iEARN in Action, August 29, 2006

iEARN MOURNS THE LOSS OF TALIS BERCIS, iEARN-LATVIA COUNTRY COORDINATOR!

From Cheryl Morgan (iEARN-UK), Daniel Kakinda (iEARN-Uganda), Bob Carter (iEARN-Australia), iEARN Executive Council (EC): "It is our sad and sombre duty to inform you that Talis Bercis, Coordinator of iEARN Latvia, has passed away. Talis died of a malarial infection he contracted in April. Talis is known to many of us for his long and active service of teachers and students in iEARN. He was a member of the iEARN Secretariat and a major motivator of iEARN in Europe."

"It is a tragedy for his family and friends and a big loss for Latvia. There is nobody around able to substitute him. This is just to explain: last year he agreed to be in charge of eTwinning and organized a lot of events to promote the project in Latvia. When we were together in Austria at eTwinning conference, he as always was a leader of our team, the same as at Microsoft's Forum for Innovative Teachers (his profile was published at http://www.innovativeteachers.org/e-europe.htm ). He also kept together all the people who started working in iEARN years ago and this year contacted each of us in connection with the annual report we made together listing all the activities that are going on in the country in iEARN schools. We were planning to organize a reunion in June to celebrate 10-year anniversary of iEARN in Latvia and we are still stuck to the idea, sadly without him. We called Talis our minister of foreign affairs as he had a special talent to communicate with people, to involve them in different projects and activities and to find the way to everybody's heart. I guess it is impossible to over evaluate what he has done for education, teachers and students and we, his colleagues and friends, can't stop thinking about the terrible accident that took him away from us. I believe that many people in iEARN community not only in Latvia but also in other countries will remember him with love and warm feelings."

- Ligija Kolosovska, iEARN-Latvia

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Seeking Partners: iEARN Projects!
1. Register by Sept 15 for iEARN Learning Circles.
2. New project initiatives on Millennium Development Goals.
3. Join the Dream School Theater Project to communicate without words.
4. Books Mark Our World - A global exchange of student-made bookmarks.
5. A Global Panorama - Tiles of Unity.
6. PEARL World Youth News seeks editorial center.
7. Plant a tree for the environment and peace.
8. Register for the Natural Disaster Youth Summit Project 2007.

Resources, Contests, Websites and Announcements!
9. Register by Sept 25 for iEARN Online Courses.
10. iEARN Syria launches new web design.
11. New YES Program photos of 2006 arrival of students to the USA.

Upcoming Events!
12. Check out iEARN-Pakistan professional development schedule.
13. Australian Computers in Education Conference.
14. YouthCaN in New York City, April 23, 2007.
15. iEARN-Egypt to host 2007 iEARN International Conference and Youth Summit in Cairo.
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Seeking Partners: iEARN Projects
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1. REGISTER BY SEPTEMBER 15 FOR NEXT SESSION OF iEARN STUDENT LEARNING CIRCLES, SESSION 2. Sept 25, 2006 - Jan 7, 2007. http://www.iearn.org/circles/. Learning Circles are highly interactive, project-based partnerships among a small number of classrooms located throughout the world. There are two sessions each year, Sept-Jan and Jan-May.

2. MDGs-ONLY WITH YOUR VOICE! A project geared towards creating awareness about the Millennium Development Goals among youth. Contact Muhammad Salman, Pakistan

3. DREAM SCHOOL THEATER. Students in classrooms around the world use communication tools to communicate and share their culture at the series of video conference. We usually use language as the communication tool, but we sometimes feel inconvenienced when we want to express our feelings and thoughts by using words to the people in another country because each of us has different languages. In this project, we seek any other communication tools except languages. It may be pantomime, dancing, song, pictures, doll play, shadow play and so on. Contact Yoshiko Fukui, Japan.

4. BOOKS MARK OUR WORLD. A bookmark exchange between children all over the world. Get your students to make bookmarks (any style, shape etc. - creativity is to be encouraged) and ask the students to write the following on the bookmark. Contact Syeda Basarat Kazim Pakistan.

5. A GLOBAL PANORAMA - TILES OF UNITY. A global project that focuses on Unity beyond diversity; what unites us? To build a virtual and physical United beyond our Diversity Panorama to be presented on-line and at the 2007 iEARN World Conference in Cairo, Egypt. Contact Eliane Metni, Lebanon and Bob Hofman, Netherlands.

