iEARN in Action, April 11, 2008

Special Announcement!
1. iEARN YOUTH REPRESENTATIVE ELECTIONS. From the iEARN Youth Representative Election Committee - 2008, "It is now time to vote for the next Youth Representative. The following are the names of the candidates: (in alphabetical order). 1) Kapil Joshi - India; 2) Nanis Yousry - Egypt; 3) Niwa Dwitama - Indonesia; 4) Zeina Hariri - Lebanon. We encourage you to become familiar with the qualifications of ALL 4 candidates before casting your vote. To see their profiles and responses to the questions posted to each of the candidates during the Question and Answer period, go to the Youth Representative Election Forum iEARNers 6-24 years of age are allowed to vote. Voters must vote using the voting ballot that is provided on the YR Election Forum (see URL above)." Voting will take place April 3, 2008 to April 23, 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. Communicate with students in Northern Territory, Australia.
3. Participate in a global survey about student life.
4. Join Global Youth Service Day events, April 25-27, 2008.

Resources, Contests, Websites and Announcements!
5. iEARN turns 20 - see video stories from participants worldwide.
6. Ed Gragert (iEARN-USA) among George Lucas Educational Foundation's 2008 Daring Dozen.

Upcoming Events!
7. SirIKT Conference in Slovenia (April 2008).
8. iEARN-Trinidad and Tobago to host Natural Disaster Youth Summit (April 2008).
9. 15th Annual iEARN International Conference, Bukhara, Uzbekistan (July 2008.

Recent Events!
10. iEARN-Bangladesh, iEARN-India, iEARN-Nepal, and iEARN-USA team up on Four Rivers, One World exchange exchange project (March/April 2008).
11. YouthCaN 2008 (April)
12. iEARN participants gather in UAE for GETEX Conference (April 2008).
13. iEARN-Morocco youth empowerment activities (March/April 2008)
14. iEARN-Pakistan, iEARN-USA, and iEARN-Uzbekistan collaborate on CATALYST animation exchange project (March 2008).
15. iEARN Workshop in Qatar (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. COMMUNICATE WITH STUDENTS IN THE NORTHERN TERRITORY OF AUSTRALIA ABOUT YOUR COMMUNITY AND THEIRS. Virginia King in Australia writes, "We have some students living on two remote outstations who have just written messages about their communities on the forums. These students only have school for 1 1/2 days per week and the only access for the teacher to get to these schools is by light plane. If possible, we would like to ask you to read their messages and write a short message to them. It would be amazing for these students to get messages from many countries. You can find their messages on the My Country forum and follow the link to Me and My Community. You will find their messages under the heading Introduction from Manmoyi and Mamadawarre, or you can follow this link: http://foro.iearn.org/.1e83faa6

3. PARTICIPATE IN A GLOBAL SURVEY ABOUT STUDENT LIFE. Secondary schools are invited to complete a short survey about student life in their schools. A 12th grade statistics class will collect and analyze the data. Results of the analysis will be made available to all participants at the end of May. Deadline for completing the survey is May 9, 2008. Survey available in Spanish, French and English. Contact Margie Stallard in the USA or find the surveys in the My School, Your School Forum.

4. JOIN GLOBAL YOUTH SERVICE DAY EVENTS, APRIL 25-27. GYSD connects young people worldwide on service projects in which young people evaluate social issues in their immediate and extended communities and respond to them through action projects. See recent reports of Global Youth Service Day 2008 Projects from Pakistani schools, including pictures and action plans of how their projects were implemented. http://media.iearn.org/v/Activities/civics/ and join in discussions with them in the CIVICS forum.

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Check it Out! Resources, Contests, Websites, Announcements.
(This includes resources that are not part of iEARN)
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5. 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!

6. ED GRAGERT OF iEARN-USA RECOGNIZED AMONG GEORGE LUCAS EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION'S 2008 "DARING DOZEN." http://www.edutopia.org/daring-dozen-2008. See http://www.edutopia.org/edwin-gragert.

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Upcoming Events
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7. SirIKT CONFERENCE IN SLOVENIA, APRIL 14-19, 2008. Participants from iEARN-Israel, iEARN-Slovenia, and iEARN-USA will present at the SIRIKT Conference Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, April 14-19. See a preview of one of the workshops on the Learning Circles website. For more about the conference, seehttp://www.arnes.si/sirikt/english/

8. NATURAL DISASTER YOUTH SUMMIT April 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.

9. 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:

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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10. iEARN EDUCATORS FROM BANGLADESH, INDIA, AND NEPAL IN 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.

11. YOUTHCAN APRIL 7, 2008. Events were held in Beirut, Cairo, and New York City. See http://www.youthcanworld.org for details of YouthCaN activities happening around the world. YouthCaN is a year-round network within iEARN of students using telecommunications for environmental project work. Join the YouthCaN forum. See news coverage of the 2008 YouthCaN event in Beirut here.

12. iEARN PARTICIPANTS GATHER IN UAE AT GETEX CONFERENCE, APRIL 1-3. http://www.getextechnology.com/. Among the iEARNers participating in the conference were Salim Al-Busaidi and Mahmoud Al-Waili, iEARN-Oman; Hiba diarbi, from Lebanon, teaching in UAE; Abdelbasset Jeddi, from Tunisia, teaching in UAE; Hanaa Abdulkader, teaching in UAE; and Edwin Gragert , iEARN- USA. See photos here and here.

13. iEARN-MOROCCO COORDINATES YOUTH EMPOWERMENT ACTIVITIES. On March 31-April 4, iEARN-Morocco (MEARN) brought together 70 students from 11 schools throughout Morocco who implemented community service projects in their regions. Last year, Ruth Petzold, the Regional English Language Officer (RELO) awarded iEARN $8,700 to conduct a youth empowerment project titled “Students Unlimited” to engage students in geographically diverse areas of the country in collaborative projects. Beginning in September, students and teachers were trained to use iEARN to discuss project development issues, such as assessment, management and implementation. In addition, iEARN-Morocco dedicated funds to a small grants competition that assisted students in carrying out their projects. The final phases include a presentation at the Youth Summit in Uzbekistan and an English-language publication in which students will write about the rewards of developing and implementing service projects in their communities.

14. iEARN EDUCATORS AND YOUTH FROM UZBEKISTAN AND PAKISTAN IN USA FOR CATALYST 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.

15. iEARN-QATAR HOSTS FIRST NATIONAL WORKSHOP, MARCH 20-22. Qatar-based NGO Reach Out To Asia (ROTA) conducted an iEARN teacher training workshop in which 17 teachers were introduced to the iEARN concept and tools. The training focused on introducing iEARN basics on engaging in collaborative projects and utilizing online discussion forums and sample iEARN projects. 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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