Monday, March 16, 2009
Have Your Say. March 2009
Opportunities for learner voice and consultation as well as free resources for teaching and learning.
The education department of The Spanish Embassy in London runs an annual competition open to all UK Primary Schools, designed to support and promote the teaching of Spanish in primary years education. Winning schools receive £400 of resources, £500 cash and a residential trip to Spain for staff to learn more about teaching Spanish. To enter, schools need to submit a portfolio demonstrating how their school has approached the teaching of Spanish - the judging criteria are innovation, use if ICT and links with other schools. The closing date to email entries is April 9th, with winners announced on 24th April. Winning schools will be invited to a reception at the Spanish Embassy on July 3rd. To enter visit the website which also has free resources and support for primary schools teaching Spanish.
2009 is the European Union Year of Creativity and Innovation. There are a series of events, competitions, resources and opportunities open to all 27 countries in the EU. Follow the link and click on any of the opportunities featured on the left hand side.
Antony Gormley has announced how he plans to use his opportunity to place a sculpture on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square, London. The plinth has had a series of temporary statues by chosen artists since 2004. Gormley has been awarded 100 days to display his work later this year and has decided to display human sculpture. He is inviting members of the public to become the Fourth Plinth art for one hour, and to have a new person every hour, 24 hours a day for one hundred days. The whole event will be streamed live on the internet. To apply, visit Gormley’s Fourth Plinth website and submit your proposal. Gormley himself will have to submit his own bid to be one of the hour long sculptures to the panel of judges.
"Leading the Learner Voice" awards are run by the Learning and Skills improvement service which was established in 2008. The awards are open to all further education providers across the UK with categories for individual students, teachers and for providers and centres. Details of how to apply are available here. The closing date is May 1st, with awards being presented on July 1st in London.
Lesson starts are free (to download) videos to stimulate thinking at the beginning of a lesson. The videos are uploaded to the site from teachers, learners and others from all over the world, explaining the site’s slogan , ‘Bring the World to your classroom’. Add your own for others to use too.
Lingua@net Europa is a website to bring together learners across Europe learning languages. Users can link with another young person in Europe, use the free resources including assessment of current language ability .Connecting young people across Europe is the strength of the site with forums, places to post and read blogs or learn a language in a virtual environment as well finding a penpal. All these are hosted under the Meeting Point. Visit the site by clicking here.
‘Imagine’ is a database which captures school design best practice from around the world. The site is run by a group formed at Sheffield University of architects , designers and planners and the featured schools are explained in good detail including costs. There are best practice school designs from all over the world . A good starting point for discussing school design with staff, children and the community begins here.
The world of football is promoting the study of languages amongst young fans through a project called Soccerlingua. The website has free resources for learning German, French, Spanish and Italian for learners to access themselves or with a teacher. The project is funded by the European Commission Lingua programme.
The Institute of Physics has a good selection of free resources for teachers and learners on its website. The Institute also runs two annual awards: one awarded to a Primary Science Teacher and one to a Secondary Physics Teacher. The closing date is May 30th. To find out more click here. The website also hosts a network to put Physics teachers across the UK in touch with each other.
The Online Picasso Project is a collaboration between academics, museums and galleries all over the world which has produced a remarkably comprehensive website on the life and work of Pablo Picasso. It is possible to click on a year in Picasso’s life and then view all the art he produced in that year. Each picture can then be viewed in detail from various angles and perspectives. Writings, biography and commentary on his work and life from world experts are all free on the site. This website is a one-stop shop for all teachers and learners interested in Picasso and everything is free to view and read. The project is coordinated by Dr Enrique Mallen.