iEARN in Action, April 19, 2005

UPDATES ON TSUNAMI RELIEF!

To Whom It May Concern:

The members of our Student Council decided last fall that one of their goals for this year was to help people. After hearing about the tsunami, they read a little about the children who were left without schools, homes and sometimes families. They decided they would like to raise money to help these children. In February they advertised a campaign called "Share the Love." In order to make the day special they said that students could wear their pajamas to school if they brought a dollar for the tsunami relief. Most children brought a dollar, and several brought more. We are happy to send this check for US $560 on behalf of our student body. Sincerely, Joyce Kilmer Elementary School Student Council Advisors, Cherry Hill, NJ, USA.

I take the pleasure to tell you that with my trip to NYC, I will also bring the donation of iEARN Taiwan for tsunami relief. The donation sum is up to $1,500 US dollars. It is our hope it can be of some help for them.

Warm regards, Doris Wu, iEARN-Taiwan Coordinator.

Join Us! iEARN Projects, Seeking Contacts, Contributions and Collaborators

**DOWNLOAD THE NEW iEARN 2004-2005 PROJECT BOOK! 
http://www.iearn.org/projects/projectbook.html (available in Arabic, English, French, Russian, Slovenian, and Uzbek), or for a full listing of iEARN projects, see: http://www.iearn.org/projects/

JOIN 'A VISION' CREATIVE WRITING ANTHOLOGY PROJECT, AND VISIT THEIR NEW WEBSITE!!! Ma. Luisa H Larcena, project facilitator in the Philippines writes, " Hi everyone! You may now visit "A Vision 2005" project website: http://www.iearn.org/avision. The anthology was compiled by a team of teacher and student facilitators from the Makati Science High School in the City of Makati, Philippines." Connect to the forum via A Vision:
http://foro.iearn.org/iearnforums/vision/.

FOLK TALKES AND VALUES 2+. Folk tales have a direct link to a community's social, cultural and historical values. Our project group would like to gather folk tales from all over the world that have a special undertone in encouraging good moral values. During this second cycle of the Folktales and Values Project, we are looking at editing the language of the stories, adding diagrams and drawings to illustrate the stories, and gathering background information of the various communities/countries where the submitted folktales come from. We are looking at getting a reader for school children out of the tales collected with comprehension questions set to reflect on the moral values of the tales. Interested? Contact Nuruddin Boateng in Ghana. Check it out here and here.

THE MY HERO PROJECT. The deadline for the MY HERO Short Film Festival is June 1, 2005. http://myhero.com/filmfestival. For the latest news about what's happening at MY HERO read the Spring 2005 Newsletter
http://myhero.com/newsletter2005.

"IMAGINING A PERFECT ROUTINE - FAST WAY TO A NEW LIFE" PROJECT. A collaborative project designed to help students to write English. Contact Samah Al Jundi in Syria.

iEARN STUDENTS AND TEACHERS WORLDWIDE REACH OUT ON GLOBAL YOUTH SERVICE DAY. For examples, see http://www.iearn.org/projects/communityservice.html and the Students Unlimited Forum, for stories, including student action in Bangladesh, India, Jordon, Morocco, Pakistan, Egypt, Uzbekistan, and the USA.

DIGITAL RENDERING OF A MASTERPIECE PROJECT. Students participate in a global group project where they share the task of reinventing a masterpiece with their peers. Students will learn to use computer art tools (preferably within Adobe Photoshop, though other software and mediums will be accepted in digital form) through reproducing a famous artwork. The transformed masterpiece(s) will then be published online in the Global Gallery where the students will then have an opportunity to discuss and comment on each others assorted methods and interpretations as they relate to the elements of art in the Global Forum. Interested? Contact Brandy Marsh in the USA.

