Name: Crystal Yap Yan Yu

Grade: 11
Topic: My Travelling Experiences
Supervisor: Ms. Shalini and Ms. Rina
Word count: 4000 words

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 Table of content:
1.0 Introduction.1-2
1.1 Idea..........1
1.2 Goal.1
1.3 Global Context1
1.4 Subject Specific Context.2
1.5 Evaluation of sources..2
2.0 Investigation....3
2.1 Impact to society/ community.3
2.2 How the personal project develops IB Leaner and ATL Skills.......3
3.0 Planning...4-5
3.1 Setting Goal.4
3.2 Design Specification...4
3.3 Product Specification......................4
3.4 Product Criteria...4
3.5 Timeline..5
3.6 SMART Goal..5
4.0 Taking Action..6-9
4.1 Product in relation to Global Context.6
4.2 Target Audience..6
4.3 Communication and social skills.6
4.4 Development Process..7
4.5 Modification9
5.0 Reflection.10-12
5.1 Self- Evaluation.10
5.2 Evaluate the success of product.....10
5.3 Improvement.....11
5.4 ATL Skills and IB Learner I have developed....11
5.5 Global Context...12
5.6 Predicted Timeline vs Actual Timeline.12
6.0 Bibliography.13
7.0 Link14

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1.0 Introduction

1.1 Idea:

For my personal project, I am going to create a blog writing my travelling

experience, which includes, my opinions on the places, the culture, what are needed
if people want to travel there and I will be writing about the facts of the country
and giving information (passport, the weather, tourist attraction, language) for the
readers. Why I have decided to include writing about the weather and some facts
in my blog other than just my opinion is because I want to help people out and
thats what makes it different from other blog. The reason why I chose to do a blog
writing about travelling, firstly, is to educate other people about different cultures.
Second, to inspire people to go travelling because the things an individual can gain
through travelling is a lot. You can get inspiration from the buildings, the people
or the art and you learn about peoples culture. The reason to why I have decided
to write a blog instead of making videos or a book is because I am not confident
enough to sit in front of the camera and talk, I am more of a writer than a talked,
and furthermore I am not good with video editing. As for book, it is a very formal
thing and I wanted something to be more of me, something more personal like blog,
like a diary where I write about my personal experiences.

1.2 Goal:

There are a few goals I want to achieve in this project. Firstly, it is educating people
about other cultures in different places. Secondly, I want to inspire people to go
travel and also help those people who has the desire to go explore the world by
putting up some information of the places. Basically, just get people to go out there
to explore and learn new things. I want my goal to be more than a typical blog, I
dont want my blog to be just about my own travelling experience and thats it. I
want people to be inspired and be educated about other cultures. I want my blog to
have something to offer.

1.3 Global Context:

The chosen global context is personal and cultural expression. Why personal and
cultural expression is best fit for this project is because this blog is something very
personal because I am writing about my own experiences and hoping they will be

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 inspired. I will write about the cultures I had come across in the places I went and
educate other people about what I know about the culture.

1.4 Subject Specific Knowledge:

The subject that is going to help me with my project is English. As I mentioned,
my product is going to be a blog about my own travelling experiences, giving
information about the places I went and inspire people. Writing this blog is my way
of communicating with the readers and I want to make sure I have achieve my goal
which is to educate and inspire. Why I chose English as my subject specific
knowledge is my product is basically all writing. I want to be able to excite my
readers and make them feel like going out to explore different places, meet new
people and learn new culture. I want my content to be engaging; not lifeless.
Furthermore, writing is the way I am communicating with people. How this subject
is going to help me is with all the description of the places and explain to my
audience through words instead of just using pictures as some people learn better
through words than visual. I am going to apply my knowledge of this subject on
my taking action stage which is when I am writing a blogpost. People who can help
me with it is my English teacher and my classmates.

1.5 Evaluation of sources:

For my evaluation of sources, what I did is a table of the information I need, what
type of media did I use and the justification for the information I got from the
website. I talked about the information I got, how reliable it is and I did a point
form of the information. After doing all the research that I had done, one thing that
is very important is to make sure the information I got was accurate is I checked
not only one website but how many to see if every websites give out the same
information. Other than checking many websites, Ive also checked with my
parents since they were the one who did the visa and etc. (Refer to Appendix 1)

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2.0 Investigation:

2.1 Impact to society/ community:

The impact on the society, is the people are getting educated on cultures. The impact I
want my blog to have is people learn something new from my blog or be inspired to go
out there and explore or inspired to start up a blog and write about their own travelling
experiences and inspire other people. Also, help people who wants to go travel and
provide them with basic information such like the weather, the passport and language.

