SELECTED PROJECT INTERPRETATION
HERITAGE DISCOVERY TRAILS, 2011-2013
HERITAGE HEBOH PROGRAMME, ARTS-ED PENANG 2006-2013
Heritage Discovery Trails was a programme which involved the design and execution of a series of thematic heritage trails for primary and secondary school children in the heritage site of George Town. The interactive and educational trails were designed and conducted by Arts-ED in collaboration with George Town World Heritage Incorporated (GTWHI) and 12 volunteers. A centralised coordination unit was set up at GTWHI to promote and manage Heritage Discovery Trails for school students.
Recruitment flier for Volunteers and Guides Training Programme
Interpretation is based on archival records and memory recollection of participants.
Download the Archive Record Inventory (PDF) for:
Heritage Discovery Trails (Project Inventory) (PDF)
HDT – Stories of Early Settlers (2011) (PDF)
HDT – Taboos & Traditions (2011) (PDF)
HDT – Migration History and Settlements of George Town (upgraded from a 2009 tour) (PDF)
HERITAGE DISCOVERY TRAILS FACTS
1.1 Programme Name
Heritage Heboh Programme, Arts-ED Penang, 2006-2013
1.2 Project Title
Heritage Discovery Trails, 2011-2013
1.3 Context and Objective
The inscription of George Town, Penang as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2008, attracted a large volume of adult visitors to the site. In 2009, Arts-ED, an organisation dedicated to arts, culture and heritage education began producing walking tours for school students. In 2011, George Town World Heritage Incorporated (GTWHI), decided to support an expansion of educational programmes which could bring more young people into the site. Arts-ED and GTWHI joined resources to recruit and train public volunteers as community facilitators and educational tour guides. The guide training and trail development aimed to address the need to a scale up the number of walking tours for schools, the need for a wider range of tailor-made walks for different ages, and to provide pedagogical and facilitation skills to guides which would enable them to carry out interactive activities with students.
1.4 Project Description
Heritage Discovery Trails was a programme which involved the design and execution of a series of thematic heritage trails for primary and secondary school children in the heritage site of George Town. The interactive and educational trails were designed and conducted by Arts-ED in collaboration with George Town World Heritage Incorporated (GTWHI) and 12 volunteers. A centralised coordination unit was set up at GTWHI to promote and manage Heritage Discovery Trails for school students.
1.5 Source Material
The heritage site had already been frequently researched and written about by academics, historians and the community, but the materials were scattered. Arts-ED collated and edited material from articles, books, and magazines to produce a comprehensive Resource Kit as a teaching and learning aid for tour guides and facilitators. The Resource Kit provided a summary of the historical development of the site as well as traced migration, settlements, and the lifestyle and legacies of settlers.
As both the site and the community were important sources of information, trainees spent a lot of time exploring and observing the site and interacting with the community to obtain more personal stories.
Supporting Archival Material:
1.6 Producing Organisation
George Town World Heritage Incorporated (GTWHI) in collaboration with Arts-ED
GTWHI coordinator: Lim Chung Wei
Arts-ED coordinators: Fidel Ho Fai Fong and Chen Yoke Pin
1.7 Project Initiators
Arts-ED
1.8 Project Instructors
Project Instructors:
Trainers: Janet Pillai and Ho Sheau Fung
External Evaluator: Mark Vossen
1.9 Participants
Participants for the heritage tours were primary and secondary students from local schools in Penang; each group of 20 students was led by one tour guide.
| SCHOOLS | NUMBER OF SCHOOLS (2001) |
| Primary Schools | 16 |
| Secondary Schools | 17 |
| TOTAL No. of Schools | 33 |
| TOTAL No. of Students | 1140 |
| TOTAL No. of Teachers | 80 |
1.10 Events and Activities
| DATE | Type | VENUE | TOWN/CITY | COMMENTS |
| Guide Training | ||||
| May – July 2011 | Recruitment and audition of adult volunteers | GTWHI | George Town | 40 out of 120 applicants were shortlisted for volunteer training |
| 31 July – 28 August | Training Workshop
Phase 1:9 “ Understanding Heritage for specialised volunteers and guides” |
GTWHI | George Town | |
| 29 – 30 October | 2-day workshop for general heritage volunteers | GTWHI | George Town | |
| Trail Development | ||||
| 3 September – 29 October 2011 | Phase 2: “How to Design and execute heritage trails”
3-new thematic trails were researched and designed |
George Town | 15 volunteer guides | |
| Execution of Tours | ||||
| 4 October – 17 November 2011 | Pilot run and assessment | George Town | 42 pilot trails by 12 guides, held in 3 languages | |
| March 2012 – March 2013 | An upgrade and continuation of the 2009 and 2011 trails. | George Town | ||
1.11 Promotional Material/Catalogue/Programme
Several channels were utilised to recruit adults for the volunteer training, these included emails, press releases, printed media, and distributing leaflets to arts, culture and heritage organisations, colleges and alumni associations, churches and temples, and housing organisations.
The Promotion of the tours to the student population was by way of fliers and sign up forms to school principals. The form included a write-up detailing each available trail.
