I am a teacher of English language at school #34 in a little town called Karshi, which is situated in Uzbekistan. My work length as an English teacher is about 3 years. I teach students of 5th-7th grade and I greatly fond of my job. I have graduated from the State University of Karshi, the faculty of Russian language and literature. Subsequently, I had worked as a teacher of Russian language and literature for 22 years, while simultaneously have been learning English for 6 years and applying it in practice. To become an English teacher I had completed 10 week course of English language at Women's Center in Karshi in 1999 and had passed exams at the Regional Institute of Professional Development in November, 2002. In October, 2004 I have completed the iEARN Uzbekistan School Connectivity Master Teacher Training Workshop in NY city, USA and Uzbek Connectivity\Social Study Online Course presented by International Educational and Resource Network in Uzbekistan, March, 2004.

In October 2003 our school has won the IREX (International Research and Exchange) project called School Connectivity for Uzbekistan. With the help of this project our school had been provided with  six computers and connection to Internet. This program has presented a great amount of online projects, contests, e-libraries and resources for subjects that we could use during our lessons and extracurricular activities.

Internet has brought innovations into teaching & learning and changed the conventional style of teaching into modern information technology utility teaching among teachers at the school.

I got involved in online projects though taking part in various trainings that the School Connectivity for Uzbekistan program had conducted. The first training I have attended was IEARN training for beginners, where I have been introduced to IEARN online projects.

One of the first IEARN projects my students and I have completed was "One day from my life" . Students had been writing essays about the day in their life that they remembered the most and then students were divided into groups, each group got a poster where they wrote and drew the most memorable events in their lives.  Having completed all the work, children hung their posters in their classroom, while each of them made a presentation about his/her memorable day.

I continued working with online projects, as I understood that this is a very interesting way of learning and expanding knowledge in many areas. My students and I organized a lot of activities during work with online projects of School Connectivity for Uzbekistan program. We fulfilled a large amount of web-projects, while competing on regional, national, and international levels.

Besides, IEARN my pupils and I had worked on a web-project called "All the world in your classroom". The project required to find partners and e-pals around the world. It was a very interesting project as we got to know a lot of people from other countries and as a result we got the biggest amount of e-pals and became the winners of the project and got a scanner as a prize. This competition was the first step to collaborative work with US schools, because with the help of this competition we got new friends and partners in USA.

1) Get to know others

Approximate Project dates : Dec, 1, 2004 present

Representative list of participants: Karshi School #34, Uzbekistan in collaboration with Miami Country Day School, Florida, USA.

10 students from 7th grade of Karshi school #34 aged between 11-13 years & 15 students of 5th grade of Miami Country Day School, Miami, Florida, USA students aged between 10-12 years.

URL : http://karshi34.connect.uz/collaboration1eng.html

Major project learning goals: Students will learn about their own cultures and the cultures of other countries. Expand the awareness of cultures around the world. Improve Spelling skills, Grammar skills, Letter writing skills, Geography skills.

Description of the collaboration results: In the process of working students learnt facts about their own native culture thought research and the culture of the partner country, comparing and find the similarities. Students of Karshi school #34 have created Culture Corner of USA in their classroom and so did the students of Miami Country Day School, they also created a Culture Corner of Uzbekistan in their classroom. Culture Corner was created in order to collect and exchange pieces of information from partnering cultures, ex. Country flag, national costumes, food, toys/trinkets, money, stamps, cards, and pictures. While writing letters, communicating and exchanging the information about cultural topics students have improved their language skills, grammar skills and writing skills.

Personal reflection of the participant of the project Malika Tojieva, student of Karshi School #34: I made a conclusion that everything in the world has its differences and similarities. The Cultural Corner in our classroom makes us feel that we also been to USA and got to know the way of life there. I liked this project the most because we really got to know others , now I know what Miami is, where it is situated and what are the people like there, it is much more interesting to get to know each other though this project rather than reading boring geography books

Online media or technologies used:

We used Internet to communicate and exchange with pictures, to search for more information about Uzbek and American culture, digital camera to take pictures and Macromedia Dream weaver to create a web-link of the project, Adobe Photoshop 7.0 to edit pictures, Power Point to create a presentation about Uzbekistan, online vocabulary in order to translate unfamiliar words.

