Mrs Shum is a science and English teacher at Park Valley Secondary School. She is thinking about taking a group of students to the EcoPark in Tuen Mun, a new education facility that aims to inform the public about waste disposal in Hong Kong. Mrs Shum phones the information officer to discuss the proposed visit.
Info officer: Good morning. EcoPark Management Office. How may I help you?
Mrs Shum: Good morning. I'm Mary Shum, a teacher at Park Valley Secondary School. I'm thinking about bringing a party of students to visit EcoPark and I'd like some information about what we can expect to see during our visit and how I make a booking.
Info officer: No problem, Mrs Shum. We accept bookings for groups of fifteen to forty people.
Mrs Shum: Would a guide show us around the park?
Info officer: Yes, a guide will accompany you round the various sections of the park and explain facilities like green roofs, solar hot water systems and eco paving.Each member of your party will be given a special pass that allows them to check in and out of different areas and get useful recycling information at each stop.
Mrs Shum: Excellent.
Info officer: During the first part of the tour, there are touch-screen presentations about waste and pollution, then visitors watch a short film in our theatre. A discussion is held after viewing the touch-screen presentations and the film.
Mrs Shum: That sounds very useful.
Info officer: Then after the discussion comes the most popular part of the tour. Visitors explore a life-size mock-up of an actual landfill. This shows them first-hand all the rubbish that ends up in a site like this - food leftovers, styrofoam food boxes, plastic bags, tyres, computer keyboards and so on.
Mrs Shum: That should make them think very carefully about what they throw away.
Info officer: This does make visitors think about recycling. After the landfill, there's a green area with a pond and some more interactive features that encourage our visitors to spend a bit of time thinking about and discussing what they have just seen.
Mrs Shum: I'm sure they will have a lot to think about.
Info officer: The last part of the tour is a series of interactive games that show the importance of the three Rs - reduce, reuse and recycle. Those three words are the park's motto and our main education aim.
Mrs Shum: Reduce, reuse, recycle.
Info officer: That's it. And the final stop on the tour is having a group photo taken before going home.
Mrs Shum: It all sounds excellent. How do I make a booking for a school group?
Info officer: We can do it now or you can book online at www.ecopark.com.hk
Mrs Shum: Thanks very much for all that information. I'll get the exact numbers of students who want to go and the date and do an online booking.
Info officer: Thank you for your interest. I look forward to getting your booking. Bye for now.