WHAT'S ON
eLearning Awards
EU Pocket Quiz, Austria
FOOD4U Event
Learning Objects to Teach Europe
Making the News, UK
Physics Teachers Programme, CERN, Switzerland Emilangues Forum, France This is our Time Project, Netherlands

COLLABORATION
Playing Music Together, Italy
Teacher of English Blog Invitation, Spain Hands On Science Experiments, Italy Comparing Literature, France Environmental Education, Belgium Prof-Inet Assisted projects, Canada Mentally Disabled Adult Students, Sweden Visually Impaired Nursery School Children, UK Special Needs Education Teachers's Blog, Netherlands Teacher of English Blog Invitation, Spain iEARN Calls for Collaboration

Dear colleagues from the EU and beyond,

The school year is now on its way and many of you are now fully involved in projects, or feverishly waiting for competition results. Still, we can expect this school year to surprise us as all campaigns and projects are not launched yet.

I have been getting many messages inquiring about Spring Day 2007 and my reply to all is: "The EU cannot celebrate its 50 years of cooperation, the arrival of two new Member States and debate its future without us teachers and pupils in schools!" So while we are getting organised over here, please get ready to rush and register as soon as the new web site is launched. I will keep you informed.

On a personal note, I will also be 50 years old in 2007 and when I look at myself in a mirror, I fully understand why the EU is tired! But I also see that 50 years can be a great turning point and a new departure for future European adventures based on a solid experience.

I would also like to know if any subscribers were born the same year as the EU like me. Please send me an email to allow me to identify where and who you are!

Stay in touch :)

Brigitte

brigitte.parry@eun.org

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Inspiration

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eLearning Awards

The eLearning Awards rewards and recognises the best innovative projects using Information and Communication Technologies. The awards include a number of special categories in which attractive cash prizes can be won for your school. The winners will be invited to a prize-giving ceremony in Bruges - Belgium in early December.

The awards are open to all schools in Europe and all entries are showcased in a project gallery. Projects will be evaluated by educational experts from all over Europe.

Contact: Sylvia.binger@eun.org

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EU Pocket Quiz, Austria

The EU pocket quiz tells us the story of the European Union. Five 'little EU helpers' are responsible for the different topics. It is available in Czech, German, English and Slovenian. It will soon be developed and available in all official EU languages. Test your knowledge about the EU at:

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FOOD4U Event

FOOD 4U is an awareness campaign promoted and funded by the Italian Ministry for Agriculture and Forestry Policies to give youngsters of 14 to 19 years of age and from various European countries the possibility of exchanging views on the need and importance of a healthy and good balanced diet.

The final event took place on 7 October 2006 within the framework of a European camp gathering about 400 people (mainly young people) from most Member States.

The quality of the videos presented by the finalists is quite amazing.

See the winners at:

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Learning Objects to Teach Europe

A group of 40 teachers created a set of 300 learning objects focusing mainly on teaching Europe and European citizenship at school. The objects are available in 25 languages:

and inserted into a database, together with their associated metadata (information about age group, language, school subject etc):

The name of the project that supported this activity is "Linking and Learning Europe" (LLE) and it came to an end on 31 May 2006. The project built on the existing myEUROPE network.

More about learning objects and their role in teaching and learning at:

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Making the News, UK

This web publishing tool was presented to teachers during the eTwinning workshop organised in the United Kingdom at the end of September. It is very interesting and easy to use.

Take a look and also surf around to get inspiration from some other projects managed in the same region.

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Physics Teachers Programme, CERN, Switzerland

If you are a physics teacher and would like to learn about what goes on at the world's largest particle physics centre, then you will be interested to know that CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, is offering a 3-day residential programme from 24-26 November.

To find out more about the programme of visits to experimental facilities, lectures and discussions on particle physics and related topics, and information on how to apply, take a look at -

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Emilangues Forum, France

This web site is only available in French for now, but will be developed in the coming months. It is aimed at the network of schools in France that are especially involved in bringing the international dimension to learning. It can also be a good resource for schools in other countries.

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This is our Time Project, Netherlands

Connecting youth to celebrate humanity.

'This is our Time' is a global telecommunications project for youth and by youth. Organised since 1995, the Time Project celebrates its eleventh anniversary on 10 November 2006.

During a 24 hour online lesson marathon Time offers a wide variety of activities such as videoconferencing, online game 'Unite the Nations' and classroom twinning. Over 300 schools and youth groups from 99 countries participate in the Time Project.

The Time theme for 2006 is "I care" with activities on the Millennium Development Goals and special focus on MDG 2 'Achieve Universal Primary education' and MDG 7 'Ensure environmental sustainability'.

This is our Time has been initiated for the UNESCO Associated Schools Project and is organised by e-linQ in the Netherlands in cooperation with Fontys University of Applied Sciences.

