iEARN in Action, March 6, 2007

Seeking Partners: iEARN Projects!
1. Fly a kite for peace on March 21st - Talking Kites Around the World Project.
2. Read and listen to voices from young participants in Special Places Project.
3. Collaborate with school in Canada on anti-war song.
4. United Beyond Our Diversity - Tiles of Unity Project.
5. Schools invited to participate in global theater project - Drops of Life.
6. Check out newly updated Eye to Eye Project website.
7. Join One Book, One World book club discussions of Earth Charter.
8. Celebrate 50th Anniversary of European Union.

Resources, Contests, Websites and Announcements!
9. See video of Christmas Card Exchange Project.
10. Copen Family Fund receives award for work with iEARN.
11. iEARN-Uzbekistan's Online School for Disabled underway with 30 students.
12. International Essay Contest organized by GOI Peace Foundation and UNESCO.

Upcoming Events!
13. Celebration of Teaching and Learning in NYC, USA.
14. YouthCaN Conference at the American Museum of Natural History, NYC, USA.
15. iEARN-India National Conference.
16. 14th Annual iEARN International Conference and Youth Summit, Cairo, Egypt  

Recent Events!
17. Annual iEARN-Taiwan teacher and youth gathering, February 10, 2007.

**********************************************************
Seeking Partners: iEARN Projects
**********************************************************

1. TALKING KITES AROUND THE WORLD - FLY A KITE FOR PEACE ON MARCH 21! Join students worldwide on March 21st for a global display of peace and solidarity. Participating youth are busy designing kites with personal and group images of their dreams for a better world to fly on March 21 - join them in your own community!

2. READ AND LISTEN TO VOICES FROM YOUNG PARTICIPANTS IN SPECIAL PLACES PROJECT! See and hear their words here. 45 students, aged 12-14, came from Korea, U.S.A, and Taiwan and had fun together in learning science subjects and sharing their diverse cultures, along with 10 National Science and Technology Museum (NSTM) staff and 30 college team assistants. The "iSEE" Winter Camp for the Gifted Program (http://www3.nstm.gov.tw/isee/) was sponsored by: NSTM, World Council for Gifted and Talented Children Seoul Office, CMS Education Korea and iEARN Taiwan. For more about the Special Places Project, contact Doris Wu and Faye Wu in Taiwan.

3. COLLABORATE WITH SCHOOL IN CANADA ON ANTI-WAR SONG. Dalhousie Middle School wrote and produced an anti war song. The grade 8 students would like to have students around the world translate and sing a verse of the song. We would then like that verse to be sent to DMS. If possible we would like a video of the students singing the verse done also. A CD with as many of the submitted pieces would be put together and the resulting CD would be sold to raise money for AIDS victims in Lesotho. Project URL: http://song.nbed.nb.ca/. Contact Sandra Mitchell for more information.

4. UNITED BEYOND OUR DIVERSITY - TILES OF UNITY PROJECT. We invite you and your students to discuss what unites us in the "Unity Forum". The aim of the project is to understand the similarities/differences in our attitudes towards the challenges that we face. Students are welcome to focus on a challenge and share their essay and art tile in the Unity/Diversity forum. For more details, visit the forum or contact Eliane Metni in Lebanon or Bob Hofman in the Netherlands.

5. WANT YOUR SCHOOL TO BE IN A WORLD PREMIERE ON MAY 29th? iEARN Schools are invited to perform a new children's play called The Drops Of Life, a play about environmental protection and global co-operation. The original manuscript is made by a Finnish writer and artist, Mr Esko-Pekka Tiitinen. The music and the English translation are by Mr Mika Vanhanen, the co-founder and co-ordinator of the ENO Programme. The premiere on 29th of May will be very special because it will take place simultaneously at schools in about 50 countries, in every continent. This play is a part of ENO 2007 Tree Planting Campaign and is linked to UNEP's Billion Tree Campaign. Interested? Contact Mika in Finland or see http://thedropsoflife.blogspot.com.

6. EYE TO EYE PROJECT HAS UPDATED ITS WEBSITE. It now contains a Gallery of postcard images from schools from around the world and a new Video page with image and animated video pieces. Plans are in the works to begin pod-casting both audio and video messages. Any school wishing to join in may do so at any point during the year. See here . Feel free to send in your images and ideas to help this website grow into a major contributor to global understanding through the visual arts. Larry Frates, USA, project facilitator.

7. COME JOIN US IN ONE BOOK, ONE WORLD, AS WE DISCUSS "EARTH CHARTER" A BOOK OF THE EARTH CHARTER INITIATIVE. "The Earth Charter... is a declaration of fundamental principles for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society for the 21st century." http://www.earthcharter.org/. You can download the book by individual essays (in English, Dutch or Spanish) here. iEARN One Book, One World Forum.

8. CELEBRATE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF EUROPEAN UNION. iEARN Poland invite teachers and students around the world to a project aiming to celebrate the EU birthday! The project is coordinated by international team of twenty European teachers and is open to all worldwide: http://www.project.cyberdusk.pl/stamp/.