2)   IEARN project Side by side

Approximate Project dates: Dec 12 Dec 20, 2004

Representative list of participants: 15 students of 7^th grade of Karshi school #34, Uzbekistan aged between 11- 13 years

URL: http://karshi34..connect.uz/collaboration6eng.htm

Major project learning goals: IEARN project "Side by side " is aimed at exploring unique individuality of each student with the the help of art. They draw their full-length portraits on 8x32 inch paper sheets. With the help of the project students can get to know more about each other, because their drawings include symbols of their future and past. It is a great way to get to know more about life style and habits of your students.

Description of the collaboration results: During a week students were working on creation of their own portraits on 8X32 inch paper sheets. When the drawings were done, each student made a presentation of their own portrait describing the symbols their drawing included. As a result students got to know more about each other and hung the portraits side by side in the classroom in order to show that they are all one class, one strong team and they all stand side by side in spite of different nationalities and interests J

Reflection of Fotima Razzokova- student of 7^th grade of Karshi school #34, participant of the project: It was a great big fun, I was surprised with some facts that my classmates presented during describing their portraits, we studied together from the 1^st grade, but this project gave me more information about my classmates, than I got to know during studying together for such a long time. This project made us closer .

Online media or technologies used: Digital camera to take pictures, Macromedia Dream weaver MX 2004 to create the web link of the project, Adobe Photoshop 7.0 to edit pictures. Internet to send the digital version of students portraits to the coordinator of the project Rowena Gerber, who is a teacher at Miami Country Day School, Florida, USA

3)    Crafts for education

Approximate Project dates: June 2004 September 2004

Representative list of participants: 6 students of 6^th grade of Karshi school #34,aged between 11-13 years, Uzbekistan

URL: http://iearn.uz/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=4

Major project learning goals: Students create various crafts in order to arrange an online exhibition of children crafts dedicated to Children s Day (July 1). The online auction is aimed on arranging a fund rising event online, in order to earn money and spend them to buy school stationary for students of Karshi School #34 whose families are in need.

Description of the collaboration results: During a month members of IEARN club of school #34 were engaged with creation various crafts like: stuffed toys, clothes, dolls drawings, etc.

Students took pictures of the best toys and sent them to online auction-exhibition. In a week all toys were sold to workers of various organizations of Uzbekistan and USA. In result 6 students of Karshi school #34 earned 70$ and spent them to buy school stationary and warm clothes for winter for 10 students of primary school whose families were in need and probably couldn t afford necessary resources for education of their children. This project has positively influenced on minds of students they learnt to be helpful and merciful and at the same time they helped 10 families in educating their children.

Personal reflection of Mohigul Mustafaeva, a student of 7^th grade of Karshi School #34, her toys were also sold at the exhibition: It was such a touching moment when we presented gifts to this little students, when I could see gratitude in eyes of children. I am delighted that my craft has helped somebody. I never thought that Internet could be so helpful and it is possible to make an online fundraising.

Online media or technologies used: Digital camera to take pictures, Internet to place the pictures of crafts online. Adobe Photoshop 7.0 to edit pictures.

 4)    Good deeds

Approximate Project dates: May 1 May, 9,2004

Representative list of participants: 36 students of 7^th grade of Karshi school #34 aged between 11-13 years, Uzbekistan

URL: http://iearn.uz/index.php?start_from=15&archive=&subaction=&id=& (in Russian)

Major project learning goals: Teach children to be helpful, attentive to people who were helpful before. To define what a good deed is.

Description of the collaboration results: Students decided to dedicate this project to the Day of Memory and Respect of participants of the Second World War, which is held annually on 9^th of May. Students decided to arrange a concert for the veterans of the war. Students divided into groups, one group had to find veterans living nearby, and the other one had to make an online research to find information about WWII and download old songs of that period. Finally when everything was done, veterans were invited to school where students arranged a concert with various performances and old songs for them. Veterans told students various interesting stories, which took place during the war how they defended their Motherland and explained children how important it is to unite and be together in a difficult moments of life, in the end students presented veterans small gifts and thanked them for coming.

As a result of this project students learnt some facts about Second Word War, improved their computer skills by searching for information and downloading files. The most important is that the got to know what is called a good did, they made a good deed, which has undoubtedly influenced educationally and upbringing on young minds of students.

Feedback of a principal of school #34 Urunova Mohira: This project is very educational, the result of this project is a positive moral influence on children, it teaches them to be a good citizen of their country and not to forget people who defended their Motherland. Besides that they improve their knowledge of history and computer science. A project is always an interesting way to involve students into various activities and to learn things interactively.

Online media or technologies used: Internet to search for information about Second World War, to download popular songs of 1940- ties, digital camera to take pictures.

