iEARN in Action, January 9, 2004

SUPPORT iEARN-IRAN'S RELIEF EFFORTS FOLLOWING THE TRAGIC EARTHQUAKE IN BAM. Mojgan Momeni, one of the iEARN-Iran Coordinators writes, "Dear iEARN Friends around the world, Thank you for your messages of solidarity. So many of you have asked what you and your students can do to assist in the relief effort following the tragic earthquake in Bam, here in our country of Iran. We have developed three action steps you can take over the coming months...We appreciate your assistance. Together in iEARN we can make a difference in the lives of those hit so hard in Bam." Please see http://iearn.saf.ir/ for details of how you can help.

DO YOU HAVE COLLEAGUES WHO SHOULD BE ADDED TO THIS "iEARN IN ACTION" NEWSFLASH DISTRIBUTION LIST? Because we have had to delete bouncing email addresses, we may be missing some of your friends and fellow teachers.
1) For those who have registered with iEARN before, please have them write directly to subscribe@us.iearn.org with a request to be added to the iEARN in Action Newsletter list (iearn-news@us.iearn.org).
2) For those who have never registered with iEARN, please direct them here to add themselves to the database. They will then be automatically subscribed to the iEARN in Action Newsletter list.

iEARN ONLINE COURSES TO START IN FEBRUARY - REGISTER NOW! iEARN offers 9-week interactive online professional development courses. These subject-specific courses are a step-by-step guide to integrating an international collaborative project into your teaching. Each course includes teachers from around the world. Facilitators will help you select and integrate an iEARN project during the course period. After the nine-weeks (February 23 - April 23, 2004), you will have begun working on a project which fits into your teaching schedule and meets your local/state/national standards. (enrollment deadline - February 9th). For more information, and to enroll, see http://www.iearn.org/professional/online.html or contact onlinepd@us.iearn.org.

NEW ONLINE COURSE: 'Helping Students Cope With Traumatic Events'. This is a pilot course offered by Columbia University School of Social Work, iEARN, and Bank Street College of Education to provide educators and school personnel with the tools and skills to respond effectively to school-age children who have been exposed to traumatic events. You will engage in collaborative group activities, discussions and assignments with videos and online presentations by trauma experts to enhance your learning experience. You will learn about school-based interventions that can be used by teachers, counselors (including social workers and other helping professionals) and administrators. For course enrollment and requirements visit http://www.iearn.org/professional/trauma.html

Join Us! Seeking Contacts, Contributions and Collaborators

CORRECTION ON CONTACT INFO FOR: "EFFECTS OF CHILDHOOD IN SHAPING THE PERSONALITY" PROJECT. Proposed by a teacher of English to girls aged 14-16 If you are interested in joining a project on this theme, write to Mrs Sadguna Mary Grace in India.

BREAKING STEREOTYPES TOGETHER. Too often, having heard the name of any country, people involuntarily connect this name with any event, subject or action. Very frequently these stereotypes have strongly come into our lives, so we do not notice that they break the valid and modern representation about this country, forcing us to think with out-of-date concepts. We want to begin this project to help participants to know more, not only about other countries, but also about their own. Interested? Contact Kate Kharitonova in Azerbaijan.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS TO HOLOCAUST/GENOCIDE PROJECT MAGAZINE, AN END TO INTOLERANCE. The next issue of the HGP's "An End to Intolerance" magazine is now being organized. Deadline for articles is February 1st. Please upload the Holocaust/Genocide Project Forum. To see past issues of the magazine, visit http://www.iearn.org/hgp/.

Check it out! Resources, Web Sites and Postings (including resources that are not part of iEARN)

SCHOOLNET UGANDA RECEIVES CERTIFICATE OF REGISTRATION AS NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION. iEARN-Uganda and SchoolNet Uganda Coordinator Kakinda Daniel Lugudde writes, "It is all happiness and jubilations here at SchoolNet Uganda. We received the Certificate of Registration of SCHOOLNET-UGANDA as a NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION (NGO) this morning 07/Jan/2004. This certificate gives a legal status to SCHOOLNET-UGANDA to operate Countrywide in Uganda. SchoolNet Uganda is now legally permitted to carry out activities in the fields of setting up ICT facilities and developing technical & pedagogical capacity necessary to use ICT to enhance teaching and learning in education institutions." Congratulations on this achievement!

