Ending 2020 with iEARN Projects and Exchanges
iEARN teachers and students have had a busy year! Despite the changes to everyday class life and routines, classes around the world continued exchanges through their iEARN projects and special virtual events. Check out the following project stories from iEARN participants around the world from the end of 2020.
Machinto, Hiroshima for Peace
Based on picture books such as “Machinto,” "My Hiroshima," and "Watashi no Yamete!," participants of the Machinto - Hiroshima for Peace project learn about where the dropping of Nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki brought us today. Students do research, listen to the voices of survivors, and invite other students to learn, so that people never forget Hiroshima and Nagasaki and never repeat this evil tragedy in the future.
On November 17th, students from Mexico and Japan joined a Peace Talk with five Nagasaki Survivors, hosted by Ms. Sami Yoshimuta, a teacher at the Kwassui Women's University. She explained: "The survivors, aged 80 or older, practiced English with enthusiasm in order to share their experiences with a young international audience in their own words." This historic event was broadcast by NHK Nagasaki local news in a two minute news clip.
On December 11th, a class from the U.S. participated in a Peace Talk, hosted by Sami, with Nagasaki Survivor Mr. Hakariya. These students look forward to their next Peace Talks with survivors Ms. Matsumoto and Mr. Oba.
What are your questions for those who lived through the explosion of the atomic bomb in Nagasaki? What are your ideas for promoting peace? Join a "Peace Talk" with Nagasaki Survivors in 2021 hosted by Sami and her students. To participate, join the Machinto Project in the iEARN Collaboration Centre.
Holiday Card Exchange Project
In the Holiday Card Exchange project, teachers and students prepare an envelope with holiday cards to send to the other participants between October - December. Students may send Chinese New Year, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or Eid greeting cards or cards that show local celebrations during December or January. Each school is placed in a group with approximately seven other schools and prepares either handmade or purchased cards (decorations may be included) to send to each of the other schools.
On November 3rd, classes from Japan, Taiwan and Belarus participated in a video conference, prior to sending their cards to each other. Teachers and students spoke about the challenges they and their communities had faced during this time of COVID-19. Then, students gave presentations about their culture, their favorite things, and all participated in a fun quiz.
Visit the Holiday Card Exchange in the iEARN Collaboration Centre!
Girl Rising Project
The Girl Rising project journeys around the globe to witness the strength of the human spirit and the power of education to change the world. Students get to know nine unforgettable girls living in the developing world: ordinary girls who confront tremendous challenges and overcome nearly impossible odds to achieve their dreams and obtain a quality education. Students view these girls’ stories and engage in a virtual exchange discussing issues related to gender equality and quality education around the world. To culminate their projects, students take action on Quality Education and Gender Equality in various ways.
On November 24th, students in India, the U.S. and Japan, and Kayce Jennings, the producer of the Girl Rising, gathered virtually. Facilitator Mari Sekine shared: "It’s such a meaningful collaboration for everyone. We could share a lot of aspects and views on each chapter of the film. Kayce told us that she also enjoyed the call, and the students were smart, confident and insightful. It was an amazing time." Visit Girl Rising in the iEARN Collaboration Centre to learn more and join the conversation!
Be Kind, Don't Leave Them Behind
In the Be Kind, Don't Leave them Behind project, students collaborate to reduce the suffering of vulnerable people in their respective communities and to make a positive change on the local level. They then share their outcomes globally.
As an extension of their project work, a class in the U.S. chose to address access to education for refugees for their first virtual Model UN Conference as part of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' (UNHCR) Model UN 4 Refugees Challenge. The class, known as the Ramona MUN Team, was one of 8 teams that won the challenge and has been named Best MUN, Topic 4: Access to Education. To learn more about the community awareness campaign the class conducted and their simulation of the UNHCR's Executive Committee discussion, CLICK HERE.
Join Be Kind, Don't Leave Them Behind in the iEARN Collaboration Centre!
iEARN-Pakistan Virtual Workshops
Society for International Education conducted a free online workshop session ‘Plan your year with iEARN projects’ on 16th October, 2020. This session was especially designed and conducted for teachers to introduce them to iEARN forums and to show how they can get started with iEARN online projects.
Around 30 teachers participated in the session from different cities of Pakistan. During session the participants learned how to get registered with iEARN Collaboration Center, and the age appropriate online collaborative projects in which students can be engaged. Another thing that they learned was the idea of establishing iEARN Clubs in schools and create an action plan for a more sustainable way to engage students in these projects. During the session, participants received soft copies of all helpful resources, iEARN Project Book, the digital copy of booklet “Plan your year with iEARN projects, Celebrate UN International Days” and links to other guides.