5)    Pollution: A menace posed by mankind

Approximate Project dates: January, 2004-February, 2004

Representative list of participants: 32 students of 6^th grade of Karshi school #34 aged between 11-13 years, Uzbekistan

URL : http://www.geocities.com/doorstodiplomacy2004/training.html

Major project learning goals: To increase the awareness of Environmental problems, to inform students about the environmental problems of Uzbekistan, to teach the ways how to save nature proposed by Global Nature Organizations, to learn brainstorming, working in groups and to find the best solution.

Description of the collaboration results: Participants of GSN project Door to diplomacy -2004 of our school conducted training about environmental problems of Uzbekistan, about the steps that international diplomacy completed/completing in order to prevent the environmental problems. For the practical part of the training students was divided into groups, each group drew a poster where they expressed their relation to the environmental problems and the ways they propose to solve them. Each group presented their poster describing what they drew and wrote at the poster, in the end the trainers analyzed the results of students brainstorming and then students chose the best solutions among proposed ones to the environmental problems of Uzbekistan. Students homework was to write an essay about the importance of clean nature and environment. In result of completing this project students learned about the present environmental condition of Uzbekistan, introduces with the main environmental problems of Uzbekistan. They learned about the ways to save the nature clean, they learned to analyze all the possible ways of solving a problem and choose the most appropriate solutions and undoubtedly it made them to make a conclusion that it is very important to keep the nature clean.

Reflection of Shahnoza Hamidova, student of Karshi Academic lyceum Nuriston , participant of Door to diplomacy project 2003, Shahnoza accompanied by other participants of Doors to diplomacy -2003 conducted training for students about environmental problems and the ways of problem solution:

The children were discussing the problem of the town pollution and what do we do to prevent the consequences of absentminded actions of people think, the training impacted on students deeply, they realized how polluted the Earth is and what will be the result if they won t begin to save it. I also think that such kind of projects, training and events teach student to be a good citizen. Students become active in their communities, learning about the important issues that face them and taking part in devising and being a part of solutions which is very important in upbringing a good citizen

Online media or technologies used: Internet to search for materials of the training, Macromedia Dreamwearwer MX2004 to add web-link of the project, digital camera to take pictures.

International projects:

1)   GSN project Doors to Diplomacy - 2004, category of Healthcare and Environment

Approximate Project dates: Dec 2004 March 2004

Representative list of participants: 3 students, ages 15-16 worked together to complete this Doors to Diplomacy project, 2004.

Coaches: the teacher of English language Natalya Hamidova and teacher of Law Mohira Urinova; students: Shahnoza Hamidova is a student of Academic lyceum Nuriston , Shodiev Shohruh is a student of 11th grade of school #34, Eshonhodjaeva Shahnoza is a student of 9th grade of special boarding school in Karshi.

URL: www.geocities.com/doorstodiplomacy2004 or mirror website www.doorstodiplomacy.official.ws

Major project learning goals: To create web-project though collaboration research based on information about environmental and healthcare problems of Uzbekistan like air pollution, water pollution, soil pollution, and the main environmental problem of Uzbekistan drying of Aral Sea and how Uzbekistan collaborates with other countries to prevent them.

Description of the collaboration results: This web site is created like an educational research for pupils, community and people who are interested mainly in Environmental Problems and Healthcare of Uzbekistan and Uzbekistan as a whole. The project has been a wonderful motivation to learn about environment and healthcare in Uzbekistan and the world. The project have taught and made student realize how humankind is endangered because of environmental and health problems. It also taught them through unity, friendship and diplomacy people could achieve and reach optimal goals if they collaborate, unite, and work together to solve problems that earth faces nowadays. In the process of collaborating and working in groups students learnt to respect each others opinion, to do research of a particular topic and have expanded their outlook in many life spheres.

Comments (peer review) of students of Langston Hughes School East Orange, NJ United States (participants of the Doors to Diplomacy project, 2004): Well done. My favorite of the competition to date. You handled the task with the seriousness your topic deserved. I can tell you really understood the importance of your topic; you learned a lot and became Ambassadors for your cause. You truly deserve kudos for a job well done. All the time and energy, research and planning have paid off for the global community at large. In addition, you used all the technology possible in completing your project and you did it with a magical touch of warmth and humanity. I love the interactive game. But then I loved it all.

