iEARN in Action, March 26, 2008

Special Announcement!
1. iEARN YOUTH REPRESENTATIVE NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS. From the iEARN Youth Representative Election Committee - 2008, "We have received several nominations the past few weeks. The following are the names of the listed and accepted nominees: (in alphabetical order). 1) Kapil Joshi – India; 2) Nanis Yousry – Egypt; 3) Niwa Dwitama – Indonesia; 4) Zeina Harirri - Lebanon. Please note that nominations are now closed. Stage two of the election process is the “Question stage” (March 21, 2008 to April 2, 2008). Questions can be posted on the Youth Representative Election Forum. and nominees will be more than happy to give you their views. Following this period, voting will take place April 3, 2008 to April 23, 2008, with results announced on April 26, 2008." Please feel free to share with the election committee any inquiries and/or comments via forum or email:: yrelection@iearn.org.

Seeking Partners: iEARN Projects!
2. Atlas of Diversity Project.
3. Students Unlimited and CIVICS Projects.
4. Classes worldwide fly kites with messages of peace.
5. New Eye to Eye Postcard artwork.
6. Share your Folk Tales!
7. Future Citizens Project seeks partners.
8. Seeking sports stories for Kindred Oral History Project.

Resources, Contests, Websites and Announcements!
9. Global Campaign for Education Action Week 2008.
10. 2008 SIGTel Online Learning Award Competition.
11. iEARN turns 20 - see video stories from participants worldwide.
12. World of Children Awards.
13. Black History Bingo Game.
14. Recent Adobe Youth Voices media posted by youth in London.
15. iEARN Project Book available in Arabic.

Upcoming Events!
16. iEARN-Pakistan, iEARN-USA, and iEARN-Uzbekistan collaborate on CATALYST animation exchange project (March 2008).
17. iEARN Beginner Workshops in UAE (March/April 2008).
18. iEARN-Bangladesh, iEARN-India, iEARN-Nepal, and iEARN-USA team up on Four Rivers, One World exchange exchange project (March/April 2008).
19. iEARN-USA Workshop in New York, USA (April 2008).
20. YouthCaN Environmental Conferences (April 2008).
21. SirIKT Conference in Slovenia (April 2008).
22. iEARN-Trinidad and Tobago to host Natural Disaster Youth Summit (April 2008).
23. 15th Annual iEARN International Conference, Bukhara, Uzbekistan (July 2008).

Recent Events!
24. iEARN-Georgia Workshop for 45 teachers in Tblisi (February 2008).
25. Interactive Internet-Game - "Our Belarus: Water for Life." (March 2008)

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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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2. ATLAS OF DIVERSITY/ATLAS DE LA DIVERSIDAD PROJECT. A Red TELAR and iEARN-Pangea initiative that invites students to develop content which illustrates “their place” in the world, documenting the distinctive features of the schools, youth organisations and town, their customs and idiosyncracies. Ages: 6 - 17. Dates: March - December 2008. Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan. Website: http://www.atlasdeladiversidad.net Contact: Darío Pinus.

3. STUDENTS UNLIMITED AND CIVICS PROJECTS. Join with students worldwide who are sharing their community service plans and ideas on how to make a difference. Hundreds of activities are underway, ranging from "eradicating the phenomenon of writing offensive words on walls," to "pollution control" to "interviews of senior citizens." See CIVICS and Students Unlimited.

4. WHAT'S YOUR MESSAGE OF PEACE? TALKING KITES FLY WORLDWIDE THIS MONTH. Students from Belarus, Canada, China, Georgia, Israel, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Pakistan, Slovenia, Taiwan, UK, USA and Uzbekistan are participating in kite-flying exhibitions this month -- a tradition of flying kites with personal and group images of peace. Contact Ruty Hotzen in Israel. See photos from around the world in the "Talking Kites Around the World" Album in the Collaboration Centre. http://media.iearn.org/v/Activities/kites/.

5. NEW EYE TO EYE POSTCARD ARTWORK FROM EAST JERUSALEM AND PAKISTAN. See recent contributions from Belarus and Pakistan here.

6. SHARE YOUR FOLK TALES! Read and respond to folk tales posted in the past few weeks from Senegal, Pakistan, USA, Georgia, Indonesia, Azerbaijan, Russia, UAE, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Morocco, etc. Interested in joining? Contact Saleem Ibrahim in Pakistan. See here.

7. FUTURE CITIZEN PROJECT SEEKS PARTNERS FOR COLLABORATION BETWEEN MARCH 31-MAY 16. A project focusing on rights and duties of the citizen, tolerance and freedom, civic responsibilities and engagement. Between March and May, students will research laws, elections, and governmental systems in their own country as well as complete a service learning project such as a voter registration drive, volunteering for a candidate, volunteering at the polls, or writing letters to government officials about important community issues. Contact Freda Goodman in the USA or see here.

