iEARN in Action, October 7, 2008

Seeking Partners: iEARN Projects!
1. Download the new 2008-2009 iEARN Project Book.
2. Register for an iEARN Online Professional Development Course.
3. Join with school in East Jerusalem on recycling project.
4. Students in Pakistan seeking partners for International Literacy Days discussions.
5. My Identity, Your Identity project adds new facilitators from Oman and Turkey.
6. New project websites - CIVICS, Folk Tales, and Global Art.
7. Sign up now for the Christmas/Holiday Card Exchange.

Resources, Contests, Websites and Announcements!
8. 2008 International Education Week Website (IEW).
9. Enter the Staples Youth Social Entrepreneur Competition.

Upcoming Events!
10. iEARN-Georgia introducing 80 new schools to iEARN in three weekends in October.
11. iEARN Workshop in Ishikawa Prefecture in Japan, October 9.
12. 150 educators to participate in iEARN-Pakistan presentation, October 10.
13. 36 new teachers to join iEARN workshops in Qatar, October 11-12.
14. iEARN/GCEP Workshop in Shanghai, China, October 18-19.
15. iEARN-Morocco (MEARN) to host 16th Annual iEARN Conference and 13th Youth Summit, July 19-25.

Recent Events!
13. Update on cancellation of 2008 Annual iEARN Conference in Bukhara, Uzbekistan - cancellation letter posted.

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Seeking Partners: iEARN Projects and Activities
Download the 2007-2008 iEARN Project Book (in Arabic, Azeri, English, French, Spanish): http://www.iearn.org/projects/projectbook.html for a full listing of iEARN projects, see: http://media.iearn.org/projects/.
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1. DOWNLOAD THE NEW 2008-2009 iEARN PROJECT BOOK! A 65-page collection of currently active iEARN projects from teachers and students around the world. http://www.iearn.org/projects/projectbook.html

2. REGISTER NOW FOR THE NEXT SESSION OF iEARN ONLINE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COURSES FOR EDUCATORS. iEARN courses bring together participants from around the world - the next session will run from October 13 - December 15, 2008. Each course is designed so that by the end of nine weeks you will have outlined how you will use a standards-based iEARN project in your classroom. Courses include: Creative Arts, Language Arts/Writing, Social Studies/Contemporary Affairs/Geography, Science/Environment/Math, Teaching of Foreign and Second Langauges, Helping Students Cope With Traumatic Events, Learning Circles, Moving Voices (making digital documentaries), and PEARL (integrating journalism skills into the classroom). Read more and register now to save your spot here.

3. SCHOOL IN EAST JERUSALEM SEEKING PARTNERS FOR REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE ACTIVITIES. Interested? See this topic in the Planetary Notions/Environment Forum.

4. STUDENTS IN PAKISTAN SEEKING PARTNERS FOR INTERNATIONAL LITERACY DAYS DISCUSSIONS. Students from Pakistan have posted some thought provoking ideas and arguments focusing on Literacy, in the Write On forum, under the discussion heading 8th September International Literacy Day. Please take a look at some of their postings and have your classes respond.

5. MY IDENTITY, YOUR IDENTITY ADDS NEW FACILITATORS. A project in which students talk about their traditional celebrations and the famous monuments and landmarks in their countries. Said Belgra from Morocco and Nagwa Hussein from Egypt welcome two additional facilitators to the project: Asmaa Alberiki from Oman and Huri Cinar from Turkey: . For more about the project, see here.

6. NEW PROJECT WEBSITES FROM iEARN-PAKISTAN:
CIVICS (Community Voices, Collaborative Solutions) - An action based project in which students evaluate social issues in their immediate and extended communities and respond to them by action projects. .
Folk Tales - Students worldwide share local and national folk tales that reflect their culture and community.
Global Art - A global exchange of student-produced artwork.

