iEARN in Action, May 26, 2004

REGISTER NOW FOR THE 11th ANNUAL iEARN CONFERENCE AND YOUTH SUMMIT IN KOSICE, SLOVAKIA, JULY 11-17, 2004! See announcement below, and link to http://www.iearn2004.net to learn more about the conference, to register, and to propose workshops.

iEARN YOUTH HAVE A UNIQUE CHANCE TO GET THEIR VOICE REPRESENTED AND HEARD ON THE INTERNATIONAL LEVEL! In order to increase the participation of iEARN youth in our big family and make their voice more effective and positive, the Youth Representative and the Assembly are working with the country coordinators to have local youth representatives in all iEARN countries. The local youth representatives will be expected to represent the ideas, opinions and needs of students in their countries. The local youth representative will work with the Youth Representative "YR" in the assembly, Ahmed Gamal, on solving the problems of youth and making their participation in the iEARN family more effective and positive. iEARN is celebrating the selection of 13 local youth representatives from 13 iEARN countries. Let's congratulate the pioneers and work to have the same model in all iEARN countries.
1-Mama Diackel Kane and Adjia Fatou Gaye ==>Senegal
2-Rola Khaifeh and Zeina El-Hariri ==>Lebanon
3-Chantal Ballah ==>Trindad and Tobago
4-Anna and Gloria ==> iEARN Pangea
5-Marija Mitrevska ==>Macedonia
6-Sarah Alam ==> Pakistan
7-Ahmed Gamal ==>Egypt
8-Yui Tsukada ==>Japan
9-Kevin Sher ==>Taiwan
10-Lucas Koziol ==>USA
11-Udara ==>Sri Lanka
12-Marzieh Sarabadani ==> Iran
13-Dmitry Savelov ==> Belarus

Let's make the voice of youth more effective and strong !!

For any comments and questions, please contact: Ahmed Gamal, Youth Representative -- iEARN Assembly, ajs_eg@yahoo.com.

NEW iEARN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FORUM. At a recent training for future global trainers, the idea was presented to have a forum for professional development--teacher training. One has been created here or by newsgroup apc.iearn.facilitators. This forum is for all who help others to participate in the global, collaborative Internet-based learning environment of iEARN. Use this forum to share your workshop agendas and resources. Share what works well and what does not. Ask questions and propose new ideas. If you are interested in being subscribed to this forum by e-mail contact Diane Midness in the USA. We look forward to the contributions of iEARN trainers and facilitators around the world.

Join Us! Seeking Contacts, Contributions and Collaborators

2003-2004 iEARN PROJECT BOOK. Versions are now available in Arabic, Armenian, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. See here. For a more complete listing of iEARN projects, see here.

"ANNIVERSARY OF YOUR LOVELY TOWN PROJECT." Introduce people to the part of Earth where you live, study, meet rising and see off sunset. We invite all people to take part in this Kazakh project. Age 14-18. Date: April - September 2004. Steps: 1. My favorite town by children's eyes (pictures, poems, songs, compositions) in Russian, English, German and Kazakh languages. 2. Well - known people from our town. 3. The young people choose; the bright sky and fresh air. 4. Sum up. 5. In conclusion; making up an album, a book, or web - sight. Contact: Tamara Dosanova, Alena Sarkisena in Kazakhstan.

CULTURAL BRIDGES PROJECT. Do you live in Turkey, Finland, USA, India, Ethiopia? Hans-georg Henkel in Germany would like students to complete a questionnaire about their daily life. The questionnaire is here, in the Teachers Lounge. Or write to Hans-georg at.

IMPROVING LANGUAGE LEARNING PROJECT. Improving students' ability to learn a foreign/second language is very important in the 21st century. This is a project for students and teachers who are looking for a best way to learn a second language. This project will take place in the Education Forum: (apc.iearn.education), (English), or Tecnologia (apc.telar.tecnología), (Spanish). Web site . Coodinator: Dario R. Pinus (iEARN-Honduras).

JAPANESE CLASSES AWAITING TEDDY BEAR PARTNERS! If you are interested in being a partner to a Japanese class in the Teddy Bear Project, please contact Terumi Nomoto, who will help with these matches. Elementary Schools, Junior High Schools, and High schools are all welcome!

LEWIN 2004 WEBSITE ONLINE. See here for creative works from students in: India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Syria, Belarus, Pakistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Poland and Russia.

MY COUNTRY NATIONAL ANTHEM/SONG PROJECT WEBSITE IS GETTING READY. The project has already celebrated contributions from Pakistan, Ghana, Nigeria, Australia, Uzbekistan, India, Italy, France and many more. Interested? Share your national anthem, hymn, or song that is either governmentally authorized as an official national hymn or holding that position in popular feeling. Please share with us your country's national anthem (which is sung in official functions), and the translation in English for others to understand.