2.2 How the pp develops IB leaner profile and ATL skills:

Reflective: Developing this IB learner profile is because creating a blog, writing my

own travelling experiences is going to make me reflect back on my travelling
experiences and also reflecting on my learning on the cultures I had come across.
Knowledgeable: Other than reflecting, a lot of research are being done in order to
provide readers the basic information while travelling to the places and also a lot of
research are needed in order to make sure I provide the accurate information for people.
Communicator: Because this is my way of conveying my message to people out there,
writing a blog sharing my own opinion and experiences is a way of communicating
with other people.

Research: There will be a lot research being done in order for me to provide the correct
information for people who wants to learn more about new culture or who wants to
travel.

Self- management: This project is going to aid me with self- management as I need to
do a lot of posting and I want to make sure I post it on time, try to stick to one timeline.
It is going to help me improve on time management in order for me to achieve my goal.
Communication: This project is going to help me communicate with other people as I
am sharing my own opinions and my experiences, educating them on cultures they are
not familiar with and helping them by providing information if they are keen on visiting
the country.

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3.0 Planning

Before I start doing my product, Im required to have a plan of what I want to do, how
I want my product to look like and how I can make the best product; this is where
planning comes into place. Planning is to help me to have an idea of what I want to do,
design specification and product specification are going to help me to have an idea of
what exactly I want in my product and how I want the outcome to be/ look like. In order
to make the best product, I will create a criteria from 1 to 8 and a list of requirements.

3.1 Setting Goal:

My goal of this project is to inspire people to explore and educate people about different
cultures and help people by giving them some information of the country, such like the
weather, the tourist attraction and visa needed.

3.2 Design Specification:

Design specification is to help me to figure out what materials I need to create my

product, to give me an idea of how I want my blog to be, lastly, what techniques are
required in order for me to complete my product. For my design specification, I did a
table answering questions to help me to have a vision/ rough idea of how I want my
product to be like. I talked about what I want my product to be about, what type of
software that are needed. Also, what type of techniques will comes in use while doing
my product, what type of information I will include in my blog such like the culture,
language and passport requirement. Moreover, I consider if there is any copyright issues
and lastly, the targeted audience of my product. (Refer to Appendix 2)

3.3 Product Specification:

As for product specification, it is more specific as it breaks down one by one from the
font size to use of Italics. Product specification is going to help me with the little detail
of the design of my blog. Product specification helps me to have a clear vision of each
little detail of my blog such like the font type and font colour. Product specification is
more specific compared to design specification and it focuses more on every little
details of the product. For product specification, I did it in a table form and answer for
what exactly I want for my font colour, font type, font size, background, the use of
italics and bold. (Refer to Appendix 3)

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3.4 Product Criteria:

In order to make the best product, product criteria will be made just for my product and
a list of requirements of the product in order to make the best out of it. To make sure I
make the best out of my work, product criteria is something I can refer to and check if
it meets the requirement. I created a product criteria for my own product. Product
criteria can help me to see if I have meet my own expectation for my product. Product
criteria is also a way to help me to make the best out of my product and make sure it is
not under the requirement. (Refer to Appendix 4)

3.5 Timeline:

I have created a predicted timeline to help me with my time organization, as well as to

not have last minute work. This timeline shows what are needed to be done in that each
week. (Refer to Appendix 5)

3.6 S.M.A.R.T Goal:

For my smart goals, I put it in a table form. I talked about what I want to do specifically,
what is my product and the content of my product. Secondly, it is about the requirement
of my each blogpost; 500 words 1200 words and at least 2 pictures. Thirdly, I talked
about how I can make it attainable or successful then I added on how my project is
relevant to the chosen global context. Lastly, I stated the time frame of my product,
how long it will take me to complete it. (Refer to Appendix 6)

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4.0 Taking Action:

4.1 Product in relation to Global Context (Personal and Cultural Expression):

The chosen global context is personal and cultural expression. Firstly, personal and
cultural is about expressing your own ideas, beliefs, values, perspectives, feelings and
culture. How people express themselves can be very different such like some people
prefer writing poems or making it into a song. I chose personal and cultural expression
for this project is due to the reason that my blog is about my own travelling experience
and how I feel while travelling and how I feel being about certain things I came across
during my travelling experience. As for culture-wise, I wish to people would be more
educated about other peoples cultures and be respectful towards it. In addition, the
places I have been into, their culture is very different from mine. Travelling isnt only
about our own personal expression but the culture of that place and other people are
involved too.