OPEN SOURCE AND ICT (OSI) PROJECT. What's Open Source? What is the relationship between Open Source and ICT? What's the difference between Open Source and other software? How can it develop ICT? Web Programming and Networking are our focuses. One of our main goals is Recycling Old Computers to launch a very powerful Local Area Network in our school or home. By using open source software and old computers you can launch a very powerful LAN with your own hands. Web, is a place to share information in this project. Interested? Contact Reza Khajavinia in Iran.

NUCLEAR ENERGY PROJECT. A 6-tile comic strip showing the effects (harmful or advantageous) of nuclear energy and related sources. This project aims to re-educate people and correct misconceptions. It will also provide information on how to handle nukes for it to be Earth-friendly. Contact Rory Ian Bualan in the Philippines.

CORAL REEF COMPARISON. Our school is located close to the 3rd largest barrier reef in the world and we are currently doing a project on its ecosystems. We would love to work with other primary schools who also live near coral reefs.We are interested in environmental threats that the reef faces and also the unique animals that live there. We have already create a website to post the information we collect you can find it here. We would love to post info on your reef here too. Contact Paul Diamond in Saint Kitts and Nevis.

iTHINK PROJECT FORUM IS PROUD OF ITS ACTIVE MEMBERS! Mostafa Nejati, one of the facilitators of this highly posted forum writes, "I welcome all who have recently joined us, and invite others to join their friends in iTHINK." See http://www.iearn.org/projects/iTHINK.html and join the discussion in iEARN iTHINK forum.

COMMUNICATING GLOBALLY PROJECT. In this project students from a Canadian high school technology class will share their experiences with students from around the world. These experiences may include how they interact with each other in their daily lives, how technology has impacted on their lifestyles, and their understanding of the global community. Contact Dean McKinney in Canada.

MY SCHOOL, YOUR SCHOOL PROJECT BEGINS! We are happy to let you know that the project is about to start. Go to the forum called "educational issues" and click "education." There you will see a description of the project with the activities planned for it as well as the dates and the possible project outcomes. Remember that you can take part in English or Spanish). If you are interested in it, let us know at Silvana (English-speaking facilitator), Mariela (English-speaking facilitator), and Carlos (Spanish-speaking facilitator) in Argentina.

ONE WORLD PROJECT! We only have One World but many of us are living as if we had 3. How big is your Eco-Footprint? How much of the world’s resources are you using? Find it out here, and let us know. What impact will global warming have on your community? Are developed countries using more than their fair share of planet Earth? What can we do about it? Is it fair? We would like to hear from young people all around the world Share your ideas in words and pictures or send us your radio plays, interviews etc for inclusion on the One World radio station . Thanks to WAG funding we have been able to develop a resource pack of stimulus material that engages young people in exploring how their life style impacts on the global community. This pack will be freely available on the iEARN UK website http://www.iearnuk.org/oneworld. http://www.iearn.org/projects/oneworld.html. Questions? Contact Mary Gowers in Wales.

JOIN THE LEWIN CREATIVE WRITING ANTHOLOGY! "I'm Sarah Magdy an Egyptian editor of the Lewin project, a project where students can send postings in the form of poems, essays, short stories or any other form to express their opinions or feelings freely about any topic they like. I noticed that the participation on the Lewin forum isn't as it should be, I mean that nearly all the postings are from a certain number of countries which is very few in comparison to the countries connected by iEARN." Join in!!! Lewin is an anthology of student writing. Writing can be in any format and on any topic. http://www.iearn.org.au/lewin. Lewin Forum

PLANTEM UN ARBRE, PLANTEMOS UN ÅRBOL, PLANT A TREE. (coordinated by iEARN-Pangea- Catalonia / Spain). http://iearn.pangea.org/arbre/.

JOIN A SPANISH LANGUAGE PROJECT, "DOORS TO PEACE" - "PUERTAS A LA PAZ." Los invitamos a participar en español en el proyecto colaborativo internacional: " Puertas a la Paz". Un proyecto para que las comunidades educativas, niñ@s y jóvenes intercambien, reflexionen y generen actividades y proyectos que contribuyan a modificar la realidad local y global para lograr una cultura fundamentada en la paz. Inicio abril hasta noviembre. Se encuentran inscriptas escuelas de Argentina, Colombia, El Salvador y Estados Unidos. ¡Los esperamos! http://www.telar.org/paz Facilitadores: María Patricia Ochoa y Crescencio Orrego Foro de iEARN apc.telar.paz.