NEWLY-BORN CHINESE LANGUAGE FORUM! Ms. Subude, Country Coordinator of iEARN China and Ms. Doris Wu, Country Coordinator of iEARN Taiwan take pleasure to welcome all Chinese teachers and students to this new world. Called "Chinese Language Family", this forum is mainly designed for Chinese teachers and students to share their unique culture diversities and precious values from their native lands. Chinese teachers and students can exchange their opinions and ideas freely with the help of Chinese, which otherwise may stop them from joining international projects conducted in English. After their wonderful interaction in Chinese, the results can be shown in English for the next step. The spirit of this forum is to help our young generation learn to appreciate their local cultures and also respect cultures from other lands! Please check the interactive forum. Click here.

SCIENCE AND ARTS FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES INITIATION OF THE PAINT SHOP PROJECT IN BAM, IRAN. The Science & Arts Foundation is happy to announce the initiation of the Paint Shop Project via the iEARN network. The paintshop project, consisting of art and music therapy, was instigated and advanced by Iranian, Japanese, Canadian teachers and students plus 3 individuals from Taiwan communicating over the Internet. See http://www.saf.ir/en/itsites/bam/enreport.jsp

WATERS THAT JOIN US PROJECT. We are collecting materials for this year's Water that Join Us Project Website. It would be nice if you could send your articles, pictures, data to Erzsebet Bardosne Kovacs in Hungary. (Be careful, please, it's not deep so be careful not to send large files.) Thank you for your efforts. http://www.iearn.hu/waters/

YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS PROJECT. Participate in a project to create your own business! We invite you to create a virtual company that meets the needs and interests of your school, and allows you to share your experiences, and make comparisons with other countries about issues such as trade, exchange rates, legal issues, commercialization, etc. See the Spanish Language Mi Empresa Forum, (apc.iearn.miempresa).

iEARN PAKISTAN'S "YOUTH VOLUNTEERING AND SERVICE" PROGRAM. A pioneering initiative that engages youth from iEARN partner schools and alumni in community service activities. The participating students are provided opportunities to critically reflect on social issues they encounter and observe in their surroundings. The groups then addresses some of these social issues by making a short term action plan and implement it. The students then reflect on their plans and outcomes in the form of a report to a larger global audience via iEARN forums. This process of reflection , dialogue and action is a contemporary example of critical literacy. For further details about our activities and plans visit our website. For more details, and to join in discussions about youth service, see the Students Unlimited Project Forum.

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

JOIN DANIEL PEARL MUSIC DAY CONCERTS- OCTOBER 8-17, 2004. Participate in the third annual worldwide network of concerts spreading "Harmony for Humanity", centered around October 10th - the birthday of slain Wall Street Journal reporter and talented musician Daniel Pearl who used music to make friends around the world. Music Day concerts promote tolerance and inspire respect for differences via the power of music. Participation is free and open to all musical events between October 8th and 17th, 2004. Registration materials, sample dedications and additional information available here.

SCHOOLNET/iEARN/DUTCH PROJECT AWARDED THE GOLDEN NICA 2004. The project "The World Starts With Me" (http://www.theworldstarts.org) has been awarded the Golden Nica Award 2004 for the category "digital communities" by the Prix Ars Electronica. The project was developed in a collaboration between Schoolnet (Uganda) and the World Population Foundation (Netherlands). For more information about the use of ICTs in schools and training programmes for teachers, please contact SchoolNet Uganda, or see http://www.schoolnetuganda.sc.ug

NEW iEARN-INDONESIA WEBSITE! http://iearnindonesia.org/

SUBMIT ARTICLES FOR LEARNING AND LEADING WITH TECHNOLOGY. Learning & Leading with Technology is a practitioner-submitted magazine published by ISTE, a professional membership association advocating appropriate uses of technology in K-12 and teacher education. Articles are editorially reviewed. Queries and articles are accepted year-round. Contact Acquisitions Editor Anita McAnear to learn more about which topics will be scheduled for which issues. Find out more on article submissions at http://www.iste.org/LL/submissions/.

SUBMIT ARTICLES FOR A SPECIAL "EDUCATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS" ISSUE OF EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP. This December 2004/January 2005 issue will explore two types of language learners: those learning the dominant language of the country in which they live, and those learning the dominant language of another country. We welcome articles on innovative language learning strategies, using subject matter to teach language, and achieving high standards of language acquisition. International contributions are of special interest. Submission Deadline: July 1, 2004. To see more about the editorial process, see here.

SUBMIT ARTICLES FOR INNOVATE, A BIMONTHLY, PEER-REVIEWED ONLINE PERIODICAL. Innovate focuses on the creative use of information technology (IT) to enhance educational processes in all sectors (K-12, college and university, corporate, government). If you would like to submit a manuscript for publication consideration, please review our submission guidelines. For details, contact James L. Morrison.

iEARN MOVING VOICES DIGITAL VIDEO PROJECT FEATURED IN LOCAL NEWSPAPER. Citizen Online -- Memorial Middle School in Laconia, Vermont links with world. Full Article.