Online media or technologies used: team has been using 3 computers with Internet access; also digital camera, scanner, and printer. Also we used a lot of web-dictionaries and encyclopedias. Got familiarized with software like Internet, Microsoft Word, MS PowerPoint, Adobe Acrobat, and WordPad.

2)   International Email Exchange

Approximate Project dates: July 2004 November 2004

Representative list of participants: 10 students of the 7^th grade of Karshi school #34, aged between 11-13 years, Uzbekistan

URL: http://karshi34.connect.uz/collaboration2eng.html

Major project learning goals: The project brings together 42 participating countries to present 25 facts about their countries through e-mail correspondence.

Description of the collaboration results: Ten students spent months putting together the 25 facts and translating them. On October 11, School No. 34 students sent out their e-mail with 25 facts about Uzbekistan and three photographs. In result students received letters from 22 countries, which included 25 facts about a particular country each. Inspired by this activity, the students plan to create special web site devoted to learning about countries through 25 facts.

Reflection of one of the participants of the project, Chorshanbiev Abdumalik the student of 7^th grade of school #34: By the help of this project I got to know about 22 countries of the world think that the creation of this site will be very useful for us and for our correspondence. We will study facts about different countries of the world and gain new knowledge. By reaching out to classrooms around the world, schools such as ours can make significant steps towards cross cultural sharing and understanding.

Online media or technologies used: Adobe Reader 6.0 to open files, Microsoft Office, Internet to receive and send information and to make an online research, Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 to create the web link of the project, online dictionaries to define the meaning of unknown words.

Collaboration projects with American schools

1)    "THE WAY WE ARE"

Approximate Project dates: Sep, 10,2004 Dec 3

Representative list of participants: 10 students of 7^th grade of Karshi school #34 in Uzbekistan aged between 11-13 year worked in collaboration with 11 students of Miller Street Academy in Newark, NJ, USA

URL: http://karshi34.connect.uz/collaboration4eng.html

Major project learning goals: Students learn about school life of partner school, exchange pictures of daily school life, exchange information about lessons, school system, learning system and the way of life in school in general, finally they will compare it and identify similarities and differences.

Description of the collaboration results: As a result students got to know a lot about American students, their habits, school life, curriculum, about school in general and how students spend their time at school. After information exchange, students made a brainstorming session and found the differences and similarities in the way of school life of American and Uzbek students. In conclusion, both partners have created a Partner corner in their school, which described and reflected the most interesting facts about school life with the pictures of project participants.

Reflection of Shahnoza Suyunova student of 7^th grade of Karshi School #34:

I was always interested on how students in other countries study, what are their schools like, are they similar to ours and my favorite class was/is geography, that s why The way we are project was my favorite among all previous ones. We took pictures of our daily life and gathered after the lessons to write a reflection about our plain school day, our principal and teacher of English language helped us to describe out school system correctly, in general the project helped me to imagine the way American student are and of course our exchange helped American students to get to know the way the Uzbek students are J

Online media or technologies used: Digital camera to take pictures, Internet for pictures and letters exchange, online vocabulary in order to translate unfamiliar words, Macromedia Dream weaver MX 2004 to create the web-link of the project, Adobe Photoshop to edit images.

2)    Smiley Bear

Approximate Project dates: December, 2004-January, 2005

Representative list of participants: Project coordinator - kindergarten teacher Beth Smile of Robert Morris School in Elizabeth, NJ, 35 students of 7^th grade, 24 students of 6^th grade of Karshi School #34, Uzbekistan, aged between 11 13 years

URL: http://karshi34.connect.uz/collaborsmileyeng.html

Major project learning goals: students send their international partners a stuffed bear as a way to learn about geography and culture.

Description of the collaboration results: On December 10, Karshi School No. 34 received a package from Robert Morris School. The stuffed bear along with other presents and souvenirs from the United States were found in the package, including a puzzle of the Statue of Liberty and a long letter about Robert Morris School. Students have made an Uzbek costume for the bear and took him on a visit to the ancient sights of Samarkand. This project has helped Uzbek students to get to know about US landmarks, about New Jersey, and Robert Morris School, and it will help American students to get to know about Karshi, our students, and Uzbekistan in general.

Beth Smile reflected, Smiley Bear has brought teachers into my life from places that I will probably never see. These teachers have become my friends who share their ideas, joys, frustrations and lives with me.

Online media or technologies used: Digital camera to take pictures, Adobe Photoshop 7.0 to work with pictures, Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 to create the web-link of the project, Internet to exchange letters.

