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BRIDGE NEWS: April 2005
IN THIS ISSUE: iEARN hold's the Master Trainer Seminar with flying colors; Pakistan participates in the 1st National Conference on Technology in Education; 35 paticipants take part in Morocco's iEARN workshop in Beni Mellal; Bangladesh focuses on youth service and empowerment; EGYPT hold it's first YouthCaN Conference; JORDAN selects two schools for Fall BRIDGE Exchange; NEPAL welcomes 3 new teachers; OMAN submits report to the Ministry of Education; INDIA celebrates 10,000 students using iEARN projects; US BRIDGE Teacher is honored with International Award
Left to Right: teachers from Bangladesh, Nepal
and Lebanon during a workshop group activity
 Master Trainer Seminar
was held on April 14-17 in New York City. 28 teachers representing
countries including the United
States, Nepal, Pakistan, Lebanon, Jordan, India, Indonesia, Egypt,
Bangladesh and Morocco came together to not only celebrate diversity;
but most importantly, to learn the benefits of on-line
collaborative project based learning. Each day a different
workshop was held to give participants an enduring understanding of
benchmark practices and techniques. Teachers were given
opportunities to work together in groups and individually - truly
encouraging hands-on as well as collaborative learning. Laptaps
were set up for each table consisting of three to a group.
Everything from clip boards to Magic Markers to Post Its helped make
this seminar a learning experience for all.
 The
seminar aimed to foster a mutual understanding between different
cultures,yet also encourage a strong community feeling between iEARN teachers
around the globe. Ed Gragert, iEARN-USA Director, conducted a workshop
on "Sustainability" to provide iEARN teachers with the wealth
of resources and information to help build their country's iEARN
base. The seminar also included activities including social outings
and
volunteer activities for Global Youth Service Day. Teachers
helped clean-up parks, build benches, clear rivers and build flower
beds (picture on right shows teachers from Lebanon, Tunisia and UAE fixing a park picnic table). Teachers continue to share their excitment for the seminar's success and anticipate a great year
in building support for iEARN in the years to come. Many
attribute the success to the on-line forums that were set up prior to
the seminar to
encourage teachers to connect via virtual exchange. This
connectivity proved key in preparing teachers for the seminar as
well as laying the groundwork for interactive workshops. Each
teacher gave a brief prentation about their specific country and
culture then fielded questions from one another. A few shared
some feelings on the impact this seminar has had on their lives:
"Being
a participant of [the] Master Trainer workshop...was one of the greatest
experiences of my life. I could never have thought [of] meeting
people from so many parts of the world under one roof... ?s a member of
iEARN Pakistan team...[and] now a Master Trainer [I] want to
conduct workshops for the students and teachers from different parts of
Pakistan. It
will be my honour to go to the rural parts...where there is no iEARN
and make new iEARNers by conducting workshops and encouraging the
teachers to help their students to particpate in forums....[and] to interact
globally."
Reflections from Irfan Waleed, iEARN Master Trainer - Pakistan
Left: Celia
Einhorn, US Teacher and Master Trainer Faciliator giving a
training presentation. Facing her is Jordanian Master Trainer
Adel Hammami and Jordan iEARN Coordinator, Mohammad Jarrah.
Right: Rosemary Dolphy, from India and Latifa Bouhlal from Morocco
working on the "World Cafe Activity" which encourages teachers to
reflect
on exchange activities.
"The
training program was really rich and varied...The YouthCaN event was
ultimately interesting in the way it was managed and presented by the
pupils and the students themselves....[it] was an opportunity for all
of us to appreciate creativity and leadership of pupils to make a
meaningful change in their community...the Seminar atmosphere paved the
way to a better understanding between different participants...as
trainers - once back home, we should actively participate in helping
other colleagues in order to enlarge the iEARN community, connect youth
and make a significance in the world."
Reflections from Mohamed Chouki, iEARN Master Trainer - Morocco
For additional picutres click HERE.