YEAR-LONG EXCHANGE OPPORTUNITY THROUGH THE YES PROGRAM. A number of iEARN countries are collaborating in the YES (Youth Exchange and Study) Program, through which high school students spend a year in a US high school and host family. iEARN is helping to train teachers at these schools (and the home schools of the exchangees) on how to integrate online collaborative project work in their classrooms. Students in iEARN schools in Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Gaza/West Bank, Pakistan, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt, Indonesia, Turkey and UAE are eligible to apply for the program. Contact your iEARN Country Coordinator or Representative for information on how to apply. Or write to: yesprogram@us.iearn.org.

LANGUAGE FORUMS IN iEARN. This is a reminder that you can interact in many languages in iEARN. Below are the WWW addresses for the iEARN forums in various languages. If you would like to participate in these discussions via e-mail instead of the WWW, write to subscribe@us.iearn.org and mention the language forum you would like to join.

Arabic, Armenian, Azeri, Cymraeg/Welsh, Dutch, Francais, Hangul (Korean), Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Kartuli (Georgian), Nihongo/Japanese, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Tamil, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese

Coming Soon! Upcoming Events and Projects!

YOUTHCAN 2004 CONFERENCE WILL BE HELD IN NEW YORK CITY, BEIRUT AND OTHER CITIES ON APRIL 26. In New York we are working on our final list of workshops and we were hoping that you would join us this year as presenters! Are you working on any environmental projects? YouthCaN is a great opportunity to motivate your students and have them demonstrate their ability to meet many of the educational performance standards. Workshops can be facilitated by students in person in NYC, or via video-conferencing or other telecommunications medium. For an application to present a workshop, send an e-mail address to: youthcan-info@us.iearn.org. For info on YouthCaN: http://www.iearn.org/projects/youthcan.html

11th ANNUAL iEARN CONFERENCE AND YOUTH SUMMIT IN KOSICE, SLOVAKIA, JULY 11-17, 2004.  Hello Everyone! Our progress continues towards an exciting and fun conference next July, now in a wonderful new location - Kosice, Slovakia! We encourage you to check out the conference website at http://www.iearn2004.net, and invite you to participate in the online discussions at the "2004 iEARN Conference" forum and the "2004 Youth Summit" forum. If you wish to get more involved, there are many ways to do so!! Email us. Looking forward to seeing you in July!!: Conference Planning Committee :-))"

Recent Gatherings

iEARN-IRAN WORKSHOPS HELD DECEMBER 3RD (ADVANCED) AND 18TH (BEGINNER), 2003. At the beginners workshop, teachers and students from 11 provinces of Iran took part. Presenters provided the participants with the opportunity to understand the overall objectives of iEARN, to learn how to register themselves and their students for iEARN Interactive Forums, to read and post messages on iEARN Interactive Forums, and to become familiar with iEARN Iran expectations. Then participants talked about the restrictions and experiences they face, and several experienced educators made suggestions on how to motivate the students and integrate collaborative projects into the classrooms. Participating in iEARN has helped Iranian youth to communicate among each other and also among youth all around the world .They will also been able to gain skills, knowledge and a very fruitful attitude for their future. For more about the activities of iEARN-Iran see http://iearn.saf.ir/

iEARN-PAKISTAN, IN COLLABORATION WITH THE DIRECTORATE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT MODEL SCHOOLS ORGANIZED 3 DAY iEARN BEGINNERS TRAINING PROGRAM, JANUARY 5-7. Around 8-10 new public and private schools from Rwalpindi, Islamabad and Lahore participated in this three days workshop. Two experienced iEARNers from Rawalpindi; Noreen Mirza and Sameena Akhtar facilitated the workshop sessions. For more about iEARN-Pakistan, see http://www.iearnpk.org/.