PEARL WORLD YOUTH NEWS IS LOOKING FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TO JOIN THE PROJECT AS NEWS REPORTERS. This project will launch an online international news service run by secondary school students from all over the world. Students will select the issues to be reported, and collaboratively write, edit and publish their articles on the web-based news service. These articles will be made available to schools across the world for publication in student newspapers. Students can become certified PEARL Reporters after completing an online training course, which is available at http://www.iearn.org/pearlproject/index.html. For more information about the project, contact Anindita Dutta Roy in the USA.

Check it out! Resources, Contests, Web Sites and Announcements (This includes resources that are not part of iEARN)

FOUR iEARN ONLINE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COURSES (Creative Writing, Social Studies, Science / Environment / Math, Teaching of Foreign Languages) ARE ENDING THIS WEEK! Participants complete the course by submitting final reflection papers and posting lesson plans online. To visit discussions, go to the online courses forum http://foro.iearn.org/.f272b2c/ General online course information is posted at http://www.iearn.org/professional/index.html.

CHECK OUT THE iEARN-NEPAL WEBSITE! http://www.iearn.org.np/.

iEARN-SIERRA LEONE FEATURED IN NEW TAKINGITGLOBAL DOCUMENTARY, LOCAL VOICES, GLOBAL VISIONS. For more about TakingITGlobal, see here. To view the video, click here. See a review of the video on Andy Carvin's blog.

iEARN-PAKISTAN FEATURED IN DAILY TIMES NEWSPAPER. "MMA minister supports cultural exchange with US." See here.

CONGRATULATIONS TO BETSY FREDERICK, iEARN FACILITATOR AND PARTICIPANT IN THE USA! Betsy, currently a facilitator of the Online Professional Development Course, Helping Students Cope With Trauma, has been honored with a 20th Annual Governors' Award for Outstanding New Mexico Women. For more information, see here.

CONGRATULATIONS TO iEARN TEACHER KERRY SYLVIA, NAMED INTERNATIONAL TEACHER OF THE YEAR BY THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA GEOGRAPHIC ALLIANCE AND THE DC PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN THE USA. Sylvia, who attended the iEARN Conference in Slovakia, received the Leonard H. Marks Award for excellence in international education, which advances the study of international affairs in middle and secondary schools. She teaches at Cardozo Senior High School. The International Teacher of the Year Award is sponsored by the World Affairs Council of Washington, D.C.

CALL FOR BOOK CHAPTERS. Information and Communication Technologies for Economic and Regional Developments. A book edited by Dr. Hakikur Rahman, SDNP. The target audience of this book includes professionals and researchers working in the field of information networking and knowledge management in various disciplines such as information and communication sciences, education, adult education, computer science, and information technology. Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before May 31, 2005, a 2-5 page manuscript proposal clearly explaining the mission and concerns of the proposed chapter. Dr. Hakikur Rahman. SDNP Bangladesh (UNDP).

AWARDS, FELLOWSHIPS, GRANTS & SCHOLARSHIPS. The Drum Beat - Issue 294 - from The Communication Initiative - global forces, local choices, critical voices, telling stories. Click here.

COMPUTER ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL, INC. We fund programs that connect children to the power of technology - because we believe that, in today's world, technology is critical to success in life. Priority will be given to applications that reference the need for additional CA resources (technology and employee volunteerism) and represent communities in which CA has a significant employee population. http://www.ca.com/community/grants.htm. To see where the CA Offices are located in the US: http://www.ca.com/offices/usa/. Worldwide: http://www.ca.com/camap.htm.

