How do you communicate in a European ‘Everyplace’?

The project ‘everyplace’, coordinated by die Berater®, will develop free online materials for the learning of less-widely used European languages to enhance communication competences amongst SMEs and exchange students in Central Eastern Europe.

This innovative online learning experience will be intrinsically linked to the authentic linguistic and cultural communication settings of small, less-widely visited towns in provincial Europe, providing a rich contextual backdrop for 21st century language-learning.

All this and more was presented in detail at the project kick-off meeting in Vienna on the 8th and 9th of March.

RIVER Kick off meeting in Vienna

At the start of the project all partners from the five partner countries - Austria, Germany, Italy, Finland and Hungary - met in Vienna to set up a workplan and to discuss the project aims as well as the project planning process.

RIVER
Recognition of Intergenerational Volunteering Experiences and Results

RIVER aims at

• making the learning benefits of senior volunteering activities visible
• developing and testing a planning and validation system for senior volunteering
• providing and improving learning opportunities for the increasing number of senior citizens in Europe
• motivating older people to engage in senior volunteering as a learning experience
• promoting intergenerational learning by working with intergenerational senior volunteering projects

Senior volunteering plays a key role in our society, and demands exposure and recognition! Yet reliable and convincing methodologies for the assessment and validation of the impact and outcomes of senior volunteering are missing.

By developing a tailor-made competence assessment system the project RIVER aims at making learning outcomes of senior volunteering visible and thus add to senior volunteers’ motivation and sense of achievement.

Getting schools ready for international cooperation

Next week a training course for international co-ordinators at schools will be held in Easingworld (UK) by the European Project “International Co-ordinator Training for Intercultural Education and Diversity”. ICTPIED is a Multilateral Project funded by the Lifelong Learning Programme and led by the British Council in cooperation with die Berater®.

The training course focuses on intercultural and diversity issues as well as personal and management skills for international cooperation in school education.

Who can participate?
The course is offered to teachers who are officially appointed or informally acting as an International Co-ordinator for their school.

What can you expect to gain from attending?
At the end of the course participants should have gained or experienced:

• A wider understanding of the role of the ‘international co-ordinator’ as a leader in their school
• An appreciation of how intercultural issues can play a part in school partnerships
• A range of learning experiences for intercultural dialogue and communication
• International partnerships as part of strategic school development and as a means of exploring global issues
• How to apply these experiences both to school partnerships and in other applications across the whole institution

Attendance is limited to 25 places. Due to great demand the course will also be offered in 2013 and dates have already been set:

Course 1 (Belgium): From Sunday 24 February to Friday 01 March
Course 2 (Romania): From Sunday 14 April to Friday 19 April

Project website: http://schoolsonline.britishcouncil.org/ictpied

eTwinning - the community for schools in Europe

eTwinning is the Community for schools in Europe, where teachers from all participating countries can register and use the eTwinning online tools to find each other, meet virtually, exchange ideas and practice examples. With eTwinning you can also team up in groups, learn together in Learning Events and engage in online-based projects.

Through eTwinning, over 85 000 teachers from across Europe work together in international school activities involving more than 50 000 schools in 32 European countries.


Professional Development Workshops
eTwinning also organizes Professional Development Workshops which are aimed at individuals who want to learn more about eTwinning and develop their skills in European collaboration using Information and Communication Technologies.

These workshops bring together participants from different European countries to network and share experiences. Networking and partner finding workshops are held for teachers in different European countries Throughout the school year.

The next workshop “Hospital school teachers” will be held on April 19-21 2012 in Gothenburg, Sweden. This workshop will focus on teaching children in hospitals or other out of school situations.

If you would like to take part in the workshop, please contact your National Support Service.

False-Identities and Cyber-Bullying in channel troy

What makes the internet so attractive to youngsters? How authentic are online identities? What dangers are lurking in the world wide web? What are the advantages of a global network?
The theatre play channel troy, developed within the framework of the EU Project Virtual Stages Against Violence; deals with all of these questions.

"channel troy: the super real-web-life-show!" is an engaging and energetic play on the numerous communication channels of the internet and on the media manipulation of private und personal information. The realities and world-views of online-media consumers are shaped and molded by chitchat and gossip. The play channel troy demonstrates the very mechanisms that produce this sensationalized reality.

“Of course I gotta be on facebook. All my friends are there. How else should I communicate with them? I can hide my whole life there. On facebook I am someone.”

What is virtual? – What is real?
In channel troy, life becomes virtual, and events online become real. What follows are hard truths and uncomfortable questions. This piece explores the concepts of privacy and mercy.
Online, the characters in channel troy are strong, self confident and competent. They are part of a community where they can enjoy security and trust. Their virtual lives seem uncomplicated and, to a large extent, much easier than real life. Here they can chat comfortably, flirt and arrange to meet up. Online, no-one is alone.

Yet the innocent simplicity of little white lies quickly turns into an intriguing and turbulent game, blurring the distinction between the real and the virtual, until finally, nobody can trust anybody else.

Was that not bad enough, the presenter of TV hit channel troy, with the help of her investigative online correspondent, tries to uncover this web of lies by using manipulative media to confront users with the hard-hitting issues from their own private lives.


EU project Virtual Stages Against Violence

Considering that the internet has increasingly become the main source of information and communication, it can be a source of the following risks, especially for young people:

• distorted messages
• false identities
• violent representations of reality


The EU project Virtual Stages Against Violence (VSAV) as well as the theater play channel troy tackle these risks faced by young people when using new media and technologies. Despite the risks, our intention is to not demonize new technologies. Instead our idea is to develop tools to properly use new technologies, to help young people enjoy and benefit its positive potential for their growth and daily life.

When?
10. March | 8pm
14. March | 10am
15. March | 10am and 12am
16. March | 10am (fully booked)
22. March | 8pm
24. March | 8pm

Where?
DasWERK, WERKerei
Neulerchenfelderstraße 6-81160 Vienna

To register for one of the shows please send an e-mail to channeltroy@gmail.com