3)    My food habits and national cuisine

Approximate Project dates: November 2004 January 2005

Representative list of participants: 10 students of 7^th grade of Karshi school #34 in Uzbekistan aged between 11-13 years worked in collaboration with students of 6^th grade of Hillside Middle School in Manchester, USA aged between 10-12 years

URL: http://karshi34.connect.uz/collaboration5eng.html

Major project learning goals: Students exchange with pictures and letters to learn about food habits, way of life, favorite, types of food, expands outlook in sphere of national cuisines

Description of the collaboration results: Students work in collaboration with their parents to figure out the recipe of their favorite dish, to send it to their partner e-pal. Students work in-group to create a story about their school life. Students write about their food habits and types of food they have. In result of collaboration students learn about national cuisine of partner school, they introduce with food habits of their peers in other countries, by exchanging letters students improve their language and writing skills.

Reflection of Hujamkulov Otabek student of 7^th grade of Karshi School #34, participant of the project: I liked this project a lot, I got to know about national cuisine of Americans. Before we completed this project I knew nothing about Americans and their way of life. I also learned about the American holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving and Valentine s Day, I liked the friendly environment that our team made while working together writing stories and letters to our friends, pictures exchange allowed me to introduce with American culture visually. Now I am acquitted the food of Americans, their way of life, I know where America is located and I surely improved my language skills.

Online media or technologies used: Digital camera to take pictures, Internet for pictures and letters exchange, Macromedia Dream weaver MX 2004 to create the web link of the project, online vocabulary in order to translate unfamiliar words.

4)    A Global Day of Peace Art Project

Approximate Project dates: September 2004 - January 2005

Representative list of participants: 4 students of 9^th grade, 6 students of 7^th grade and 2 students of 8^th grade of Karshi school #34, Uzbekistan aged between 11-16 years.

URL: http://karshi34.connect.uz/collaboration3eng.html

Major project learning goals: The purpose of this project is for students from six schools in Southern Oregon and students from Uzbekistan to create art and send it to one another as a gift. The project is intended to be a fun and creative way for students to learn about people from other parts of the world and to encourage young people to develop a global perspective. In addition to the United States and Uzbekistan, students from China, Sierra Leone, Indonesia, Jamaica, Egypt, Thailand, Honduras, Romania, Hungary, Turkey, Italy, Spain, Bulgaria, the Ukraine, and Azerbaijan will participate in the project.

Description of the collaboration results: The art have been put on display in Medford, Oregon in January 2005 and then will be put on display at some of the participating schools from January through June. Once the art has returned to Oregon next summer, the collection of art will be sold in a fundraising event to raise money for global causes. In exchange for a small donation to a charity organization, a person would receive a piece of artwork of their choice. Karshi School No. 34 has contributed a total of 40 drawings total to the project. While my trip to USA I have brought the artwork to showcase in Washington, DC, and then sent it on to Oregon.

My reflection: We chose this project, because it has several goals. It allows children to get to know others though art, to get to know about other cultures and their way of life. Also this project teaches children to be merciful and kind, because some of the drawings are going to be sold at the exhibition, and the earnings will be spent to help people in need. This project helps children to take part in making the world better!

Online media or technologies used: Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 to create the web link of the project, scanner to scan the pictures, Internet to communicate with the project coordinator.

By my mind, the two most successful projects my students and I have completed are the GSN International project Doors to Diplomacy and an international project International Email Exchange .

GSN International project Doors to Diplomacy

Outcomes- (taken from the Doors to diplomacy project Narrative written by 3 students aged between 15-16 year):

We had a large activity with students of Academic Lyceum and school#34, in both we had organized a conference about environment and health care in Uzbekistan, where we discussed environment and health issues of present and how diplomacy relates to the issues. The next day we passed out surveys with questions concerning to environment and healthcare and what could they do to make the conditions of living better to each participant of the conference, a lot of students were enthusiastically interested in conference and our team decided to launch a small union of CLEANATUREKEEPERS , who are going to take care of the surrounding areas of school. Lots of students were interested in participating, so we can say that our activity brought some use even outside the project, we also sent address of our website to our friends and organizations and asked them to analyze our web-project, also Shahnoza have been showing the project to her friends and classmates in lyceum on her laptop. Students were amazed how cool our project was and asked if they could participate in the future projects. Our project greatly influenced our team, we understood that we want to live in a clean environment and be healthy, so we decided to find some sympathizers who would share our ideas to make our surrounding better, so after we made a conference as it was said above we created CLEANNATUREKEEPERS union. We planted some trees around school # 34, Academic lyceum Nuriston and the boarding school. Nowadays our group is searching for sponsors so we can expand our activity. Also by the help of our union we repaired the water system of the school #34 where the water was leaking all the time. Shohruh (participant and now supervisor of the union) and a volunteer of water system department brought tools from their houses and repaired the water pipe. Now the water pipe of this school is much better than before. Also our union made a big collage about harm of burning dry leaves, so now the cleanness of the school#34 and Academic lyceum is under our control.

