iEARN in Action, November 18, 2004

2005 ANNUAL iEARN CONFERENCE DATES ANNOUNCED - July 17-24 2005! Salimata Sene in Senegal writes, "You are all welcome in Senegal. The web page will be posted soon for information about visas and registration." Watch http://www.iearn.org for further updates.

Join Us! Seeking Contacts, Contributions and Collaborators

**DOWNLOAD THE NEW iEARN 2004-2005 PROJECT BOOK!  Seehttp://www.iearn.org/projects/projectbook.html **

JOIN WITH A SCHOOL IN JAPAN AS PART OF THE FOLK TALES PROJECT! Interested in seeing a "Picture-story show" created by students in Japan? Visit http://www2.jearn.jp/fs/1151/index.html. Saori Matsuo in Japan writes, "My middle school students have been making the picture-story show in Japan since this July, and I am looking for schools and students who are interested in making the pictures-story in their own country. I think each country has its own original story,so I would like to share them with pictures and sentences by using both website and Network meeting." Contact Saori Matsuo in Japan. See more about their work at, and join in directly in discussion with all the participants of the Folk Tales Forum

POLITENESS CAN CHANGE THE WORLD PROJECT HAS NEW WEBSITE! Tatiana Serjanina of Law Gymnasia #42 in Minsk, Belarus writes, "I'm glad to inform you that our website is ready and you can find it at http://www.politeness.narod.ru " Join directly in discussion in the Change the World Forum

ONE WORLD- ONE ENVIRONMENT PROJECT. Mary Gowers of Wales writes, "We have developed a set of resources that encourage young people to look at the impact their lifestyle has on the planet as a whole. We want to gather together results from students around the world which can then be used as a resource for further learning and investigation.Ý The materials will be made available free to all centres on request, initially in English and Welsh but we hope to build up a bank of material in other languages as they are translated.Ý We are also setting up an internet based radio station to provide a way for students to talk to each other directly. Interested?ÝContact Mary Gowers in Wales or find more information on the iEARN-UK website under "projects": http://www.iearnuk.org/.

CLASS IN OHIO, USA SEEKS PARTNERS FOR PENNY PROJECT.  Patti Burwinkel of the USA writes, "Hello from Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. I am currently involved in a project with my 4th grade (9-10 yr old) students using the collection of pennies to study statistics, later donating the pennies to a justice cause. Several questions from my students about pennies from other countries have come up as we study about our country's penny. I am looking for some classes outside the USA who would like to help us in our research by responding to the following questions: 1) Are there pennies in other countries? Where? What are they called? 2) What are pennies in other countries worth? What can you buy with them? 3) What do pennies in other countries look like? We'd be happy to share information about the American penny with you. Also if there are any classes in the US who would like to join in our investigations about the penny, I'd love to hear from you. We could coordinate some type of sharing of data, etc. Contact Patti Burwinkel in the USA.

FEEDING MINDS, FIGHTING HUNGER SEEKING TEACHER/STUDENT FACILITATORS. Feeding Minds Fighting Hunger (http://www.feedingminds.org/) is a global education initiative designed to help youth discuss and understand issues of hunger, malnutrition, poverty and food security and to stimulate them to participate in activities to create a world free from hunger. We are looking for a school/teacher who would be interested in facilitating this project. Project facilitation involves keeping discussions going, answering queries from joining schools/students/teachers and sharing work you are doing. If you're interested please write to feedingminds@us.iearn.org.

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

CONGRATULATIONS TO iEARN-IRAN COORDINATOR, MITRA FATHOLLAHPOUR! The Science and Arts Foundation (See here) has announced - "Ms. Mitra Fathollahpour, a teacher at Kherad school in Tehran, a SAF activist and an iEARN-Iran coordinator, having made a significant contribution in cultivating positive use of ICTs in Iranian schools in the past few years, has recently been awarded a prestigious scholarship to participate in Stanford University's Digital Vision Program (http://rdvp.org/). The mission of the Digital Vision Program is to develop practical ICT solutions and encourage innovative applications of communications in the developing world. Ms. Fathollahpour will have the opportunity to join 12-15 other experienced educators, technologists and social entrepreneurs from around the globe for the nine month fellowship and to complete an individual project. SAF would like to congratulate her on this achievement and wish her every success in the fellowship program." For more about iEARN in Iran, see http://iearn.saf.ir/.

US TEACHER SCOTT UNDERBRINK NAMED 2004 PACIFIC NORTHWEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHER OF THE YEAR!  Earlier this year, Scott Underbrink, a Russian and French teacher from Natrona County High School in Casper, Wyoming was named the 2004 Pacific Northwest Foreign Language Teacher of the Year. Through the BRIDGE Program, the school hosted two groups from iEARN-Lebanon in the spring of 2004. Scott also attended the 2004 iEARN conference in Slovakia.

THE METROPOLITAN LEARNING CENTER, AN iEARN SCHOOL IN THE USA, AWARDED TOP PRIZE IN HIGH SCHOOL CATEGORY IN THE GOLDMAN SACHS PRIZES FOR EXCELLENCE IN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION. See here. For a recent interview about their work to build global connections into the school culture, see here. In addition to their online partnerships, MLC has hosted groups from Morocco and Pakistan as part of the BRIDGE Program.