This
April, iEARN Pakistan participated in the 1st National Conference on
Technology in Education. iEARN was invited to conduct a
presentation to an audience of 200 enthusiastic participates.
Pakistan Coordinators distributed iEARN materials and set up a display
for iEARN membership inquires and resources. Close to 500
materials including iEARN Teacher Handbooks and Description Books were
sold, with numerous teachers registering for membership!
Fantastic! Materials were paid for by the generousity of sponsor
and head conference organizer, CATCO International. The
Conference welcomed many special guests including
ministers of education, chancellors, and many universities and schools.
 Also
this month, iEARN Pakistan students joined many on-line collaborative
projects with students around the globe including the United
States. Over 40 students from the City District Government School
in Yakki Gate Lahore and over 30 students from Providence Creek Academy
in Clayton, Delaware USA - have connected in virtual exchanges on the
Local History Project forum. Students learn about each others'
histories while increasing cross-cultural understanding. Another
great colloboration this month was for Global Youth Service Day
[GYSD].
Pakistani students joined a six-week project as p art of iEARN's Youth
and Volunteering and Community Service Program. Coordinator,
Nalia Khan, worked with 200 youth from nine different schools who
joined to work on community sevice projects. Each participating school
gave a presentation on their service activity to students.
Activities included a visit to a children's hospital and clearning up
debris and garbage for the environment. The six-week service
program culminated in a recognition ceremony held on April 18th.
iEARN Pakistan gave participating schools and youth shields commending
them on their community service. ( For more on iEARN Pakistan GYSD click here)iEARN
Morocco held a workshop in Beni Mellal for 35 participants coming from
five different schools. This intermediate workshop brought iEARN
information to local schools and teachers specifically focusing on
iEARN materials, resources and benefits of on-line collaborative
project learning. The workshop was facilitated by Mourad
Benali, iEARN Morocco Country Coordinator. Congratulations on a
successful workshop!
iEARN
Bangladesh spent the month of April focusing on youth and has received
significant feedback and positive responses from both the Civil Society
and NGOs. As a result, iEARN Bangladesh Country
Coordinator - Golam Hiru - was asked to become a member of a four
member committee to organize the "Asian Caravan for Rights and
Justice". Activities for this committe will begin July 1st in
Bangladesh. In addition, Bangladesh NGO's and the Civity Society
have formed another committee titled, "Peoples Forum". Here, iEARN
Bangladesh will focus on presenting iEARN at the policy level in order
to increase awareness of our goal of "connecting youth and making a
differrence". This is a wonderful opportunity and a great honor
for iEARN Bangladesh who has been recognized to be responsible for
reporting on youth as well as conducting advocacy for the youth of
their country.
April
was a productive month for iEARN Egypt with US BRIDGE students
visiting, Global Youth Service Day, Egypt's first YouthCaN Conference,
school visits and much more. On April 10th, US students left
Egypt with a basket full of memories from an array of cultural and
social activities. A highlight of their trip was a live telecast
on the El Bet Bitek Program. iEARN Egypt's Country Coordinator,
two US students, two Egyptian students and the US BRIDGE teacher joined
the telecast providing a lively discussion about the BRIDGE program and
the importance of mutual understanding. Working with the US
Embassy in Cairo, a farewell dinner was hosted at the PAO residence in
honor of the exchange. Many guests attended including iEARN Egypt
Board members, Egypt Press, the host school - Modern Education School,
and representatives from the Ministry of Education and the US Embassy.
