connecting classrooms near east and north africa contact seminar

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Connecting Classrooms Near East and North Africa contact seminar Selsdon, 6 th -8 th November 2010

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Connecting Classrooms Near East and North Africa contact seminar. Selsdon, 6 th -8 th November 2010. Outline of today’s session. The partnerships Successes; Challenges and ways of overcoming them;   Communicating; Involving students;. Where I am from. Chris Williams [email protected] - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Page 1: Connecting Classrooms  Near East and North Africa  contact seminar

Connecting Classrooms Near East and North Africa

contact seminar

Selsdon, 6th-8th November 2010

Page 2: Connecting Classrooms  Near East and North Africa  contact seminar

Outline of today’s session• The partnerships

• Successes; • Challenges and ways of overcoming them; • Communicating;

• Involving students;

Page 3: Connecting Classrooms  Near East and North Africa  contact seminar

Where I am from• Chris Williams [email protected]• Former History teacher• Former Deputy Head and then Acting

Headteacher at large 11-18 school • Special Projects Consultant at Lincoln Christ's

Hospital School• Partner Adviser in Lincolnshire – Local

Authority reprepresentative• British Council Ambassador for the East

Midlands

Page 4: Connecting Classrooms  Near East and North Africa  contact seminar

The projects in which I am working

Afghanistan (2008-2011): Year 3

The partners?UK – Lincoln cluster – three schoolsAfghanistan – Mazar-el-Sharif – five schools

My roles ?Local authority representativeLead person in one of the schools

Page 5: Connecting Classrooms  Near East and North Africa  contact seminar

The projects in which I am workingSub-Saharan Africa (2010-2013): Year 1

The partners?Nigeria – Lagos Island – three schools (Y1)Uganda – Mukono – three schools (Y1)UK – Louth cluster – three schools (Y1)(Each cluster will add three more schools in Y2 and again in Y3)

My role ?Local authority representative

Page 6: Connecting Classrooms  Near East and North Africa  contact seminar

The projects in which I am workingChina (2010-2013): Year 1

The partners?China – nine schools in ZhuhaiLincolnshire – nine schools south of Lincoln

My role ?Support for the local authority representative in

writing application and general advice

Page 7: Connecting Classrooms  Near East and North Africa  contact seminar

Five successes

1. Finding a good name for the project to unite the Nigerian, Ugandan and UK partners:

Mvoakraba“Tiny seeds to great trees” Mvule (UG), Oak (UK),Araba (NIG) – pron. Mow - krab – a)

Page 8: Connecting Classrooms  Near East and North Africa  contact seminar

Five Successes

2. An early visit to the UK by a team from one of the Mvoakraba partners in October 2010

Page 9: Connecting Classrooms  Near East and North Africa  contact seminar

Five Successes

3. Afghanistan - teaching units in two of the UK schools

- Secondary school – Year 7 Study Skills- Primary school – Six week theme for the Year

5 class embracing most subjects e.g numeracy. literacy, art etc.

Page 10: Connecting Classrooms  Near East and North Africa  contact seminar

Five Successes

4. Afghanistan – hands-on activities in partner schools in both countries:

- Greenhouses have been built from old plastic bottles;

- Vegetable plots have been created, and crops compared

Page 11: Connecting Classrooms  Near East and North Africa  contact seminar

Five Successes5. Afghanistan – I visited Kabul in

September 2010 to meet partners;

- Year 3 planning took place;

- Outcomes (products) were exchanged;

- School assemblies on my visit have been well received

Page 12: Connecting Classrooms  Near East and North Africa  contact seminar

Five challenges and ways of overcoming them1. Communications

Challenge Solution

No replies from partners

Involve British Council in both countries

No replies from partners

Have at least two contacts in each school

Page 13: Connecting Classrooms  Near East and North Africa  contact seminar

Five challenges and ways of overcoming them2. Technology

Challenge Solution

Limited ICT hardware and software

Use the most widespread packages

Use snail-mail – children like original hand-written itemsConsider mobile phone communications

Page 14: Connecting Classrooms  Near East and North Africa  contact seminar

Five challenges and ways of overcoming them3. Language (and cultural) differences

Challenge Solution

Not understanding

Involve local community e.g. pupil native speakers

Mis-understanding

Spend time on key wordsReview documents

Clarity Short sentences. Precise activities

Page 15: Connecting Classrooms  Near East and North Africa  contact seminar

Five challenges and ways of overcoming them4. Time scales

Challenge SolutionDifferent term-dates

Find out the different school years very early

Travel dates Plan very early to facilitate visa applications

Reporting and evaluation

Do this from the start e.g. use ISA forms

Page 16: Connecting Classrooms  Near East and North Africa  contact seminar

Five challenges and ways of overcoming them5. Leadership and teams

Challenge SolutionLack of dynamism in team

Involve a school senior leader

Too much reliance on LA representative

Do not have LA representative from any of the cluster schools

Narrowness of the team

Involve two/three per school

Page 17: Connecting Classrooms  Near East and North Africa  contact seminar

Communicating in the UK cluster- how? when? where?

• AfghanistanDespite close distances, communications have mainly been by email, with termly meetings at most

• Sub-Saharan AfricaKey communication is between heads of the three Year One schools at regular general meetings. Mvoakraba is a fixed agenda item

Page 18: Connecting Classrooms  Near East and North Africa  contact seminar

Involving students• All schools in the cluster- Disability Awareness event- Tree-planting event

• Primary schools - Monks Abbey weather project- letter exchanges

• Secondary schools

Page 19: Connecting Classrooms  Near East and North Africa  contact seminar

General advice with which to finish this presentation

• Build a team• Share the tasks across the cluster• Keep the activity content simple to start with

e.g. weather datae.g. ‘my journey to school’e.g. ‘my food this week’

• Plan the first visit as early as possible in Year 1

Page 20: Connecting Classrooms  Near East and North Africa  contact seminar

The end