MY HERO FEATURES iEARN PROJECTS AND TEACHERS. See stories about Joanne Tawfilis and the Art Miles Project here and Rowena Gerber and the Solar Ovens Project here

iEARN MESSAGES OF SUPPORT FOR NIIGATA COMMUNITY ON NHK TV SPECIAL PROGRAM IN JAPAN. For more about the Natural Disaster Youth Summit 2005 Project, see http://ndys.jearn.jp/.  Students and teachers are encouraged to continue posting messages, photos, poems, and drawings to: http://ndys.jearn.jp/eq/joyful.cgi. The team in Japan asks, "You can post it in your own languages with English translation, so that we can translate English to Japanese. It will be helpful if you tell us what language it is."

GO-PLANET GAME PROJECT. Richard Nadj in France writes, "Interested in getting involved in a project giving the opportunity to children and students from across the world to exchange information about their cultures and become friends while enjoying the exquisite strategy game of Go (a game born in China some 4,000 years ago!)? Go is so much fun to play (and so educative!) that children will be fond of it! It takes 5mn to learn and a lifetime to "master"... (even computers can't!)" Contact Richard Nadj in France.

Coming Soon! Upcoming Events and Projects!

GLOBAL JUNIOR CHALLENGE AWARDS - NOVEMBER 15-19 - CONGRATULATIONS TO iEARN MACEDONIA AND iEARN ITALY!  The iEARN Macedonia Project "Youth Have a Say Against Terrorism" has reached the finals in the Global Junior Challenge Award. 24 awards will be delivered in Rome on November 19th as part of a gathering from November 15-19, at which iEARN-Italy will also present its work. http://www.gjc.it/2004/index.asp.

JOIN A GLOBAL WEBCAST WITH iEARN COUNTRY COORDINATORS DISCUSSING INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION AND HOW TECHNOLOGY POWERS IT - 9:30 - 10:30 AM (EST-US) Friday, November 19, 2004. Join in an interactive dialogue with iEARN Coordinators from Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt,  Morocco, India, Nepal,  Bangladesh, Oman, Indonesia  and Pakistan, and Joseph Esposito, Deputy Undersecretary for International Affairs at the US Department of Education. This event, which is a part of International Education Week, is held in partnership with the World Affairs Council of Washington, DC and Nortel Networks Kidz Online.  For more details, and to participate, see http://www.kidzonline.org/iew and click on "view webcast." To test your technology capabilities prior to the event, click here. If you are unable to log on during the webcast, please send me your questions by November 10th and I will be sure they are addressed. If you plan to participate in anyway, please RSVP to Tina Habib.

DATES SET FOR 12TH ANNUAL iEARN CONFERENCE - JULY 17-24 2005 IN DAKAR, SENEGAL. Watch http://www.iearn.org for more information, or login to the 2005 Senegal Conference Discussion Forum.

3RD WORLD YOUTH CONGRESS IN SCOTLAND, JULY 30 - AUGUST 8, 2005. The congress theme is "Young People working together for a sustainable world community".  All applicants must be 18-25 years old on July 30, 2005 and will fall under four categories: Activists, Performers/Artists, and Young Journalists. For further details and an application form visit www.scotland2005.org and register for our newsletter.

Recent Events!

SCHOOL CONNECTIVITY FOR UZBEKISTAN - PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT EXCHANGE PROGRAM IN THE USA, OCTOBER 25-NOVEMBER 7. The workshop and exchange were facilitated by iEARN in collaboration with IREX, Teachers College - Columbia University, and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State. See http://www.iearn.org/uzbekistan-connectivity/ for photos and links to daily participant exchange journals at http://connect.irex.uz/.

iEARN-ARMENIA HOLDS ALL-ARMENIA iEARN WORKSHOP IN AGHVERAN, ARMENIA, NOVEMBER 12-14.

iEARN TAIWAN TEAM COORDINATED A WORKSHOP SESSION FOR iEARN AT THE 13TH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM AND BOOK FAIR ON ENGLISH TEACHING IN TAIPEI, NOVEMBER 12-14, HOSTED BY ENGLISH TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION OF ROC.  In this session, iEARN Taiwan teaches and students conducted a workshop guiding English teachers to apply iEARN projects in their classrooms. The team included Country Coordinator of iEARN Taiwan, Ms. Doris Tsueyling Wu, teachers Ms. Jane Kang and Jasmine Huang; iEARN Taiwan  students Vincent Chang and Chia-wei Lin.  For further details, please click here

iEARN TAIWAN LAUNCHED ITS FIRST iEARN YouthCaN MEETING ON OCTOBER 31, 2004. About 60 teachers and students gathered together for the first Meeting. The agenda included an orientation about iEARN and iEARN Taiwan, its core spirits on good contributions to our society, and volunteer experiences sharing. Through the explanation, participants from different schools had a better understanding of iEARN and its potential to make a better world. iEARN Taiwan will host the first YouthCaN Camp on Jan 29 and 30 in 2005. For photos click here