EUROPEAN SCHOOLNET TEACHERS' NEWSLETTER #105 - September 7, 2005

EUROPEAN SCHOOLNET TEACHERS' NEWSLETTER #105
September 7, 2005


ETWINNING
What is New This Year

SPRING DAY IN EUROPE
Together in the World

SCIENCES
New Tools for Science Teachers, Xplora
GRID Project Survey
Eratosthenes Project
European Discoveries

LANGUAGES
European Day of Languages
European Language Label
Foreign Language Teaching Resources

FOCUS
European Junior Enterprise, Spain
One Minutes Jr
8th Annual Student Conference on Human Rights, UNO
International Day of Peace, UNO
60th Anniversary of the United Nations

COLLABORATION
Planting Trees Event
Verein Rosalie – Environmental Education for Children and Adults, Austria
Culture and Languages, France
Understanding the EU, Denmark
European Citizenship and Sport, France
Vocational School Exchange, France
World Summit Youth Award
IP Video Conferencing, Finland
School Drama Project, Poland
Achievers International

Dear colleagues,

Happy New School Year!
Nordic countries started some weeks ago, southern countries are catching up little by little, but everywhere, young Europeans wait to experience new pedagogical adventures with inspired teachers and we will help you more than ever get partners and set up projects.

In this first newsletter of the 2005-2006 school year, I will give you an overview of what European Schoolnet proposes and also some other good projects and calls for collaboration as usual. The idea is to help you find what suits you, your curriculum and the pupils you have this year.

By the way, the final date for entering a project to the eLearning Awards is now 17 October 2005. Prizes worth a total of over €30,000 can be won. Visit the eLearning Awards website to find out more:
http://www.elearningawards.eun.org/

Kindly yours,
Brigitte
brigitte.parry@eun.org



___________________ETWINNING ______________________

School Partnerships in Europe
__________________________________________________

What is New This Year

The eTwinning action is entering a more mature phase and we hope to see more and more schools set up all kinds of European collaborative project using technologies for communication.
Each month we will offer pedagogical kits and resources around different themes. To plan your work accordingly, go to:
http://www.etwinning.net/ww/en/pub/etwinning/news/articles/improved_portal.htm

A certain number of European development workshops for teachers will be organised in 10 different countries to train eTwinning ambassadors. The eTwinning Prizes will reward the best collaborative projects. The second European eTwinning conference will take place in January 2006 in Austria. All countries are setting up large scale training sessions to help schools make the best partnerships possible.

The eTwinning portal will be restructured and offer more tools, information and services. Follow the development of the eTwinning action online at:

http://www.etwinning.net

________________SPRING DAY IN EUROPE_____________

Debate the Future of Europe
___________________________________________________

Together in the World

Spring Day 2006 will take place on 21 March 2006 and focus on the role of the European Union in the world with a special focus on school collaboration and solidarity. We will again develop pedagogical activities for the registered schools and give high visibility to all the actions promoting our common values.

All information will be available from this newsletter until the launching of the Spring Day 2006 web site.

Your contact: Brigitte Parry
brigitte.parry@eun.org

___________________ SCIENCES ______________________

How Does the World Work?
__________________________________________________

New Tools for Science Teachers, Xplora

European Schoolnet's science education gateway, Xplora, has released new tools for science teachers. There are two major aspects: a resources database and a community space. The resources database is fully searchable, and includes recommended website links, free software to download, Flash items and more. The community space is where you can meet other science teachers and educators – it includes chat, forums, private group spaces and more. You must register to participate in the community, and to add your own resources to the database.