Surprises and lessons learned Students were surprised to find out that Internet includes so much of interesting information about Uzbekistan; also they were surprised to know that there are so many funds in Uzbekistan, which help to solve problems in various areas. Lessons: They became more experienced in the sphere of environment and healthcare and with the help of this project we are motivated to do good things for protecting our environment and discovered that the main thing in working as a team is respecting each other and pay attention to each other s advices and opinions.

Obstacles (taken from the Doors to diplomacy project Narrative written by 3 students aged between 15-16 year)

1) First of all we had problems with the language, the only person who was fluent in English was Shahnoza H, while other students and the teacher of law knew English on a fair level where they good understand the text and documentation, but could not express themselves in English well enough. It took us extra time to translate some of the documents in order to make everything clear and that there is no miscommunication. 2) Because of electrical problems we couldn t access the Internet for about a week, this created a little delay in our completion of the project. 3) Shahnoza H. had to prepare for the National Debating tournament so she had to work late at nights on project related materials. 4) Cultural aspect was another little problem, interviewing officials was a little awkward because this is new to us. It might sound unexplainable, but we live in a small city, therefore that type of projects do not happen very often here, but all the officials were happy to answer our questions and were very curious about project themselves.

Students work: http://karshi34..connect.uz/ecology/insholar.html - check out the link with the essay about environmental activities of our school written by the participant of the Doors to Diplomacy project Shahnoza Hamidova, the essay was written after students have completed the project.

 International Email Exchange

Outcomes- This project has widely expanded the knowledge about 22 various countries of the world. While creating facts about Uzbekistan students made a research and learned about their own country and culture too. Also students worked as ambassadors in order to share with the information and facts that they received from their partner-countries, students translated facts into Uzbek and created a Corner called Get to know about the country though 25 facts in the school, now every student at school can read and learn interesting facts about 22 countries of the world. At the present moment students working on elaborating a web site based on the facts that they received from participants-countries. By reaching out to classrooms around the world, school such as ours makes significant steps towards cross-cultural sharing and understanding.

Surprises- students were surprised to know that they haven t even heard about some countries for example a country in West Africa called Burkina Faso.

Lessons learned Students learned:

Creating, imagining and innovating during working with the project students were creating facts about Uzbekistan, while receiving and learning the facts about other countries they were imagining the country itself though the facts and pictures, while creating the facts students were innovating new ways of presenting information in order to interest the readers.

Thinking interdependently Students realized that all of them together are more powerful, intellectually and physically, they realized that no one person can consider as many alternatives as several people can.

Listening to Others with Understanding and Empathy student learned to devote their mental energies to listening to other speakers and thinking though their positions. This is a very complex skill, requiring the ability to monitor one s own thoughts while attending to someone else s words.

Obstacles The main obstacle we had to overcome was language. Students in our school study English as a second foreign language, they study three languages in general: Uzbek, Russian and English. But students worked hard to improve their language skills though online dictionaries and online English Language self-tutors. Also sometimes students could not express a particular fact in a right way, we overcame this problem by involving parents into the project, parents helped their children to express their thoughts correctly in order to make an exact fact.

Feedbacks- (email from Croatia)-

I'm Rozalija Baricevic, a participant in Mrs.Biltucci's International e-mail exchange, from Croatia. I teach in the elementary school "Ivan Goran Kovacic", Slavonski Brod.
I liked your project about Uzbekistan very much, as well as my pupils. We learned so much about your country. I am very thankful to this project, we got to know so much about countries. I liked your facts the best, as we never studied about Asia. Some students didn t even know where and what is Uzbekistan.
Every year in May we publish out school magazine in English called Stage.
We would like to have you and your pupils in it, too as we thought your facts are the most unforgettable and the most educational. Please, let me know if you are interested in. Kind regards from Croatia! Sincerely, Rozalija

Participation in the GSN project Doors to Diplomacy has given me a big experience in managing a team of students in implementing a project.

