See below for links to your classmates' online travel brochures:

• Eleanor on Abu Dhabi
• Eric on Iraq
• Aly on Afghanistan
• Jenna on Turkey
• Bryan on Kuwait
• Nola on Algeria
• Adrian on Tunisia
• Patrick on Iran
• Francesca on Libya

MENA #2: Project Design due Thursday 5/12
Please submit a plan for your project. Include the format you will use (paper, website, etc) and details as to how you will organize your information within that form. This will differ from student to student depending on what medium you are using. You must think carefully about this! Your plan should be about a paragraph.

MENA #3: Writing due Friday 5/13
Please submit all the written pieces for your project.

MENA #4: Final Project due Monday 5/16
Submit your hardy copy or email me a link to your site.

Overall assignment: You are an employee of the Ministry of Tourism for your assigned country. Tourism has declined in your country, and the government has put you in charge of bringing travelers back to spend their money. See above for due dates!!!

I (Nayantara) am the owner of the largest, most influential travel agency in the U.S. My clients trust me and my suggestions. With my employees, I will be visiting all of the countries you are presenting to decide which ones I will suggest to my clients. Your job is to convince me (and therefore my clients) that your country is an interesting place to visit. You will do this by creating a travel brochure with an itinerary for my visit to your country.

Requirements:

Contents

• Name of country
• Country's flag
• Map of country
• Basic facts about the country: capital, population, area, languages, currency, etc.

Itinerary: A four-day, three-night plan for our visit to your country. You must include details about what we will be doing each day, how we will get from place to place (be creative and vary the transportation!), where we will stay, where we will eat, etc. Think about whether you want to stress adventure, culture, luxury, etc. There is some flexibility with this but your itinerary must include:

• A visit to at least one geographic/natural site (ex. national park, famous river, etc.)
• A visit to at least one museum or other cultural site (non-religious, if you can)
• A visit to at least one religious site

Note: Given the current instability of the region, you might have to be creative and embellish!

Images:

• You must have an image representing each of the required places on the itinerary (at least three). 
• Other images as required in the "Contents" section (map, flag)

Format: This is where you have a lot of choice. Your travel brochure may be a hard copy brochure that you turn in. Alternatively, you may create a website using a site like Weebly, Google Sites or Tumblr. You will need an email address for most of those sites. You can also create your website on PBWorks without having to create another account. Please choose a medium with which you are comfortable working.

In class, Tuesday, May 10, 2011: Your task for today is to conduct research to help you create your travel brochure. Use the information above to help guide you in your note taking. It is essential that you know where your information came from. You will not get credit for this assignment if you do not include a proper source list when you hand it in.

Start with Britannica Online (you can only use this in school!)

•    Go to the Children’s Databases website: http://www.bankstreet.edu/childrenslibrary/childrensdatabases.html
•    Click on Encyclopedia Britannica or Grolier and do a search for your country.
•    Take notes (in your own words!) on necessary information. Don’t get distracted by long-winded historical facts. Remember the purpose of this assignment.

Notes about Britannica: When you first get your search results, on the left side of the page, under “Choose a content source” you may choose “Media” for images, or “Websites.” These are trustworthy sites for information on your country. DO NOT merely Google your country, as the sites that Google will suggest might not be trustworthy. Don’t even think about looking on Wikipedia!

Please double-check your information with another source. You wouldn’t want to present incorrect information in your brochure!

Other general websites to try:

U.S. Department of State Country Pages

CIA World Factbook

Lonely Planet

National Geographic Travel

Fodor's

Gap Adventures

The Independent: Middle East

The Independent: Africa

Travel & Leisure Magazine

Budget Traveler

PLEASE diversify your sources. Do not take all your information from one source!