Contact: asmeets@e-linq.nl  

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Working Together

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Playing Music Together, Italy

Sandra teaches Italian and Latin in the South of Italy but she is also a musician who would like to set up a project about music. Many of her students play different instruments and they organise chamber music sessions. Her idea is to organise workshops on classical composers whose music is or can be performed by pupils She is looking for similar projects in other countries to create an online community of European students-musicians.

Her email address: sandracolella@libero.it

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Hands On Science Experiments, Italy

Annamaria Lisotti is a maths and physics teacher in an Italian secondary school. Her pupils are about 16 years old; they study English. They are looking for an English speaking class willing to share a science project about students designing hands-on experiments and exciting exhibits and experiences in Physics, particularly mechanics (for instance biomechanics, physics and sports, microgravity,fun parks and physics).

Contact email: alisot@libero.it

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Comparing Literature, France

Véronique is desperately seeking partners for a project where pupils and teachers would work in parallel and compare 20th century literature novels. She has tried many ways in vain, so if you can help or join, please do!

Contact email: VeroRepeczky@aol.com

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Environmental Education, Belgium

Technisch Instituut Sint-Carolus, situated in Sint-Niklaas- Flemish community of Belgium, caters for pupils aged 17 to 18. They are looking for partners already active in projects related to ecology to set up a collaborative project comparing environmental approaches in different countries.

Email for contact:

h.michiels@sint-carolus.be

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Prof-Inet Assisted projects, Canada

Every year, the Ministry of Education of Canada supports and funds this very good quality project for primary school children. The projects imply the use of the French language. They have years of experience in online communication and pedagogical activities. Register now!

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Mentally Disabled Adult Students, Sweden

Maria Stömne works with mentally disabled adult students. She has enormous difficulties finding partners abroad. Her students are adults, but when it comes to material and communication they act and react like young teenagers She is looking for partners with pupils aged from 6 to 15 to exchange with her students.

Please contact her to help overcome this pedagogical challenge and get back to me so I can follow this wonderful experience.

maria.stomne@nybro.se

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Visually Impaired Nursery School Children, UK

Lynn Griffiths is the head teacher of Pencoed Infant School, U.K.

The children in her school are aged between 3 and 7, with one infant special class and the visually impaired resource base for the county.

They would like to know if other schools are similar and share innovative projects with European partners.

head.pencoedinfants@bridgend.gov.uk

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Special Needs Education Teachers's Blog, Netherlands

Last year Kaj Rietberg started to work on international projects and caught the virus of communication!

Kaj work in special needs education and started a blog about international projects in special needs education.

If you like this initiative, you are very welcome to contribute to the blog.

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iEARN Calls for Collaboration

Started in 1988,iEARN is a large non-profit global network that enables teachers and young people to use the Internet and other technologies to collaborate on projects that both enhance learning and global citizenship values.

Here is an extract of the iEARN newsletter. If some of those calls are interesting for you and your pupils, do not hesitate to contact the teachers or coordinators involved.

You can also register to projects at:

Cultural recipes book: food for thought project:

Students are invited to research recipes of typical dishes in their countries as well as the origin of the ingredients and recipes, and the legends and stories behind them. Possible project/classroom activities include research, discussion, illustration, and production of a book.

Contact Bill Belsey bill@iearn-canada.org in Canada.

Future citizen project:

A student-led project to support youth to use their leadership skills in their local community and globally. Between September 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.

Little explorers:

In this project, children will perform a series of activities such as research games and experiments. Children and teachers will analyse the results of the activities, describe, exchange and publish them using ICT.

Facilitated by: Ewa Kurzak ewa.kurzak@wp.eu, Halina Bednarz hali@and.pl,

Machinto - do you hear the little bird crying?

Facilitated by: Jennifer Geist jenngeist@yahoo.com in USA, and Yoko Takagi yoko@jearn.jp in Japan.

Made in Europe:

Pupils start by answering one question: What does Europe mean to me and my country? This is the first assignment in a line of tasks based upon knowledge of Europe and the European Union, in 6 levels. Any group or individual pupil can participate. Then, as an option, individual teachers from countries all over the world are invited to manage 1 digital 'national classroom' in which they can create assignments on their own country, thus enabling pupils from Europe to learn about all the countries in the world, also based upon 6 levels.

The many faces of poverty and homelessness:

Facilitated by: Michelle Speight mmspeight@cbe.ab.ca, Calgary Board of Education, Canada.

MDG's - only with your voice:

The Millennium Development Goals were adopted in 2000, during the United Nations Millennium Summit, when 189 head of States and Governments agreed to work together to make a better world to all by 2015.

Facilitated by: Muhammad Salman, Maria Mirza, Naila Khan - Pakistan, Nuria Peguero - USA, Mostafa Nejati - IRAN, Amanda Albuquerque - Brazil. Contact Muhammad Salman in Pakistan salman@iearnpk.org.

School in Texas, USA seeking partners:

St. John's Episcopal School in Dallas, Texas is looking for global partners for a 7th grade Math Project, a 6th grade Science Project and a 2nd grade Tulip project.

Email for contacts:shopper@stjohnsschool.org.