SUBMIT ARTICLE FOR PUBLICATION - "THE FORMS OF YOUTH SUFFERING: ISSUES BEHIND AND ACTION AHEAD." Article should be in English. Word limit is 3000. Submission deadline: June 15th. Email Sachi Satpathy in India.

Coming Soon! Upcoming Events and Projects!

iEARN AZERBAIJAN CONFERENCE-WORKSHOP IN BAKU, MAY 26-27, 2004. Ulker Kazimova writes, "The main idea of this conference - workshop is to show our English Language teachers how to integrate IEARN projects into their classes and how to create IEARN NGO in Azerbaijan. Project Harmony Azerbaijan and OSI Soros Foundation are organizing this conference-workshop jointly. It was founded by IATP IREX. Many teachers from different cities of Azerbaijan will attend this conference on the Caspian Sea. Please, dear friends, welcome our teachers. They need to hear your greetings!" Post welcome messages to the Teachers Forum.

iEARN TAIWAN ANNUAL MEETING TO BE HELD ON MAY 30TH, 2004. iEARN Taiwan will hold its 2004 Annual Meeting on March 13. Several activities are highlighted, including two key-note speeches of Mr. Badi Chen--"Management on online teaching course and international culture exchanges," and Ms Doris Wu's on " teacher training in different countries," Taiwan Youth Summit activities, and project presentations of 2003-2004. Though mainly project presentations, the meeting is also expected as a happy reunion among iEARN Taiwan teachers and students. Projects are included Aqua-Century project, Teddy Bear project. AIDS/HIV project, Respect, Global Art, Solar Cooking, Negai--Our Wish project, and Youth CaN. We welcome you to give some warm notes and phrases to welcome these friendly iEARN partners in Taiwan. Send greetings to Doris Wu, iEARN-Taiwan Coordinator. Visit http://www.iearn.edu.tw/.

APPLY TO ATTEND A LOCAL JAM PROJECT EVENT IN SAO PAOLO, BRAZIL, JUNE 29-JULY 5, 2004. Dear iEARN, I am writing to invite you to apply for participation in an event that is being organized by the Global Youth Action Network and TakingITGlobal in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil. It is called a Local Jam. It will focus on developing partnerships between diverse youth movements in the city, linking with the wider global youth movement (including you) and setting in motion collaborative projects. If you are interested please send a bio of yourself and a description of your organization to <jam@youthlink.org>. For more details in Spanish and Portuguese see http://www.tiglobal.org. From Jonah Wittkamper in Brazil.

NECC INTERNATIONAL RECEPTION HOSTED BY iEARN. One of the themes of this year's NECC (National Education Computing Conference) in New Orleans, LA, USA is "Learn with and from the global community." iEARN-USA will be hosting NECC's International Reception on Sunday, June 20th from 4:00 - 5:30 pm. In addition to inviting all international participants, US teachers are invited to share conversation and refreshments. iEARN will also be participating in the NECC Global Gallery. For information on NECC2004: http://www.iste.org/necc.

BRIDGE REGIONAL CONFERENCE, AMMAN, JORDAN, JULY 6-10, 2004. During the first week of July some 150 educators from 18 countries will convene in Amman, Jordan to promote cross-cultural education through student-centered learning projects. The International Education and Resource Network (iEARN) has announced that the Second BRIDGE Conference will be held in Amman from July 06 - July 10, 2004 under the auspices of the Jordanian Ministry of Education. The conference will be hosted by iEARN-Jordan in partnership with iEARN-USA, and in cooperation with iEARN country programs around the world. For more information, see here.

REGISTER NOW FOR THE 11th ANNUAL iEARN CONFERENCE AND YOUTH SUMMIT IN KOSICE, SLOVAKIA, JULY 11-17, 2004! http://www.iearn2004.net. iEARN is the largest and most experienced online K-12 network in the world. Its annual conference brings together hundreds of innovative teachers, students, administrators, public figures and youth & education leaders, representing an array of cultures and backgrounds, to showcase the latest ideas and initiatives in online collaborative and project-based learning, and to discuss the future of ICT in education, youth empowerment, and teaching and learning in general. As of May 1, 2004, participants from 68 countries have registered to attend. If you haven't yet, sign up now to join them!

Recent Events:

iEARN AND PROJECT HARMONY PARTNER TO BRING MORE ARMENIAN TEACHERS INTO INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION AS PART OF THE ARMENIA SCHOOL CONNECTIVITY PROGRAM. From March 1 to April 25 the first Armenian language iEARN Professional online course on Social Studies http://courses.iearn.org/armenia/index.htm was held under facilitation by Karine Durgaryan, Lilit Antonyan (iEARN-Armenia) and Barry Kramer (iEARN-USA). 24 Armenian teachers have taken part in these courses. All discussion forums are available here.