**********************************************************
Check it Out! Resources, Contests, Websites, Announcements.
(This includes resources that are not part of iEARN)
**********************************************************

9. SEE A VIDEO OF CHRISTMAS CARD EXCHANGE PROJECT! Judy Barr, the coordinator of the highly successful Christmas Card Exchange Project, has made a video for participants of the 2006 Christmas Card Exchange. You can view the video by going to the iEARN Australia web site http://www.iearn.org.au and follow the link under the iEARN News section.

10. COPEN FAMILY FUND RECEIVES AWARD FOR WORK WITH iEARN. The Council on Foundations has just awarded its inaugural Critical Impact Award to the Copen Family Fund "for its efforts to encourage world peace through its iEARN project. Through iEARN, students and teachers in K-12 schools are connected through the Internet so they can collaborate on projects that make a meaningful difference in the health and welfare of people and the planet across national, religious, political and social borders. This award was created Š to recognize those who truly make a difference in their grantmaking." - CoF president and CEO Steve Gunderson.

11. iEARN-UZBEKISTAN's ONLINE SCHOOL FOR DISABLED UNDERWAY WITH 30 STUDENTS. Anatoly Kochnev, iEARN Uzbekistan Coordinator writes, "We are happy to inform that 30 children with physical disabilities are our students now and so far completed 3 months of distance learning. Some of them received laptop computers (bought by the project with generous help of John Harty, former Peace Corp volunteer, and some students received PC stations. All students are connected to internet with generous help of Uzbek nonprofit internet provider UzSciNet." http://www.school.iearn.uz

12. INTERNATIONAL ESSAY CONTEST ORGANIZED BY THE GOI PEACE FOUNDATION AND UNESCO. The theme of this year's International Essay Contest is "The role of media and information and communication technologies in building a peaceful world." Young people from around the world are invited to submit their creative ideas on this theme. Entries must be received by June 30, 2007. http://www.goipeace.or.jp/english/activities/programs/0702_00.htm

**********************************************************
Upcoming Events
**********************************************************

13. CELEBRATION OF TEACHING AND LEARNING. Educators from around the United States will come together in New York City on March 23-24, 2007 for the 2nd Annual Celebration. iEARN teachers and students from a number of countries are working with the organizers to share international collaborative project work. At Celebration '07 there is a stellar roster of nationally-recognized speakers: former vice president Al Gore, NBC's Tim Russert, learning differences specialist Mel Levine, media and education expert Milton Chen, NOVA scienceNOW host Neil deGrasse Tyson, Wide Angle host Daljit Dhaliwal the Kratt brothers from Kratts' Creatures, and many others. iEARN's PEARL youth reporters from a number of countries will attend to report on the event. Information on the Celebration is at: http://www.thirteencelebration.org/

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-INDIA NATIONAL CONFERENCE IN PUNE, MAY 3-5, 2007. The National Conference for 2007 will have the theme" We are the World" and will feature a small film festival of short documentary and animation videos created by participants in the Adobe Youth Voices Project. iEARN-India members interested in attending can contact Coordinator Sunita Bhagwat. iEARN members can see early drafts of participants' animation work here.

16. iEARN-EGYPT TO HOST 14TH ANNUAL iEARN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE AND 11TH YOUTH SUMMIT, JULY 21 - 26, 2007 IN CAIRO. The theme of the conference is: Connecting Cultures and Respecting Differences: A Global Dialogue for Development and Sustainability. This theme will serve as an umbrella for iEARN projects and other sub-themes such as: professional development, new educational developments, new developments in ICT, iEARN initiatives and management, global dialogue and rural development. The conference is expected to attract 1000 participants. Parallel to the educators' conference, there will be an international youth summit with a focus on Leadership and Youth Empowerment. Check out the new conference website, designed by iEARN-Egypt students and alumni: http://www.iearn2007.net. General inquiries: <info@iearnegypt.org> & <dalia@iearnegypt.org>. Conference registration & call for paper: <iearn2007@yahoo.com> & <info@iearnegypt.org>. Deadline for workshop submissions: March 15, 2007. Conference and Youth Summit registration is open from July 1, 2006 - June 30 2007. Late fees will apply for registrations received after April 1, 2007.

**********************************************************
Recent Events
**********************************************************

17. iEARN-TAIWAN HELD REGULAR WINTER YOUTH GATHERING AND TEACHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SEMINARS, FEBRUARY 10, 2007. With the help of iEARN Taiwan youth alumni, sixty students Grade 5 - 12 from iEARN Taiwan Allied schools joined together at Kaohsiung Municipal Shou Shan Junior High School, Kaohsiung City and learned more about iEARN history, iEARN projects, and English oral presentation skills. Young participants had a great time together and learned how they could collaborate with international students in the future through project-based learning. For teacher professional development, such experienced iEARN teachers as Ms Jane Kang, Mr. Richard Chen, Ms Joan Wang, and Ms Doris Tsuey-ling Wu shared the positive potential of how project-based learning can be applied into the curriculum context, discussing projects such as "Christmas Card Exchange around the world," "Special Place," "Teddy Bear Project," "Voyage Project," and "NDYS." See here.

**********************************************************
For Reference
**********************************************************

------------------------------------------------------------
TO SUBMIT AN ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE NEWSFLASH: Send your announcement (2-3 lines) to newsflash@us.iearn.org.
------------------------------------------------------------

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/
-------------------------------------------------------------