Resources database:
http://www.xplora.org/ww/en/pub/xplora/library/resources.cfm

Register for the community
http://www.xplora.org/ww/en/pub/xplora/community/register.cfm

_________________________________________________

GRID Project Survey

If you are a science teacher (physics, chemistry, biology, technology, etc.) in a primary or secondary school, you are invited to take part in a major survey organised in the framework of a European ‘Socrates’ project called GRID (Growing Interest in Development of Science Education), coordinated by the Pôle Universitaire Européen de Lorraine (France) with British, Belgian, Finnish, Hungarian, Irish and Italian partners.
The primary objective is to identify, catalogue and promote any initiative aimed at boosting efforts to make science teaching more attractive as this is a problem faced by everyone in the world of education!

As part of the project’s dissemination activities, you will perhaps be able to be featured on a European website among initiatives selected as representing good practice that can serve as models for teachers across Europe.

Whether you are involved as a teacher with an isolated classroom-based initiative, or are running a major local, county, regional, national or even trans-national project, share your experience to help motivating students to study science.

http://www.amitie.it/grid/GRIDEN.htm
_________________________________________________

Eratosthenes Project

Since 2000, thousands of children have taken part in this very interesting project: they have learnt to measure the circumference of the earth. It is open to all countries, it is a collaborative activity with professional guidance, learning modules and a fun pedagogical event on 21 March when pupils actually reproduce what Eratosthenes did more than 20 centuries ago.

The multilingual site is available at:
http://www.mapmonde.org/eratos/

_________________________________________________

European Discoveries

Europe is the cradle of many important scientific discoveries. This project gives registered schools access to a space for pupils, guidelines for teachers, a set of scheduled activities. The resources allow schools to learn before they choose from a list of 12 discoveries and reproduce them during the school year.

http://www.mapmonde.org/europe/
Available in French, Italian and Portuguese

___________________ LANGUAGES ______________________

Understand and Communicate
__________________________________________________

European Day of Languages

European Day of Languages (en, fr)
A website on the European Day of Languages, which is an annual event being held on 26 September. This event is a Council of Europe initiative bringing together people throughout Europe in a celebration of languages and cultural diversity. It also helps promote understanding and provides fun with languages.
http://www.ecml.at/edl/

Activities for the European Day of Languages (en, fr)
Here, activities for the European Day of Languages are suggested, and schools can register and give visibility to their own activities.
http://www.ecml.at/edl/details.asp?e=1884

____________________________________________________

European Language Label

The European Label is awarded to local, regional, or national projects that have found creative ways to improve the quality of language teaching, motivate students, make the best of available resources to diversify the language offer, etc. From the link below you can access the database of successful projects, which is available in 11 official languages. To get more information about the European Label in your country, contact your national Socrates agency.

http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/language/label/index.cfm
_________________________________________________

Foreign Language Teaching resources

French as a foreign language:

A very rich and reliable website for French language teachers worldwide is run by CIEP (Centre international d’études pédagogiques) and FIPF (Fédération internationale des professeurs de français). It features news on teaching/learning French as a foreign language; it gives access to resources for French lessons and hosts communication tools for the French teachers, such as a discussion forum. Here, you can also subscribe for a newsletter, which will update you on new trends and resources in the field.
http://www.francparler.org/

A learning module for lessons of French as a foreign language, in which the pupils are asked to solve a problem: They will also get to know some famous sculptures, create new ones and prepare a power-point presentation for their classmates. A pedagogical guide for both teachers and pupils is provided.
http://www.xtec.es/crle/02/ma_statue/

___________________

German as a foreign language:

This Austrian website for German as a foreign language offers teaching material, online activities and downloadable worksheets.
http://www.deutsch-online.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=index

___________________
Italian as a foreign language:
From this link, you will get all kinds of resources and information useful for learning and teaching Italian as a foreign language: on-line courses, resources, dictionaries, certificates, magazines for teachers, Italian newspapers and so on.
http://www.iichelsinki.net/INSEGNAMENTO%20ITALIANO.htm
___________________

Spanish as a foreign language:

The Instituto Cervantes is a prestigious institution created by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign affairs in 1991, aiming at promoting Spanish as a foreign language. In this site you will find a wide range of pedagogical materials for all levels and ages, including AVE, a full virtual course in Spanish for foreigners. You can also find information on how to become teacher of Spanish as a foreign language, the necessary steps to get an official diploma of Spanish as a foreign language and information for translators.
http://cvc.cervantes.es/aula/

_____________________ FOCUS ______________________

Inspiration
__________________________________________________

European Junior Enterprise, Spain

Enterprise education is a priority in Asturias, Spain. In 1990 their Ministry of Industry created Valnalon Educa , to manage projects for Primary, Secondary, Vocational Training and Further Education. Students of all levels create small companies, manufacture or import and export products, design marketing campaigns and sell products, incorporating ICT, the European dimension and new technologies.
You can learn more about what they do at http://www.valnaloneduca.com/index.php
Or contact Mr. Iván Diego Rodríguez eje@valnaloneduca.com
_________________________________________________

One Minutes Jr.

This is an international platform for visual expression and cross-border communication for young people. Workshops assist them in expressing themselves through the making of one-minute videos; these are archived on the One Minutes Jr. website and submitted to the junior categories of the annual One Minutes competition. The ECF (European Cultural Foundation) is responsible for the international dissemination of the videos.

http://www.theoneminutesjr.org/

_________________________________________________

8th Annual Student Conference on Human Rights, UNO

On 2 December, the 8th annual Student Conference on Human Rights will take place at UN Headquarters in New York. This year's theme is Water as a Human Right. Students around the world will be able participate in developing a global Plan of Action with other students in preparation for the conference. On the day of the conference, you will be able to watch a live webcast of the event and send comments and questions to the conference while it is going on. A new web site for the conference to be launched on the UN Cyberschoolbus web site will have all the details.

www.cyberschoolbus.un.org
_________________________________________________

International Day of Peace, UNO

On 21 September, students around the world will commemorate the International Day of Peace. Schools are encouraged to plan their own events and can send an email to cyberschoolbus@un.org to let the United Nations know how they will celebrate the International Day of Peace. More information and ideas of what you can do can be found at:

www.cyberschoolbus.un.org
_________________________________________________

60th Anniversary of the United Nations

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the United Nations, the UN Cyberschoolbus will soon be inviting children and youth around the world to send the UN a birthday card. The best ones will be displayed in the public lobby of the UN in New York. Details on what to do will be announced on the UN Cyberschoolbus in later this month.

www.cyberschoolbus.un.org

_______________ COLLABORATION__________________

Create Together
_________________________________________________

Planting Trees Event

ENO-Environment Online is a global web school for environmental awareness and sustainable development. They will open their new school year on the 21st of September 2005. They celebrate it with planting trees during the day, at 12.00 local time, together with schools/clubs in the North, South, East and West. The first trees will be planted in New Zealand. Then, together with the Sun, new trees will be planted in Asia, Europe and Africa. Finally the “chain of trees” trees will reach North and South America.

All the schools/clubs or individual children/young people are invited to join this activity- Make a concrete action for environment and us all. Register your school/group here:
http://eno.joensuu.fi/treeregistration.htm

Please find the instructions, material and further information about the event at:
http://eno.joensuu.fi/treeceremony.htm

_________________________________________________

Verein Rosalie – Environmental Education for Children and Adults, Austria

During the process of Regional and Local Agenda 21 a children’s parliament was founded in the municipality of Schönegg. They encourage children to participate in creating the future of their hometown. It is very important to teach young people ways to save their environment and protect it for their own generation and the generations following.
They have already been working on topics like waste management, nature and environment, living in foreign countries, economy and local authorities.
If you would like to install a group in your town and if you would like to know more about this project, please don`t hesitate to contact the coordinators:

http://www.rosalie.st

_________________________________________________

Culture and Languages, France

This lower secondary school is situated near Paris. They would like to develop the European dimension of their cultural projects. They are looking for partners in Eastern or Southern Europe. English would be the communication language.