Society for International Education conducted another free online workshop session for teachers ‘Improve your Digital Art Skills with Adobe Illustrator’ on Friday, 13 November. The workshop was attended by 50 participants from different cities of Pakistan. The session was aimed at introducing the participants to different editing tools in Adobe Illustrator, a professional designing tool for those who are interested in improving their digital technology skills. The participants learned different tools and techniques to creatively edit and manipulate images and transition them to digital art. The participants found this session very helpful and informative. E-certificates will be sent to all attendees.
As part of SIE Professional Development Program, Society for International Education is conducting online workshop sessions for teachers. On Friday, 20 November 2020 SIE conducted another online workshop for teachers of a school in Rawalpindi. This ‘iEARN Workshop for Beginners’ was especially designed to introduce them to iEARN and familiarize them with the steps to get started with iEARN Online Collaborative projects. The session aimed at providing support and guidance through each stage of the projects, shared the underlying principles of iEARN, the project-based learning approach of iEARN projects, and how they help develop global competency and 21st century skills in students.
Participants also learned about the registration process, and ways to engage students in iEARN projects by establishing iEARN Clubs in schools to engage students in a more sustainable way to engage students in these projects. During the session, participants received digital copies of all helpful resources, iEARN Project Book and links to other guides. The participants found this session very helpful and informative. E-certificates will be sent to all participants.
iEARN-Kenya Partnerships for Training
iEARN-Kenya has been collaborating with a variety of partners to train teachers and students on topics such as coding, digital literacy & citizenship, 2D&3D Modeling, and ICT certification.
- My Digital World is a Facebook Digital Literacy program is aimed at helping users and especially the young people to navigate the digital space safely and responsibly so that they can take full benefit of what the internet has to offer. iEARN- Kenya trained 7,697 educators in phase 1 and 1390 in the second phase 2.
- In collaboration with World Computer Exchange and the Compassion International project known as Urafiki CDC, 40 kids were taken through impactful learning experiences focused on tech-skills and social emotional learning. This training targeted community centers, given that the lockdown had seen most learners out of schools and with limited access to internet lessons. Training was conducted onsite in collaboration with community centers.
- Following a donation of computers to learners with Hearing Impairment, iEARN- Kenya was called upon to train teachers and students.
- In partnership with an NGO that works with refugees in Kakuma Refugee Camp iEARN-Kenya started a digital literacy training and certification program aimed at helping the participating youth discover new career paths in technology.
TEARN Event
TEARN, the iEARN Centre in Tunisia, and their local iEARN community celebrated World Teachers' Day this year in various ways.
Students at several schools put together this beautiful video celebrating their teachers and all of their efforts and dedication that they have shown through all the challenges resulting from the pandemic this year.
In addition, iEARN teachers from Australia, France, Romania, Tunisia and the U.S. came together virtually to share the activities and events they conducted during the lockdown and discussed future actions for a quality education in "the new normal." View the recording.
iEARN Latina Exhibition
iEARN-Latina teachers from 14 countries gathered in a Zoom meeting on December 16th to celebrate the work done, even at pandemic times, over the past semester. Project Facilitators also gave presentations of the projects that will be active from January - May 2021. View a 3-minute video clip of highlights.
Visit the iEARN-Latina website for details of each project, tutorials and other resources to participate in iEARN projects in Latin languages. Please, note that some of them are also conducted in English, which is indicated in the descriptions.
Please, check this link to find out which projects will be active in Portuguese, Catalan and Spanish over the next months. There’s a wide variety of proposals, which include different school areas and ages, starting from Kindergarten and including Future Teachers.
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Docentes de iEARN Latina de 14 países se reunieron en un encuentro en Zoom el 16 de diciembre para celebrar el trabajo realizado en el último semestre y anunciar los proyectos que estarán activos durante el período Enero-mayo 2020.
Los facilitadores explicaron las actividades realizadas, aún en época de pandemia, e invitaron a participar de la próxima edición. Algunos de los proyectos se desarrollan también en idioma inglés.
Los invitamos a visitar el sitio web de iEARN Latina para conocer más detalles de cada uno de los proyectos, ver los tutoriales disponibles así como otros recursos que facilitan la participación en proyectos de iEARN en idiomas latinos.
La grabación de la sesión se puede un videoclip de 3 minutos que destaca distintos momentos de las presentaciones.
