iEARN Conference and Youth Summit - 2013

We're in Moscow, just some hours far from Qatar. Our friends from all over the world are waiting for us. We've got many suveniers, smiles and sparkling eyes for them!

Russian team
(from left to right):

Anastasiya Bukharina
Vasilisa Kovaleva
Alexandra Kozhevnikova
Olga Timofeeva
Evgeniya Udalova
Valeriya Timofeeva

Russian team:

1) Anastasiya Bukharina, Chelyabinsk, Russia

2) Valeriya Timofeeva, Chelyabinsk, Russia

3) Evgeniya Udalove, Chelyabinsk, Russia



4) Vasilisa Kovaleva, Chelyabinsk, Russia

5) Alexandra Kozhevnikova, Chelaybinsk, Russia

Our Flights

1st Day

The Conference and the Youth Summit have just started and we're ready to join some workshops and  sessions.Today there will be 2 two big sessions for all the participants.
Girls are joining "Folk Costumes "project and ""Arts and Crafts workshop. Olga the teacher has been invited to join ""ICT in the classroom: building a classroom blog" (to share the own experience) session, "Machinto" project workshop (with the 5min speech),  "What iEARN teachers learn: Technology, Pedagogy and Content Knoledge for online projects" master class and "Using Greenscreen Effects in Media Making" collaboration.

Team's opinion: 

Alexandra: "We were so excited to come here to Qatar to meet new people, to learn about new culture of Doha. We missed the opening ceremony, because of the weather. So, my first session was "Global Slam poetry". We disscussed a boy Tion from the Dominican Republic, who changed the way of teaching in his school by unusial playing on guitar and his poetry. After that we prepared for exhibition. People showed us their pictures, which were made in different countries. Dinner was amasing! So much food there! It was delicious!"
Anastasia: First day was full of emotions, because it was my first internationalexperience. Despite missing the opening ceremony we enjoyed the new atmosphere and foreigners. I like the first minutes there because of many art workshops and then it was time for dinner. Food here is delicious and tasty!
Valery: Well, the first day was a bit hard, because of some problems with flight from Moscow. Even having good expierence in international project, it's my first IEARN conference. I was very excited! I met a lot of new people and made friends all around the world. The food here is sooo good! I suppose all our team like it)
Evgenia: First day of our summit started with very hard flight. We had some problems because of weather. But the end of the day was excellent!
Vasilisa: This day was really hard. We've late and missed the opening ceremony, because of bad weather. But we felt fine and were ready to meet new people. Firstly I was shy and nerveuos, but at the end of the day all my problems disappeared.
                                                                                                                                   

2 Day

The day wass full of emotions because lots of friends were waiting for us impatiently for some minutes. Russian girls started the day with Russian games. Students from Indonesia, Georgia and Japan played together with great pleasure.

After that our girls learnt a traditional Indonesian dance "Saman" and knew a lot about the project "My Hero"...

Team's opinion

Alexandra: When I woke up, I felt that I was full of energy. We had breakfast and went to the sessions. My first session was "Introdusing the traditional dance of Indonesia". This session proposed to share national Indonesian dance, history and people. The second session was "IEARN expirience: youth power" in Taiwan. We were playing teambuilding games there. After this session I went to "Qatary and Jepenese traditional games". There I was learnt to play different national games Qatar people usually play. Then we went to Mural preparation. A lot of people from different countries drew everything they want. It was amasing! I met there the new friend from Nigeria.

Anastasia: It's cool, when you wake up and recognise that you have 4 days! This day also showed us how to use Audio and Video. Moreover we realised how all people differ from each other. Workshop of arabic caliography was very hard, but we tried again and again. Then our new friend, a photographer from Egypt, asked us to draw a spesial picture for IEARN - 25. We liked it very much, because after a long and tiring day it's cool to do something calm and of course we were a bit exhausted at the end of the day))).