Contact: Françoise Fournier
draveil.notre-dame@wanadoo.fr
_________________________________________________

Understanding the EU, Denmark

“We are three teachers and 19 students (aged 15 to 17 years) from outside Copenhagen, Denmark who have chosen for the next year to work with international understanding and cooperation, especially in the EU.
What do other young people think of this and of other topics: music, education, family life, future jobs and careers etc.
We would like to correspond via e-mail with students of the same age.
As we plan to go to Brussels in spring 2006, it would be fine, if we could meet with some students from Belgium there.
I teach English and maths as well as international understanding.”

My email address:
lone.holmberg@skolekom.dk
_________________________________________________

European Citizenship and Sport, France

The objective is to familiarise young children, teenagers as well as their families with civic values through sports and cultural activities.
The project supports educational discussions on sensitive topics (doping, alcoholism, tobacco addiction, racket etc.); communication, tolerance, and the respect of the other while rejecting intra-community tensions. Cultural meetings are also organised, placing the main values of the Olympic ideal to the foreground.

Contact email: Louis Bartal
cdos06bartal@wanadoo.fr
_________________________________________________

Vocational School Exchange, France

Dominique Thomas teaches in a vocational school in France, his students work part time at school and part time in companies. He is looking for a partner school to organise an exchange where students will visit each other. The theme is tourism and catering. The outcome of the project will be a cyber exhibition on both trips and countries.

Contact him urgently if this is of interest to you.
dominiquethomas@free.fr
_________________________________________________

World Summit Youth Award

The World Summit Youth Award (WSYA) program is an international Internet competition. It is an exciting program organised in the framework of the United Nations' World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in partnership with the WSIS Youth Caucus, itis a program aimed at empowering youth by creating digital opportunity.

The application deadline is 18 September 2005.
All information can be found at:
http://www.youthaward.org

_________________________________________________

IP Video Conferencing, Finland

The Oulun Lyseon lukio Oulu school situated in Finland frequently uses IP video conferencing tools in distance teaching. They are interested in building a network of schools from different countries to set up regular pedagogical exchanges where the students would communicate using this technology.

Contact: Sirpa Anttila-Muilu
sirpa@lyseo.edu.ouka.fi

The school site:
http://www.lyseo.edu.ouka.fi/english/
_________________________________________________

School Drama Project, Poland

The 'International: School Theatre' project is focused on international cooperation between school theatre teams and establishing cross-cultural performances. You first find a partner school from other country and then you collaboratively prepare performances - for example Japanese theatre in Greece school and vice versa.

Contact: Halina Bednarz
febus@idea.net.pl

Web site:
http://theatre.m-szkola.net/envo/index.php
_________________________________________________

Achievers International

Achievers International® is an entrepreneurial programme which allows students to form a small company and export and import locally manufactured products to and from a foreign partner group.
Achievers International Ltd is a not-for-profit charity. Your school, college or youth group can take part in Achievers International®.
http://www.achieversinternational.org/


****************** THE EUROPEAN SCHOOLNET TEACHER'S NEWS******************
WHAT is the EUN?
The European SchoolNet is network-of-networks in Europe whose aim is to promote the use of Information and Communication Technologies among schools
in Europe by:
- Supporting collaboration between schools
- Offering a broad range of educational content and services
- Promoting good practice and experience
- Advancing concertation and standardisation processes in education.

for subscribing to any of the EUN's other Newsletters, visit:
http://www.eun.org/newsletter
or send an email to: brigitte.parry@eun.org

If you wish to see your project, your news or your call for partners announced, please send us your project description and we'll try to promote your work. Don't forget to specify the type of project and age groups concerned and any other helpful details. When you ask for partners, please,
give us information about your own school and contact emails. Don't forget to keep an eye on our News, Teachers and Pupils pages, they are regularly updated in many languages:
http://www.eun.org/