Teachers' Newsletter No. 121

Dear colleagues,

It is already May and most of you will be very busy with final exams at school. I don't know if you have the time and the energy to start something new at the moment, but you might be interested just to follow what is going on in Europe. So here we go….! Don't forget that it is 'Europe Day' on 9 May, the anniversary of the Schuman declaration of 1950.

Development Youth Prize Winners in Rwanda

On 17-21 April 2007, Development Youth Prize winners and their teachers travelled to Rwanda with Louis Michel, European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid. This visit was organised as part of the Development Youth Prize competition (DYP) where young Europeans submitted contributions highlighting European cooperation in Africa.

Spring Day for Europe 2007 competitions

Enter the Spring Day competitions and win a prize! Get creative and take part in two competitions adapted for primary and secondary schools,by designing a stamp for the 50th anniversary of the EU or a poster on Democracy.

"My Anniversary Stamp"

""My Poster on Democracy""

Upload your artworks on the Spring Day for Europe 2007 website by 31 May 2007.

Happy 7th Birthday myEUROPE!

Launched on 9 May 2000 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration, the myEUROPE project turns seven in the year when the European Union celebrates its 50th anniversary.

Xplora hands out the Millikan web experiment to a Finnish School

Xplora - the European Gateway for Science Education has received a grant from Agilent foundation to develop the web version of a classical Nobel Prize winning experiment, which realises the full potential of web technology in physics education. After more than a year of development work, this experiment is now hosted at Helsingin Yhteislyseo, a private high school in Helsinki, Finland.

The Millikan web experiment is available for free on Xplora's community website. Register on Xplora (http://www.xplora.org), login and go to the web experiments section on the desktop. Information will be made available in major European languages. So far the information is available in German language only.

For further information contact Karl Sarnow.

Energy is our Future School Competition closes with more than 2,400 entries!

The Energy is our Future School Competition closed on 22 April 2007. With more than 2,400 entries registered on the website, the winners will be announced at a prize-giving ceremony at the European Parliament in September 2007.

Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE)

YRE is a programme of the Foundation for Environmental Education designed for secondary school pupils and teachers. Each group must define its own investigation project about a local environmental issue (topic, activities and outcome). There are six main investigation topics : agriculture, cities, coastline, energy, waste, water. The goal of each project is always to communicate relevant information to a local public. An international web site is the tool of the members of the community to share news and information.

Playing safe on the internet in Sicily

Adolescents, primary school pupils and teachers from the Czech Republic, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Spain shared their thoughts about safety online during internet safety workshops held on the occasion of the eTwinning camp 2007 in Città del Mare.
The teenage participants brainstormed and worked on specific topics, the teachers prepared lesson-plans integrating internet safety aspects in the classroom and the youngest pupils worked on an internet safety fairy-tale.

Safer Internet Day 2007 Award Ceremony

The Safer Internet Day 2007 Award Ceremony will take place on 11 June at the town hall in the historical heart of Brussels. During this event, representatives from the eight winning schools in the Safer Internet Day competition will receive their prizes for the award categories of e-privacy, netiquette, power of image and innovation. The winning schools come from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Greece, Poland, the UK and the USA.

Share your views about eTwinning

In order to gain valuable insight on how eTwinning is working in schools in Europe, an independent online survey has been created to find out exactly how eTwinning is impacting students, teachers, schools and communities. This survey is developed as part of a wider independent evaluation commissioned by the European Commission. ECOTEC is responsible for the independent evaluation of eLearning, Socrates II and Leonardo da Vinci II.

eTwinning Camp 2007: A great success!

From 25-29 April, the 2007 eTwinning Prize Winners came together in Sicily to meet their partners, make new friends and learn about ICT under the sun! Classes from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania, Spain, Poland and Italy travelled to Città del Mare in Sicily, Italy, to participate in the second annual eTwinning Camp after having won the eTwinning Prizes 2007 competition earlier this year.

Europe Day - 9 May

On May 9, more than 50 regions representing 18 countries of the EU participated in 'Europe Day in Schools'. This was a unique occasion to raise awareness amongst young people of the actions undertaken by the EU around the world. An opportunity also to stimulate debate on the values and principles that underpin the solidarity in the European Union which in 2007 celebrates its 50th anniversary!

A new president for France

Last Sunday was an important day in France, as its new president, Nicolas Sarkozy, was elected. 'Le blog Présidentielle 2007' is a website that informs about the election campaign, the candidates, publications and more issues linked to the general elections in France. It also provides teaching ideas and is especially designed for children from age 7upwards. It is in French only, but it can easily be used in language lessons.

This is European Schoolnet

European Schoolnet (EUN) is a unique not-for-profit consortium of 28 ministries of education in Europe created in 1997. EUN provides major European education portals for teaching, learning and collaboration and leads the way in bringing about change in schooling through the use of new technology.

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