As the practice show the most effective way of collaboration is interactive group or teamwork. Very often teamwork is the only choice for solving complex problems, or for creating complex tool, for creating a product. Multiple talents are essential. Work in team helps students to find the best solution, because several opinions are better than one. Working together students come up with new solutions to old problems, discover new principles and invent new products. They create new way of communication and find creative ways to manage a process.

We use Internet a lot to communicate and exchange information, because most of our projects are completed in collaboration with students from other countries or cities of Uzbekistan. Students meet online in chats, messengers or forums. My students and I usually arrange online Conferences or online discussions in order to discuss questions related to the project, we meet at forums to introduce ourselves or to exchange with information.

It is also important to encourage students teamwork. When students have invested their time and energy in a successful project I help the to acknowledge what they have accomplished, including parents, teachers or community members who also took part or was involved into the project. I usually arrange a special event such as a reception, ceremony or a presentation of certificates. I think when other students see the result of work and achievements of their peers the also get empowered to take part in project in order to be a direct participant of such kind of exiting event too.

Before choosing a project or elaborating a project I usually look if this project accords to our school system educational standards.

As I teach English my aim is to develop an overall comprehension of English language in speaking, writing and talking. Taking part in culture exchange projects with American schools, my students got a possibility to communicate with native speakers in English and improve their reading and writing skills.

Besides that students expand their knowledge of history, geography and computer science.

Also the standards of education in Uzbekistan require to conduct activities related to topic How to become a good citizen . IEARN projects we have completed also directed to upbringing good citizens, so that means that IEARN projects were a fun way for students to learn some important things about this topic.

The project International Email Exchange was one of the most educational projects students ever completed, because by the help of this projects students enriched their knowledge about 22 countries, about geographical, political, economic, cultural, social position of this countries. This project has touched several subjects that students learn about at school.

Nowadays one of the most required skills for students is to know how to use computer and Internet, by the help of projects students have fulfilled students widely improved their computer and Internet using abilities.

Reflection about how did students activities and research for the Doors to Diplomacy Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards? ( Taken from the project Narrative of Doors to Diplomacy project written by 3 students I coached):

While creating the project we got to know a lot of useful information in many areas of sciences like law, international affairs, functions of embassy, governmental structures, computer science, and civics. While using resources of Internet, we learned how to use digital camera and scanner, utilize search engine GOOGLE and Rambler (favorite ones) and improved typing skills on computer. Also we have learned to communicate with people like ambassadors, while being delicate, polite and professional. Also we increased the level of our knowledge in healthcare, how to prevent ourselves from illnesses; environment where we learned that if every person is going to take care after nature we will be able to make the world cleaner and healthier. We also have learned how to create a web page, and members of our team have improved their English language skills. We have become acquainted with the positive steps of diplomatic relations which are currently being undertaken, the creation of project have helped us to understand various ways of creating better future. Participating in this project gave us an opportunity to improve our leadership traits by organizing seminars, conferences and attracting community to our activities. But the main thing is we learned to listen and respect opinion of each other and work as a team.

I think, student who have an opportunity to discuss, analyze, and reflect on their learning experience are more likely to retain and use their knowledge and skills. Analyzing the results of the project helps students take what they have learned and transfer it to the next project or an assignment. In the end of each project the participants of the project and I evaluate the project result. The questions or the topics for the evaluating discussion usually focused on content, process and outcomes for the project. I usually do the evaluation collaboratively with students.

When assessing we usually discuss following questions:

-       What did we learn?

-       Did we collaborate effectively?

-       What skills we learned?

-       What skills do we need to practice?

-       What was the quality of our work?

-       Where can we improve?

The other way I evaluate the project result is products created during or in result of teamwork. Bellow there are some examples of products we have made in order to assess completed projects:

Research paper A product like a simple essay, reflection or just a research notes.

Reports- sometimes students write reports on some projects. In reports they usually describe the activities they accomplished, analyze of the project, results and outcomes of the project. What they have learned in general and personally.

Multimedia shows or project web-links students create a web link of the project they have completed. Web link usually consist of project description, description of research or other work they did during working with the project and the outcomes.

Presentations within the school students present or create a product to a school wide scope, for example creating a corner with interesting information or facts that students received or learned in the process of working.

I also assess students looking on how they behave in team, on how actively they work, and I also attract my attention on students responsibility and the quality or accomplishing given tasks.