4.2 Target Audience:

My target audience is teenagers, the reason why I chose teenagers is because of how
obsessed teenagers are with social network, they dont realized how there are so many
things and there are more than social network out there. Moreover, some people think
they are wasting their time when they go travelling because of not being in their full
potential because they arent getting work done but they dont realized the purpose of
travelling is to gain new experience, explore the world, embrace new cultures, create a
real relationship with people around the world, to expand our knowledge, to realize how
the limitations of our views on things, to appreciate nature and for education. Travelling
is about connecting with whats around you and exploring yourself. Through travelling,
you can learn about different lifestyle, learn new things about yourself; what you love.

4.3 Communication and social skills:

Throughout the process of doing this project, communication and social skills have
definitely developed due to what my project is about. My product is about
communicating with others by putting out my travelling experience. My product is a
blog and I put out all my travelling experience and also information such like the
weather during all months, the tourist attraction and the culture of that place so my
audience are educated about the place and also other cultures in other places of the

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world. I have went to my supervisor for advice and what are the improvements I can do
to both my product and documentation. For documentation, my supervisor and I, we
discussed what are needed to be in the documentation, what are the mind-maps needed
to be done before I start doing my documentation. As for my product, my supervisor
and I discussed what I could add into my product to make it more interesting and what
could be taken out.

4.4 Development Process:

Brainstorm:

In the very beginning, I was asked what I am passionate about/ what I love. The thing
that came into my mind was travelling so I knew I wanted to write about this topic. The
reason why it is because of how passionate I am about it and I always enjoy this topic.
At first, I wanted to write about gap. However, after discussing it with teachers, I
realized Id had to travel to have the experience and write about it. It was impossible
for me to because I have to attend school. One of my teacher suggested writing about
my own experience and from my travelling experiences. So we settled with that idea
and I knew I had always wanted to do it in a blog because Id prefer writing down than
talking.

Planning:

After several brainstorming session with my teachers, we started planning how I am

going to make this product as in what I am going to include in my blog to make it
interesting and different. I started planning out which website I am going to use to create
my blog and the content. I chose wordpress to create my blog because its easy to use.
For the content, I had to pick out the places I want to write about and I didnt just want
to include my own travelling experience, I felt it wasnt enough and its similar to other
travelling blogs. Thus, I have decided to include some information such like the weather,
tourist attractions, the culture and etc. for the readers and at the end of each blogpost, I
added a quote to make it more interesting.

Creating:

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- Creating the blog:
1. Register an account on wordpress.
2. Fill in all the information needed.

- Creating a blog post: (Refer to Appendix 7)

1. Choose a title Make a creative title. (Dubai Diary, A billet- doux to Lombok).
2. Start typing in the content:
Experience For each blogpost, I start with my travelling experience in
all of my blogpost, because I want people know what I did over there
and my own experience and let them do the decision if they are
interested or not.
Pictures Secondly, I add in some pictures taken by me so theres no
copyrights issues.
Weather Then, I begin with adding in the information for the readers.
I start off with weather so they can choose which season they prefer and
it helps them with packing (e.g. like they know what kind of clothes to
bring).
Tourist Attractions I add in some tourist attractions so the readers
know which interesting places to go.
Culture Personally, I feel this is the most important part out of the
blogpost. I add a link for this section because I dont want to give out
the wrong information so I did my research and look through the
websites, picked out the best and put the link for the readers.
Language For language this section, I added on the language the
country used and I also added a little lesson section for like how to say
the basic (Hello, Thank You) in their language.
Passport/visa needed
Quotes To end all my blogpost, I always add a quote regarding to
travelling or exploring to inspire the readers.
3. Publish it publishing my blogpost doesnt cost anything neither publishing my
blog does.

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4.5 Modification:
In product - wise, it didnt have many modifications. Initially, I wanted to write
about the culture on my blog and educate my audience however when I wrote
about the culture, I was afraid the way I wrote it on my blog come across as a
wrong information so in the end I settled it with leaving a link to a website that
talks about culture.

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5.0 Reflection:

5.1 Self-Evaluation:

The journey of completing this task, I had encountered a lot of difficulties. Firstly, while
deciding what I wanted to do for my personal project, I didnt have a clear vision of
what I want. It was difficult for me as I knew it was going to be a long process, I knew
I had to choose a topic that I am passionate about so I can make this project a success.
In the end I chose to create a blog as my form of communication, write about my own
travelling experiences, share it with people and add information of the places I went to
help them and most importantly to inspire them to go out and explore. People are so
into technologies nowadays, they forgot theres so much more than that. I chose to start
up a blog and talk about my own travelling experiences so I can inspire people to go
out explore.