8. SEEKING SPORTING STORIES FOR KINDRED. Students are invited to interview someone in their family or community about an event in world history that has affected their life. Among the many themes, this year the group is seeking to include a chapter on memorable sporting moments. For this, participants are invited to write about sports that are popular in their country and through their real life family stories, explain to students in other countries something about the sport. Contact Judy Barr in Australia or 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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9. 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. 2008 SIGTel ONLINE LEARNING AWARD COMPETITION. Deadline March 31, 2008. Have you and your students been involved or are you involved in an original, online learning activity? If so, enter the 2008 SIGTel Online Learning Award competition. For more information, please contact SIGTel Online Learning Award Chair, Dr. Yvonne Marie Andrés or see here.

11. iEARN TURNS 20 - VIEW VIDEO STORIES FROM PARTICIPANTS WORLDWIDE. See http://media.iearn.org/v/Activities/anniversary/ 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 uploading your stories, photos and videos!

12. WORLD OF CHILDREN AWARDS. A program created to recognize and elevate those selfless individuals who make a difference in the lives of children across the globe, regardless of political, religious or geographical boundaries. Deadline for 2008 Nominations is Wednesday, April 30, 2008.

13. BLACK HISTORY BINGO GAME. A class at Brusly High School in Brusly, Louisiana, USA has created a bingo game named "PRIDE" in honor of Black History Month in the USA. See here.

14. VIEW AND SHARE FEEDBACK ON RECENT ADOBE YOUTH VOICES MEDIA POSTED BY YOUTH IN LONDON. Login to the AYV Collaboration Center to view new media, including " A Short documentary made by a group of Year 9 girls in Plashet School in East London."

15. iEARN PROJECT BOOK AVAILABLE IN ARABIC. Thanks to iEARN-Egypt for providing this language translation! See here.

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Upcoming Events
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16. iEARN EDUCATORS AND YOUTH FROM UZBEKISTAN AND PAKISTAN TRAVEL TO USA FOR ANIMATION PROJECT -- MARCH 16-30, 2008. A partnership between iEARN-Pakistan, iEARN-USA, and iEARN-Uzbekistan with support from the US Department of State, Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs. The project is helping youth to create animated public service announcements on the topic of natural disaster preparedness. See television coverage of the exchange here. For more info, see here.

17. iEARN BEGINNER WORKSHOPS IN UAE, MARCH 17 AND APRIL 2. Welcome new iEARNERS from the the United Arab Emirates. Facilitators: Dalia Khalil and Elgohary Helal. See Teachers Forum.

18. iEARN EDUCATORS FROM BANGLADESH, INDIA, AND NEPAL TRAVEL TO USA FOR FOUR RIVERS, ONE WORLD PROJECT, MARCH 30-APRIL 13, 2008. A partnership between iEARN-Bangladesh, iEARN-India, iEARN-Nepal, and iEARN-USA with support from the Office of Citizen Exchanges within the Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State. See photos of project activities in the Four Rivers Album: or for more info, see here.

19. iEARN-USA WORKSHOP IN NEW YORK CITY, USA, APRIL 3. Workshop for Eastern Suffolk BOCES in Westhampton, New York, USA. Please post greetings here.

20. YOUTHCAN 2008, APRIL 7, 2008. Events scheduled for April 7, 2008 in Beirut, Cairo, and New York City. See http://www.youthcanworld.org for details of YouthCaN activities happening around the world (including YouthCaN in Egypt - http://www.iearnegypt.org/youthcan2008.php). YouthCaN is a year-round network within iEARN of students using telecommunications for environmental project work. Join the YouthCaN forum - http://media.iearn.org/projects/youthcan

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

22. 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.

23. 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.

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Recent Events
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24. iEARN-GEORGIA WORKSHOP FOR 45 TEACHERS IN TBLISI, FEBRUARY 23-24, 2008. The Deer Leap Foundation, together with iEARN-Georgia coordinators (Pavle Tvaliashvili and Paata Papava), have organized a contest “iEARN-Georgia 2008” in order to support Georgian schools to get involved in iEARN. The project aims to teach teachers and students of Georgian public schools to plan and realize collaborative, educational Internet projects with active ICT utilization; and to define the impact of ICT and collaborative projects on the students' competence-building. For more, see http://dlf.ge/en/development/news/?id=824.

25. INTERACTIVE INTERNET-GAME "OUR BELARUS: WATER FOR LIFE." March 20, 2008 as part of the UNO decade «Water For Life» (www.un.org/russian/waterforlifedecade) The game provides students the opportunities to learn and discuss the extreme importance of clean water in their life for the health of environment and sustainable development., and a chance to know and share the problems of preservation of water resources in Belarus and on the planet. (March 20, 2008 from 12.00 to 15.00 (GMT+2); 11.00 - 14.00 Poland, Baltic, Czech; 13.00 - 16.00 Moscow). iEARN-Belarus with Youth International Educational Club "NEWLINE" (Transformation of Humanities Association) and Academy of Post-graduate Education. For more, see here.

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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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