Valery: The begining of the day was quite unusual. We met all paticipants together in Big Theatre Hall and play Russian games "Rucheek" and "Aram shim shim". We jad a whale of time! Just imagine: nearly 100 people stay in a huge circle and play! Incredibly! Moreover we drew a picture for IEARN 25, it was awesome!

Evegenia: In the morning we woke up and were ready for new emotions. Summit took place in Big theatre. This day we came a bit early and started the day with traditional Russian games. Then we went to the sessions, where we learnt a lot about other countries.
Vasilisa: This day started amasingly! We made friends from Indonesia and Georgia. Of course we took a lot of photos with them. Before sessions we played Russian games "Rucheek" and "Aram shim shim". On Indonesian workshop we've learnt their national dance.

3 Day

It was a cultural tours day. We've spent half of the day exploring Doha. The purpose of the day was to enable all the participants to do some sightseeings and to discover the many treasures of Qatar. Through the tour we will be able to take back home with us a beautiful memory of Qatar's history and traditions.

Team's opinion:

Anastasia: It's one of the best days! After this day, I changed my point of view about Qatar. I visited a market, where I saw a lot of national costumes, carpets and food. In a candy shop we tried unusual sweets, which were very tasty. Then I was in Muslim Art Museum. It's an enumours building with fontain on the roof! And when we went to the beach, I was shoked that the water was +40C!!

Valery:  A day of cultural tours... It was amasing! Firstly, we went to a market, where we tried unusual for us sweets. They were soo delicious!  After shopping we visited a Muslim Art Museum. It's a huge building with lots of ancient things inside! And it has an unusual thing: a fontain on the roof. It's very picturesque! By the way, in few days we become stars of Qatar television because of the interview for the local broadcasting company! 
Evgenia: On Wednesday we went to excursion. We visited different shops, museum and the centre of Doha. It had great time! We learned a lot of new about Qatar)
Vasilisa: This day we had cultural tours. All our team went to the market by bus. There I bought some sweets and a parfum for my mum. She was so happy to get them! Then we visited Qatar's museum. It's a huge building and it looks wonderful.I really liked an architechture of Doha.

4 Day

  The day was full of useful sessions as for teachers so for students.The main event of the day was Cultural Night, where all the teams presented their national costumes, food and folklore. Students from Taiwan learnt us to make flags with pins and  colored beads.

Olga the teacher had some meetings with the international partners and discussed the possibility of youth exchanges with the USA, Idia, Taiwan and Japan.It was really a day of Global Friendship beyond borders!

Team's opinion:

Alexandra: It was the most remarkable day of this summit. There were two sessions and worshops. I were on "A world of better education system with techniligies" session. I learned about new technologies in education: how to use them in my daily life. After that I was on Taiwan's workshop. There we've done our national flags. After dinner there were a cultural night. All countries preseted their national dances and videos about their countries. All presentations were so awsome. Now, I know more about other countries. All people were dancing and felt happy. We took lots of pictures! It was so funny!

Anastasia: It was a day of workshops again.I like one of them: "Reading across the Globe". A teacher from Canada was telling us about his projects. And the main thing of this day - cultural night. All people showed their presentations, dances and songs about their countries. In the end of the cultural night, our team was a bit tired, but happy.

Valery: The brightest day! There was a cultural night. Every paticipant presented their countries by dancing national dance, singing songs or sharing a presentation about their countries. There was a lot of different folk costumes! They were so colourful. Before the cultural night, there were a Folk costume parade. Each country walked across the stage wearing national costumes. In the end of the day I was full of energy (really strange thing).
Evgenia: This day was full of good mood and bright memories. We had a lot of free time in order to prepare for the main event of this day- cultural night. We prepared our traditional dance, but we had a problem with one costume.....we lost it! We were a bit upset, but every paticipant of IEARN conference helped us to find it and we did it)))
Vasilisa: Oh, it's my favourite day! We were very busy, because we had a cultural night. All day long we were preparing for it. Our team danced our national dance and presented Russian traditional costumes. After our dance, lots of people wanted to take photos with us. Great day!

 5 Day