 Congratulations to Egypt for hosting their first ever iEARN Egypt YouthCaN Conference (click link for more pictures). Students from eight different schools located in Giza, Alexandria, Beni Suef and Kafr El Sheikh conducted
presentations about pollution, the digital divide, HIV/AIDS and water
related issues.  Together, all students painted a mural to depict
and share their feelings about the day and provide an outlet for
reflection. For Global
Youth Service Day, iEARN Egypt and youths volunteered to help give 45
children from the Resala Orphanage a day filled with fun and
games . The day was made possible by corporate sponsor McDonald's; and also included the participation of the Modern Education School and Abbas El Akkad Experimental
Language School. The month ended with iEARN Egypt visiting four
schools to work on developing iEARN programs and conduct on-line
student workshops.
iEARN Jordan has
identified and selected two schools to participate in this coming
Fall's BRIDGE Exchange to Cardoza High School in Washington, DC.
The two public schools are Mleih Secondary School for Girls and Mleih
Secondary School for Boys. Both schools are located in a village
just outside of Amman in the Madaba area. Country Coordinator,
Mohammad Jarrah, continues to work closely with the Ministry of
Education to organize and plan the schools' participation in
BRIDGE. Congratulations to iEARN Jordan for the its first ever
Environmental Day scheduled to take place on May 21, 2005. A
total of 14 public and private schools are expected to participate in
the day's activities and workshops. The day is made possible by
collaborations with the Minister of Environment as well as the Ministry
of Education.
After
returning from a successful Master Trainer Seminar, iEARN Nepal
teachers Sheetal Rana and Rabi Shrestha are making strides to solidify
the use of iEARN projects in their classrooms. In fact, The
Excelsior School has developed a methodology in order to keep iEARN and
on-line collaborative learning as part of their weekly
curriculum. Also this month, iEARN Nepal continues to grow
everyday adding three new teachers this April. Two teachers have
completed online professional development courses in Social Studies and
ESL, while another teacher is currently enrolled in iEARN's Learning Circle. Congratulations!
OMAN:
This month iEARN Oman will provide the Ministry of Education a detailed
and comprehensive report highlighting activities organized and
facilitated by iEARN teachers and students. In doing so, Oman
hopes to increase awareness and support for iEARN projects as well as
share the great benefits teachers and students have been experiencing
as iEARN members. As iEARN Oman conitnues to grow, there is no
doubt that students and teachers will join and realize the great
educational and cultural benefits of on-line project-based
learning. In fact, last month there was no clear indication of
how many students were working on iEARN projects. Today however,
iEARN Oman has calculated that a fantastic 100 students are officially
working and connecting via iEARN on-line projects.
 iEARN
India has much to celebrate this month with a grand total of 10,000
students participating in iEARN projects. With this, membership
among teachers has remained strong at 800. Congratulations!
For the coming Regional Conference in Beirut, Lebanon - iEARN India
will be sending two teachers. One from the Sir Aurobindon Schoo
and the other respresenting the Balshikshan Mandi English Medium
School.
BRIDGE Teacher Honored with
International Teacher of the Year Award
 Congratulations to iEARN's BRIDGE teacher, Kerry Sylvia who was recently awarded the District of Columbia Geographic Alliance and the DC Public Schools 2005 International Teacher of the Year.
Kerry received the Leonard H. Marks Award for excellence in
international education, which advances the study of international
affairs in middle and secondary schools. She began teaching at Cardozo
Senior High School five years ago and currently teaches world history,
street law and U.S. government. The International Teacher of the Year
Award is sponsored by the World Affairs Council of Washington, D.C. and
recognizes the contributions to international study in the American
classroom.
Kerry
consistantly works towards professional development opportunities
offered at iEARN Conferences óthis time the 11th Annual International
Conference in Slovakia. Kerry met and connected with teachers
from nearly 100 countries and strengthened her ties to partners
overseas. In addition, Kerry has been instrumental in generating
interest in the BRIDGE program throughout DC. During November
2004, she hosted a reception for DC area teachers and Country
Coordinators from the thirteen BRIDGE countries. Her energy and
enthusiasm have served in developing more widespread DC involvement in
BRIDGE and iEARN in general. iEARN and the BRIDGE Program
congratulate Kerry on her accomplish and recognize her wonderful
contibutions to students and teachers! |
JORDAN: 