7. SIGN UP FOR THE CHRISTMAS/HOLIDAY CARD EXCHANGE PROJECT. Teachers and students prepare an envelope containing holiday cards and send them using snail mail to the other schools in their group. Sign up in the Holiday Forum: For more about the project, see http://media.iearn.org/projects/holidays

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Check it Out! Resources, Contests, Websites, Announcements.
(This includes resources that are not part of iEARN)
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8. 2008 INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION WEEK WEBSITE (IEW). http://iew.state.gov has officially been launched, and includes promotional materials, an interactive quiz, and opportunities to post and view planned events around the world. The website is a joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education.

9. ENTER THE STAPLES YOUTH SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR COMPETITION BY OCTOBER 15! Ashoka’s Youth Venture, with Changemakers and Staples, has launched The Staples Youth Social Entrepreneur Competition, a global search for the most creative young people that are improving their communities while positively impacting others. Youth ages 12-24 are eligible and will have the opportunity to win prizes, as well as secure US $1000 in funding to advance their projects. Additionally, there are special prizes for environmental and sports-related projects! Youth Venture will accept applications in English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. Application deadline: October, 15, 2008. Winners will be announced in November, 2008. See here.

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Upcoming Events
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10. 80 NEW SCHOOLS JOIN iEARN-GEORGIA! "Dear iEARN Family, I am happy to announce that iEARN-GEORGIA (GEARN) with collaboration of DLF (www.dlf.ge) Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia starts new training program. In this training program in October, teachers in 3 cities (Tbilisi, Rustavi, Gori) will join iEARN. The training course will be during 3 weekends. Please send greetings to training participants." Pavle Tvaliashvili, coordinator, iEARN-Georgia. Meet them in this topic in the iEARN Teachers Forum.

11. iEARN WORKSHOP IN JAPAN, OCTOBER 9. Ishikawa Prefecture BOE is going to have iEARN workshop on 9th this week for new teachers. During my presentation, I will come here, Teachers' Lounge, and invite them to reply to your messages, feeling close to each other in the iEARN human network. Please post your simple massages to them. Yoko Takagi, iEARN-Japan (http://www.jearn.jp/). Welcome them in this topic in the the iEARN Teachers Forum.

12. 150 EDUCATORS TO PARTICIPATE IN iEARN-PAKISTAN PRESENTATION, OCTOBER 10. To be held at Darakhshan Campus, Karachi, this presentation by Farah Kamal, iEARN-Pakistan (http://www.iearnpk.org/) Coordinator, will focus on iEARN Online Curriculum Based Projects. Welcome them in this topic in the the iEARN Teachers Forum.

13. iEARN WORKSHOPS IN QATAR, OCTOBER 11-12. 36 new teachers will join the iEARN-Qatar Community! Please welcome them into the iEARN family! Cherie Clark-Moore, iEARN-Qatar (http://iearnqatar.com/). Welcome them in this topic in the the iEARN Teachers Forum.

14. iEARN/GCEP WORKSHOP IN CHINA ALONGSIDE ASIA-PACIFIC CONFERENCE ON INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION. (http://www.icte.ecnu.edu.cn/EN/index.asp). iEARN-China will hold its first Global Connections and Exchange Program Teacher Training workshop on October 18-19 in Shanghai, China. The workshop will be facilitated by iEARN-China Coordinators Sihong Huang and Subude u as well as iEARN-Taiwan's Country Coordinator, Doris Wu. It is expected that approximately 20-30 teachers from the Shanghai area will attend.

15. iEARN-MOROCCO (MEARN) TO HOST 16th ANNUAL iEARN CONFERENCE AND 13TH YOUTH SUMMIT, JULY 19-25, 2009 IN IFRANE, MOROCCO. "Innovative Technologies and Cross Cultural Dialogue For Quality Education." http://www.iearn2009.ma/

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Upcoming Events
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13. UPDATE - The 2008 iEARN Annual Conference in Bukhara, Uzbekistan was cancelled due to safety concerns following a series of explosions in a town neighboring Bukhara. iEARN-Uzbekistan will be working with individual registrants on reimbursements. A cancellation letter has been posted to http://www.iearn.org/news/iEARN2008confcancellation_letter.pdf

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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 2007-2008 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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