iEARN in Action, March 12, 2008

Special Announcement!
1. iEARN YOUTH REPRESENTATIVE NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS. It's time to elect the next iEARN Youth Representative (YR). During the next two months nominations and elections will be held for iEARN's next Youth Representative to the Assembly (iEARN's international decision-making body). The nomination period is from Feb. 25 - March 17, 2008. All are invited to support youth leadership in iEARN. (iEARNers of any age may nominate; iEARNers ages 6-24 may vote.) For more information about the YR criteria and election process, along with nomination forms and voting forms, go to the new Youth Representative Election Forum. You can also send questions and comments to the Election Committee at: yrelection@iearn.org.

Seeking Partners: iEARN Projects!
2. iEARN Project Book available in Azeri.
3. Join students worldwide in a global kite-flying events, March 21-23.
4. Join an online multiple language picture dictionary.
5. New Eye to Eye postcard artwork from East Jerusalem and Pakistan.
6. New Side by Side (self-portrait) artwork from Pakistan, Taiwan and Mali.
7. Share your student writing and reports in the E-Magazine Project.

Resources, Contests, Websites and Announcements!
8. Global Campaign for Education Action Week 2008.
9. New video interviews in the iEARN 20th Anniversary Media Album!
10. Read the February 2008 Global Connections and Exchange Program (GCEP) iEARN Newsletter!
11. Check out the Educational Opportunities Forum.

Upcoming Events!
12. Tree Day in Macedonia (March 2008)
13. iEARN-Pakistan, iEARN-USA, and iEARN-Uzbekistan collaborate on animation exchange project (March 2008).
14. iEARN-Bangladesh, iEARN-India, iEARN-Nepal, and iEARN-USA team up on Four Rivers exchange project (March/April 2008).
15. YouthCaN Environmental Conference (April 2008).
16. SirIKT Conference in Slovenia (April 2008).
17. iEARN-Trinidad and Tobago to host Natural Disaster Youth Summit (April 2008).
18. 15th Annual iEARN International Conference, Bukhara, Uzbekistan (July 2008).
19. Association for Learning Technologies Conference in UK calls for papers. (September 2008).

Recent Events!
20. iEARN-Senegal Workshop (March 2008)
21. iEARN-Iraq Workshop (March 2008)
22. iEARN-Taiwan Winter Camp (January 2008)

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Seeking Partners: iEARN Projects and Activities
Download the 2007-2008 iEARN Project Book:
http://www.iearn.org/projects/projectbook.html for a full listing of iEARN projects, see: http://media.iearn.org/projects/.
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2. iEARN PROJECT BOOK AVAILABLE IN AZERI. Thanks to iEARN-Azerbaijan for the translation! See http://www.iearn.org/projects/projectbook.html

3. TALKING KITES AROUND THE WORLD - A GLOBAL KITE-FLYING CELEBRATION. Join students worldwide making kites to fly as a massive tribute dedicated to advancing cultural and social dialogue. “Talking Kites Around the World in the Spirit of Korczak” on March 21st , 22nd, 23rd. See http://media.iearn.org/projects/kites.

4. JOIN AN ONLINE COLORED MULTIPLE LANGUAGE PICTURE DICTIONARY (which will be color-coded according to Gender). We have a proposal for an interesting language learning project – a dictionary as a visual aid in stimulating language learning. It will be split into different themes, like school & class, parts of the body, food, house & home ect. Students will be able to compare languages (cross-linguistic awareness), see which language(s) has/have the same gender for the same word, which language(s) has/have similar words for similar nouns, etc. We are looking for schools, speaking different languages. Age is not so important, since the dictionary can be used differently for every age group. Contact coordinator Tom Majer in Slovenia.

5. NEW EYE TO EYE POSTCARD ARTWORK FROM EAST JERUSALEM AND PAKISTAN. See here. Login to post your own and interact with other artists in the forum.

6. NEW SIDE BY SIDE ARTWORK FROM PAKISTAN, TAIWAN, AND MALI. See here. Login to post your own and interact with other artists in the forum.

7. STUDENTS AND TEACHERS IN PALESTINE SERVE AS EDITORS OF E-MAGAZINE PROJECT. Share your student writing and reports with peers around the world. See 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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8. GLOBAL CAMPAIGN FOR EDUCATION: ACTION WEEK 2008. On April 23, children and adults from all over the world will be attempting to break the world record for the Largest Simultaneous Lesson. This event is taking part in over 85 countries and is part of the campaign to get every child and adult needing an education in the world into school by 2015. See here to learn how you can get involved this year!

9. NEW VIDEOS IN THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY ALBUM! See here for video interviews with iEARN participants in Argentina, Canada, Egypt, Georgia, India, Israel, Japan, Mali, Netherlands, Pakistan, Palestine, Senegal, Taiwan, UK, USA, and Yemen, speaking about favorite iEARN projects and experiences. Join us in celebrating 20 years of global collaboration by sharing your stories, photos and videos!

10. READ THE FEBRUARY 2008 NEWSLETTER OF GLOBAL CONNECTIONS AND EXCHANGE PROGRAM ACTIVITIES IN iEARN. Countries currently participating in iEARN's GCE Program (funded by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the US Department of State) include: Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Syria, UAE, the United States, and Uzbekistan.

11. EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FORUM. An iEARN forum (http://foro.iearn.org/iearnforums/edopportunities) providing information about educational and fundraising opportunities for students and teachers. Recent items include: 1) CIVICUS World Youth Assembly, Glasgow, Scotland, UK. Call for participation, deadline: March 31, 2008. Learn more here. 2) “Be the Change!” Program of Peace Child International, Small grants support for youth local initiatives, Deadline: March 31, 2008, Learn more here. 3) The Goi Peace Foundation and UNESCO International Essay Contest. Theme: "My project to create positive change in my environment. How can I foster sustainable development in my community?" Deadline: June 30, 2008. Learn more here.

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Upcoming Events
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12. TREE DAY IN MACEDONIA, MARCH 12, 2008. On this day, celebrities, citizens, artists, NGO’s, media, business community representatives, and university communities will plant more than 2 million trees on 25 different location geographically distributed all over Macedonia. See here.

13. iEARN EDUCATORS AND YOUTH FROM UZBEKISTAN AND PAKISTAN TRAVEL TO USA FOR ANIMATION PROJECT -- MARCH 16-30, 2008. iEARN-Pakistan, iEARN-USA, and iEARN-Uzbekistan are working in partnership with AnimAction and The Red Stick Animation Festival in the USA to conduct the Community CATALYST Project, made possible through support from the US Department of State, Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs. The project will help youth in these countries to create animated public service announcements on the topic of natural disaster preparedness. See here.

14. iEARN EDUCATORS FROM BANGLADESH, INDIA, AND NEPAL TRAVEL TO USA FOR FOUR RIVERS, ONE WORLD PROJECT -- MARCH 30-APRIL 13, 2008. iEARN-Bangladesh, iEARN-India, iEARN-Nepal, and iEARN-USA are working in partnership with the Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education (CIESE) at Stevens Institute of Technology New Jersey, USA and the WaterKeeper Alliance, NYC, USA to conduct the Four Rivers, One World Project. From March 30-April 13, educators will gather in New York City for a 2 week study and exchange program. The project is made possible through support from the Office of Citizen Exchanges within the Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State. See here.

15. YOUTHCAN 2008, APRIL 7, 2008. Event scheduled for April 7, 2008 at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, USA. See 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 for environmental project work. Join the YouthCaN forum.

16. SirIKT CONFERENCE IN SLOVENIA, APRIL 14-19, 2008.http://www.arnes.si/sirikt/english/

17. NATURAL DISASTER YOUTH SUMMIT 2008. This year's theme: Global Warming and Disaster Reduction. NDYS 2008 International Conference will be held in Trinidad and Tobago in April 2008. For more about the project, see http://ndys.jearn.jp/ and to join discussions, http://media.iearn.org/projects/ndys.

18. JOIN iEARN-UZBEKISTAN JULY 12-18 IN BUKHARA FOR THE 15TH ANNUAL iEARN CONFERENCE. Check out the conference website, developed by youth, with help of iEARN-Uzbekistan team! iEARN-Uzbekistan Country Coordinator, Anatoly Kochnev announces pre-conference activities schedule where people will be able to learn more about conference hosting country, things to bring, activities during the conference, visa issues, travel opportunities and other.

Online chat schedule:
March: Date: Tuesday, March 11: Time: 4PM (GMT +5). Theme: Engaging technologies to serve communities youth project presentations at the conference. Date: Friday, March 28: Time: 4PM (GMT +5). Theme: Country presentations at the conference.

April: Date: Tuesday, April 15. Time: 4PM (GMT +5). Theme: What to bring for International Cultural Activities. Date: Friday, April 28. Time: 4PM (GMT +5). Theme: Accommodations, trips, pre and after conference activities.

May: Date: Monday, May 12. Time: 4PM (GMT +5). Theme: Two months to go: are we ready? Date: Tuesday, May 27. Time: 4PM (GMT +5). Theme: Last call for proposals for workshops.

June: Date: Thursday, June 19: Time: 4PM (GMT +5). Theme: Getting ready to travel to Uzbekistan: what to take with you.

Connect in the 2008 Conference forum or see here. If you have any questions or inquires about participation in iEARN Annual 15th International Conference and 12th Youth Summit, please contact us at info@iearn2008.u.

19. ASSOCIATION FOR LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES CALLING FOR PAPERS AND ABSTRACTS FOR UPCOMING CONFERENCE, LEEDS, UK, SEPTEMBER 9-11, 2008. See here.

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Recent Events
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20. iEARN-SENEGAL WORKSHOP, MARCH 10, 2008. Welcome new teachers from Fatick and Kaolack, two different regions in Senegal, who participated in a workshop on integrating iEARN and ICTs in the classroom. See the Teachers Forum.

21. iEARN-IRAQ WORKSHOP, MARCH 11, 2008. Welcome new teachers in Iraq who joined a workshop on iEARN and project-based learning. Teachers Forum.

22. iEARN-TAIWAN WINTER CAMP, JANUARY 26, 2008. The meeting ended with a group photo to celebrate the 20th Birthday of iEARN. In this winter camp, teachers, students and their parents all got involved in activities, including students’ sharing, panel discussion among teachers and parents on how they can help their children (students) grow in iEARN. At the end of this camp, all the participants had the group photo in the form of a big “20” number. Please check the website to see the joyful and cheerful moment.

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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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