...by Jasim Mohammed Al-Housaini
The Most Beautiful City in the UAE (Al Ain) ...by Mahmood Mohammed Al-Houqani
Wonderful Sharjah ...by Matter Salem Al-Qaidy
An Amazing Place, Sharjah ...by Mohammed Ahmed Al-Ansari
Modern City-Abu Dhabi ...by Saeed Hadi Al Mansouri
Ras Al Khaimah ...by Saeed Rashid Al Habsi
An Amazing City, Al Ain ...by Tarek Sharaf Naji
E6 Blogs
Khorfakan City New and Old Places ...by Mohammed Abdullah Al Naqbi
Tourist in Abu Dhabi ...by Mohammed Ahmed Al Shehi
Dubai City ...by Mohammed Sultan Al Shehi
Dubai City, New Dubai ...by Marwan Awad Al Yamani
Dubai City ...by Ali Salem Al Tonagyi
Nice Fujairah ...by Mubarak Saeed Al Kendi
The Welcoming City ...by Mohammed Ahmed Al Jumeiri
Khorfakkan City, Nice Places ...by Yousef Mohammed Al Naqbi
My Bountiful City ...by Tarek Rashed Saeed
Abu Dhabi is a Tourist City ...by Khaled Seif Hassan
E6 Interviews (Word Docs on MLI Server)
Interview with Teacher ...by Mussallam Ashour Mohammed
Nice Teacher In The Eyes Of Men ...by Fayez Mohammed Al Habsi
Interview With a Smiling Teacher ...by Mohammed Salem Al Mazroui