NOMINATE CANDIDATES FOR THE WORLD OF CHILDREN AWARDS. These awards include the $100,000 Cardinal Health Children's Care Award, the $100,000 Kellogg's Child Development Award, and the $15,000 Founder's Award scholarship. There is still time to nominate someone who has dedicated their life to making the world a better place for children. All information and details on the nominating process can be found under the Call for Nominations link on our Web site www.WorldofChildren.org. Nominations will be accepted up through midnight Eastern Daylight Savings Time Monday, April 25, 2005.

STUDY PROGRAMS AT HONGHE UNIVERSITY. Honghe University in China offers a variety of courses from 4 weeks up to a year. http://www.hongheuniversity.com/.

Coming Soon! Upcoming Events and Projects!

SEND GREETINGS TO TEACHERS IN LAHORE, PAKISTAN. Sarah Alam writes, "Greetings from Lahore (iEARN Teachers Training Workshop Lahore). We are having a 3 days teachers training workshop in Lahore from 18th -20th April'2005 for a group of 15 teachers. They are being introduced to iEARN for the first time in iEARN they will be introducing themselves kindly welcome them to iEARN and make them feel part of a global community. The workshop is followed by a Global youth Service Day Event where all these teachers schools have participated in Community Service Activities." Meet them in the Teachers Forum, or to learn more about iEARN-Pakistan, see http://www.iearnpk.org

THIRD ANNUAL BRIDGE REGIONAL CONFERENCE, BEIRUT, LEBANON, JULY 8-13, 2005. iEARN-Lebanon (http://www.iearnlb.org/) will be hosting the Third Annual BRIDGE Regional Conference in Beirut. The conference will include educators from iEARN programs in Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Morocco, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and the United States The focus will be on professional development and curriculum building, affording participants the opportunity to exchange educational tools and resources. Train-the-Trainer seminars, project planning workshops, and community service learning projects will be among the topics of discussion.

12TH ANNUAL iEARN CONFERENCE - JULY 17-24 2005 IN DAKAR, SENEGAL. iEARN-Senegal. The conference will be held at the Ngor Hotel.  Want to present a workshop proposal at the conference? send an e-mail message to: workshopregistration@us.iearn.org and a workshop application will be sent to you automatically. Want to register to participate in the conference? Send a message to: confregistration@us.iearn.org. Watch http://www.iearn.org for more information, or login to the 2005 Senegal Conference Discussion Forum. Youth are encouraged to join in the new 2005 Youth Summit Forum to help organizers in planning the youth summit.

Looking for Less-expensive flights to Senegal in July? iEARN has arranged for lower fares to Dakar from Europe via TAP Air Portugal and from the USA via Air France. For example, the round trip fare from JFK (NYC) is about US$988, plus $215 in airport and other taxes. From Amsterdam via TAP, it will be around US$940. More information will be posted here as it is available. See you in Senegal!!!

The Senegal Minister of Education, His Excellency Moustapha Sourang, welcomes us to Dakar and writes: "I have received your letter regarding the conference you will organize in Dakar.  Enthusiastically, I want to thank you for your support of iEARN-Senegal. I am most grateful for this."

Take part in a the iPEACE Painting Exhibition held in the 12TH Annual iEARN Conference in Senegal, and contribute to promoting world peace, and friendship. All youth, students and teachers can take part. We've received paintings, poems, and articles from Iran, Russia, Pakistan, Morocco, USA, and are still looking for your artistic pieces. The deadlines have been extended up to June 15th. Should you have problems with posting the artistic peaces, or have any other questions feel free to contact Mostafa Nejati. To find everything about this Exhibition and how to take part see here.

Recent Events!

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT iEARN/BRIDGE SEMINAR AND EXCHANGE IN NEW YORK CITY, USA. Through the financial support from the US Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, educators from Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Jordon, Lebanon, Malaysia, Morocco, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Tunisia, UAE and the USA came together in New York City, April 9 – 17, 2005 to meet and plan project collaborations for the upcoming year. Meet them in the online forum: New York City Master Educator Seminar 2005.