Secondly, one of the difficulties I met along the way was the content of my blog. At
first, I realized the only difference of my blog with other blogs was that this blog is my
own travelling experiences, that was it. So I thought I could made it different from other
blog by delivering my experiences in a different way. For instance, one of my blogpost,
I wrote it in a different style (a love letter). I did it this way because most of the time
people just talked about their own experience. Another problem was, I didnt want my
blog to be very wordy as it is really boring and people wouldnt want to read if it is all
words so I settled with talking only the highlight of my trip

5.2 Evaluate the success of the product:

To evaluate the success of my product, I have created a product criteria so I can look
back the criteria and make sure I reach the requirement of the higher level. For the first
criterion (Content), I would give myself a 7, presentation and organization I give myself
a 6 and for language I give myself a 7. To evaluate the success of my product, I also
did a survey and I sent to 15 people. The questions that were asked are

1. What is the advantage of my blog?

2. What is the disadvantage of my blog?
3. What are the improvements you would suggest?
4. Do you find the information given in my blog useful?
5. Did my blog inspire you to travel?

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The reason why I asked what is the advantage of my blog is because I want to know
what people like about my blog which leads to the next question and the reason is I
wanted to know what people dislike about it. The third question is I want to know what
are the improvements needed for my product.

5.3 Improvement:

In product wise, the improvement that could be done to the product is writing the whole
experience of my own travelling experience as I only did write about the highlight of
all my trips. I could have made it as a part I and part II so it wouldnt be too wordy and
at the same time it tells the whole experience from landing in that place to taking off
from that place. I could have wrote about the cultures there for all blog post however
due to time issues I wouldnt have enough time to summaries it all so I settle it with
putting a link. Also, the improvements that could have been done is that my time
management skills. There were a lot of work (blogpost) I rushed it through just so that
I could get it up on the blog and it is due to my poor time management skills.

5.4 ATL Skills and IB Learner Skills I have developed:

During the time of doing this project and I had control and I had the power to make all
the decisions I wanted, this had definitely help me with one of the ATL skills which is
thinking skills. All the decisions I made and all the things I did to my blog to make it
as unique as it could be, all is to find the most unique way to convey my message to the
audience and get my message out there. Also, constantly finding ways to make it
different and overcome all the problems I encountered along the way. I also had to
combine all the information I got while I did research for my blog and interpret it in an
easier way and break it all down for my readers to understand and mostly importantly,
it is to educate other people about cultures. Another ATL skills that has developed while
doing this task is research skills. I had to do a lot of research before starting out this
blog, as blog is a very typical thing and peoples blogs are similar in some type of ways.
My blog is needed to be different from others so I had to look up a lot of blogs and
figure out what hasnt been done and make it different from other peoples blogs. Also,
one of the things is to educate people about cultures and also provide information for

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people so it is easier for them. I had to do a lot of research about cultures of different
places, their weather around the year and the language they use and also provide like
how to say hello, thank you and bye in the foreign language.

5.5 Global Context:

The Global Context of my project is Personal and Cultural Expression. It definitely fits
my project because my blog is a form my own expression as the way I write blog, the
way I convey message and the way I describe my own experiences are all a part of me
and this is how I express myself. In addition, my blog has content about cultures of
different places and I put them up on my blog so people will be educated about different
cultures of other places.

5.6 Predicted Timeline vs Actual Timeline:

From the beginning of this project, I have created a predicted timeline which was
supposed to help me with my time management and also a way for me to prevent any
last minute work. Now, I have done an actual timeline of when I finished my product
and documentation. The reason as to why I wasnt able to follow up the predicted
timeline is because some of the months we had holidays and there were assessments
and exams. (Refer to Appendix 9)

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6.0 Bibliography

"Dubai Culture and Tradition | About Dubai | Discover Dubai | Emirates."Emirates.

N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.

"France - French Culture, Customs and Etiquette." France. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Oct.
2015.

"Griffith University." Australian Culture and Customs -. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.

"Gold Coast Weather, Climate & Temperature Tourism Australia." Gold Coast
Weather, Climate & Temperature Tourism Australia. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.

"Immigration and Visas | Australia.gov.au." Immigration and Visas | Australia.gov.au.

N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.

"Indonesia Etiquette How You Can Avoid Causing Offence." Indonesia Etiquette
How You Can Avoid Causing Offence. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2015.

"Indonesia - Language, Culture, Customs and Business Etiquette."Indonesia. N.p., n.d.

Web. 07 Oct. 2015.

"OurInitiatives." Welcome to Dubai Culture. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.

"Visas and Immigration | Australia.gov.au." Visas and Immigration | Australia.gov.au.

N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.

Zimmermann, By Kim Ann. "French Culture: Customs & Traditions."LiveScience.

TechMedia Network, 21 Jan. 2015. Web. 06 Oct. 2015.

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7.0 Link: https://thelostandwanderlust.wordpress.com/

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