6. PEARL PROJECT LOOKING FOR EDITORIAL CENTER. If you are a high school teacher and have been involved in publishing your school newspaper/magazine, we'd like to involve your students as editors for the PEARL World Youth News project (http://www.iearn.org/pearlproject). Students at an editorial center both edit and post articles for the PEARL website (http://www.pearl.iearn.org/pearlnews). The editorial group will be encouraged to work with a local journalist. Please contact Anindita Roy at for more information.

7. PLANT A TREE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND PEACE. The ENO Programme invites you to an exciting event. A new school year will be opened Sept 21, 2006 in a special way. We will plant trees at midday, in every corner of the world. The first trees will be planted at midday in Oceania. Following the Sun, new trees will be put to earth in Asia, Europe and Africa. Finally this chain of trees will reach Americas. Last year over 200 schools in 60 countries planted thousands of trees during the day. Tree planting reminds us of nature and the importance of environmental protection, and is a symbol for international co-operation. And, Sept 21 is known as the international day for peace. Find more information here and register your school: http://eno.joensuu.fi/treeceremony.htm

8. REGISTER FOR NATURAL DISASTER YOUTH SUMMIT PROJECT 2007. Greetings from NDYS project! We are just about to start the NDYS 2006-2007 Project. To make the complete list of participants, we would like you to register NDYS 2006-2007 either by website or by sending the mail. If you already registered, please ignore this mail. Those who are not yet, registered, contact ndys@jearn.jp. or register here. More info can also be found here.

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Check it Out! Resources, Contests, Websites, Announcements.
(This includes resources that are not part of iEARN)
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9. REGISTER BY SEPTEMBER 25 FOR NEXT SESSION OF iEARN ONLINE COURSES! Courses run October 9th - December 10th. Each course brings together educators from around the world to develop strategies for integrating online collaborative projects and international exchange into their curricula. To register and learn more, see here.

10. iEARN SYRIA ANNOUNCES NEW WEBSITE DESIGN!

11. SEE PHOTOS OF YES EXCHANGE STUDENTS' ARRIVAL IN THE UNITED STATES.

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Upcoming Events
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12. iEARN PAKISTAN, AS PART OF GLOBAL CONNECTIONS/BRIDGE PROGRAM, ANNOUNCES SCHEDULE FOR AUGUST-SEPTEMBER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT. http://www.iearnpk.org/PD/curriculum2.htm

13. AUSTRALIAN COMPUTERS IN EDUCATION CONFERENCE (ACEC), CAIRNS, FAR NORTH QUEENSLAND, OCTOBER 2-4. Organised by iEARN Australia and the Asia Education Foundation. If any iEARN members are interested in attending or presenting, contact iEARN Australia iearnoz@iearn.org.au. For details, see http://www.acec2006.info

14. YouthCaN 2007 EVENT TO BE HELD IN NEW YORK CITY ON APRIL 23, 2007. Watch http://www.youthcanworld.org for details of this and other YouthCaN events happening around the world. YouthCaN is a year-round network within iEARN of students using telecommunications technologies to undertake and/or share environmental work locally and around the world.

15. iEARN-EGYPT TO HOST 14TH ANNUAL iEARN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE AND 11TH YOUTH SUMMIT, JULY 7-12, 2007 IN CAIRO. Connecting Cultures...Respecting Differences. A global dialogue for development and sustainability. Stay tuned for details. http://www.iearnegypt.org/

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For Reference
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TO SUBMIT AN ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE NEWSFLASH: Send your announcement (2-3 lines) to newsflash@us.iearn.org.
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iEARN (International Education and Resource Network) is a global non-profit network that empowers teachers and students to undertake projects designed to make a meaningful contribution to the health and welfare of the planet and its people. Started in 1988, iEARN is currently active in over 120 countries, with 1,000,000 students participating as part of their education. iEARN-International: http://www.iearn.org

Download the 2005-2006 iEARN Project Book: http://www.iearn.org/projects/projectbook.html (available in Arabic, English, French, and Japanese) or for a full listing of iEARN projects, see: http://www.iearn.org/projects/
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