Supporting Archival Materials
Flier for Volunteers and Guides Training Programme
Flier and Sign-up Form for Schools
Sample write-up of a Trail – extracted from Page 8 of Heritage Discovery Walk 2011 Report
1.12 Final Script/Final Curriculum
A module was prepared for each of the trails. Each module consisted of a content guide, visual aids for the guides, an introductory slideshow, and worksheets functioning as an interactive and reflective tool for the students. Soft and hard copies of modules for all interactive trails are available in the AEAM repository in Arts-ED.
Supporting Archival Material
Taboos and Traditions Trail – Curriculum
Taboo and Traditions Trail – Introductory Slideshow
Taboo and Traditions – Visual Aid
Taboos and Traditions – Student Worksheets [BROKEN LINK]
1.13 Multimedia Documentation
In 2011, 2 videos were made documenting the project. The first, entitled ‘Friends of George Town Heritage’ highlights the volunteer training and was presented at the project launch. The video is in English and Mandarin.
The second video entitled ‘Taboos and Traditions’ documents students being led on an interactive guided tour on the 16th of November 2011. The video is in Mandarin.
Supporting Archival Material
1.14 Previews and Reviews
“Friends Mohd Saiful Azhar, Mohd Yusop Samsudin and Mohd Shamirul Alif, all aged 13, found the ‘Stories of Early Settlers’ tour a fun and enlightening experience, and it was their first time visiting the area.”
Journey of discovery – 40 school kids taken on a tour of George Town Heritage Sites
The Star Metro, 1st May 2012
Supporting Archival Materials
Unknown (2012, 1 May). 40 school kids taken on a tour of George Town heritage. The Star Metro, p.4.
1.15 Publications
N/a
1.16 Photographs
Soft copies of the photos are available in the AEAM repository.
1.17 Final Report/Project Evaluation:
The Heritage Discovery Trails Volunteer Training Programme was evaluated and a final report was made available to GTWHI. At the end of 2011, the walking tours conducted with the student population were also evaluated. Individual guides conducting tours with students were also periodically assessed by experienced observers, who provided feedback and advice on the guide’s delivery.
Supporting Archival Materials
VIDEO/SLIDESHOW OF FINAL OUTPUT
Synopsis of Story:
An example of how the interactive trails were conducted with students can be discerned from this video documentation of the Taboos and Traditions Trail with participants from a Chinese primary school (SRJK [C] Tong San) in November 2011. This trail focused on introducing students to intangible cultural heritage such as the taboos, symbolism, and local knowledge found in community practices and in some tangible items on site. The video is in Mandarin.
Supporting Archival Materials
Taboos and Traditions Trail – Video 2011
ART MAKING PROCESS
Between May and August 2009, Arts-ED collaborated with a few child-friendly professional guides to develop and execute a heritage tour for students entitled ‘Migration Settlements Walk’. This informational and interactive walk was able to accommodate class sizes of 30-40 students within a limited time frame of 3-hours which was allocated by schools. This walk was used as a prototype to develop 3 additional trails, which catered to different ages with different themes.
Guide Training
The Guide Training Curriculum was in-line with the objectives of programme; to increase human resource to scale-up walking tours for schools, to offer a wider range of tailor-made walks for different ages, and to provide pedagogical and facilitation skills to guides.
The guide training was conducted on weekends over a period of 3-months. Guides were required to undergo 2 phases of training:
Phase 1: Understanding of Heritage and the George Town site and community
Phase 2: How to Design and Execute Heritage Trails
Training in Phase 1 focused on understanding the concept of heritage, the principles underlying a World Heritage Site, and the history of the site. In addition, participants also learned simple interviewing and documentation techniques and how to cull information from communities.
Pic: Site visit around George Town
Pic: Group activity for guide training
Out of the 40 participants who participated in Phase 1, a total of 15 participants were selected to undergo the second phase of the training on devising and conducting trails; this selection was based on their interest and knowledge in heritage, their previous experience as a tour guide, and their language facility as the school tours needed to accommodate 3 languages: Mandarin, Bahasa Malaysia, and English.
Supporting Archival Materials
Guide Training Curriculum – extracted from Page 6 and 7 of Report for Friends of George Town Heritage Training
Trail Design and Development
Phase 2 of the training focused on interpretation, storytelling techniques, understanding target audiences, and developing suitable thematic trails with relevant activities.
The trails were designed primarily to provide students with information and appreciation of George Town’s multicultural heritage. Accurate information dispensed by guides was considered as important as hands-on activities for experiential learning. Community interaction was also built into the trails, which also encouraged interdisciplinary understanding of history, geography, art and culture.
Each of the trails introduced the intimate relationship between the built and living heritage legacies of the different settler groups. For example, students learnt stories of how and why settlers migrated, how their architecture was determined by crafting skills, geography, and cultural needs, as well as how trees were transplanted from their homeland for symbolic or functional value.
Trails began off-site with a slideshow which introduced students to the concept of heritage, while providing a historical context to the site they will visit. The on-site section of the trail incorporated two components; a guided tour and hands-on activities outlined in a worksheet.
Pic: Guided providing information
Pic: Students interviewing community for information
Each volunteer guide provided background information on a building or artefact, after which students were encouraged to explore the site, interview the community to obtain more information, take photos, or enter information into their worksheets. Upon returning to their workstations, facilitators checked students’ worksheets and data collection, and conducted group reflection exercises.
Pic: Group activity at site
Pic: Group reflection exercise at site