Unfortunately there are no links documents that include clear statements of learning objectives and outcomes, and any assessment instruments or strategies, but you can visit the web link to all projects we completed with American schools, there you can find information about objectives and results of our projects: http://karshi34..connect.uz/collaborationeng.html

Our school is connected to Internet since November 2003. But in this short period, students and teachers of our school achieved very good results using IT in the classroom and using Internet resources, contests and projects as an extracurricular activity. In general integration of IT and OCL into the classroom has totally changed the environment in the classroom, students world outlook and their relation to education.

As the major of the projects we completed were collaboration projects with American schools aimed at cultural exchange, I can state that by the time students completed several projects related to cultural exchange students became more tolerant to other cultures. They learned to respect other cultures as well as their own. While seeking and gathering materials about Uzbek culture students also realized how rich Uzbek culture is.

Participation in Door to Diplomacy project, in category of Healthcare and Environment has totally changed student s relation to global environmental conditions and International Diplomatic Relations between countries. By my mind this was the first time when students realized the importance of saving nature. How important it is to aware people about environmental problems. Students realized that work in groups gives more results and benefit than to work individually. They also understood that International Diplomacy is a big power that can make great big changes in the world in order to make the life better; that there are no use from wars and conflicts; that if countries unite they can make much more to solve a problem which can become global, if it won t be solved in time. Finally students understood that human beings are closely connected with nature, and that clean environment is the main life criteria and that they should use the resources of nature carefully and solve problems diplomatically.

IEARN projects such as Good deeds , Crafts for education , A Global Day of Peace Art Exchange has also positively influenced on minds of students. I noticed that they became more responsible, helpful and merciful. Students were proud from the fact that they were helpful to people in need, that they showed their respects to veterans, I think it is also a very important aspect in up bringing a good citizen.

In general they changed their relation to usage of Internet and collaborative work. They got to know that by the help of Internet they can improve themselves in many areas, that they can arrange various fund rising events in order to help people in need, that by the help of Internet they can increase the awareness of global problems among student, teachers and community members.

Taking part in online collaborative projects my students changed a lot, they became more advanced and made progress in learning; they developed various life important mind habits and skills, the ones like:

-       Speaking students learned to persuade people by their speech, by conducting presentations and involving others into the project they learned public speaking, and of course students learned debating.

-       Presenting- planning and making oral presentations

-       Writing writing letters to partners, writing reports, writing essays, research notes.

-       Translating translating from Uzbek to English, from English to Uzbek, converting information from one format to another.

-       Note taking concluding ideas, summarizing gathered materials.

-       Problem solving and critical thinking while working with projects students learned to analyze information, extend, seeking and giving comprehensive explanations, generate ideas, they also learned to define and describe problems.

-       Using Internet using Internet for an online research, for communication and discussing project issues.

-       Using other software applications in the process of working with projects students learned to use software like Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Office, Dreamweaver MX, Paint, etc.

-       Using other technologies (digital camera, web cam, audio recorders, etc) students learned to use digital camera while taking necessary pictures for the project, while interviewing officials students learned to use audio recorders, while communicating with partner school in USA and making a cultural exchange students learned to use web cams.

-       Listening listening to other opinions

-       Conflict solving usually happens in teams; students solve conflicts using compromise and agree-to-disagree strategies

-       Communication with people giving and conducting interviews, presenting projects, discussing project issues with partners.

-       Evaluating students learn to evaluate the result of their work, they learn to evaluate collaboratively and individually.

I think this is very important habits and skills, as students will use life long. Besides learning subjects at school, teachers are also responsible for student s upbringing and developing various skills of students. That s why I think; OCL is one of the most effective ways of overall mental development.

http://www.iearn.org/uzbekistan-connectivity/

A lot of changes has happened since I am involved into OCL, first of all I changed my life style and relations to my students, by interacting with other teachers I got acquitted with other opinions and ways of using OCL in the classroom, a lot of teachers I interacted with became my close friends.

I think I became more involved into a school life; OCL and work with students became one of my main occupations. Online Collaborative Learning has changed my outlook about IT, I found it a creative way of learning, and I began to pay more attention to my self-educating.

My habits have totally changed, I began to focus more attention to work with students and myself, and I became more responsible for lessons I conduct.

No doubt that I have met challenges during collaborative projects, one of the main ones are while collaborating with schools from different countries it was hard to choose or elaborate a project that accorded to standards and interests of my students and their partners. Also there was a difficulty of understanding students letter sometimes as the cultures of students differ.

I also want to mention that I have learned all the same things and skills that my students learned from their partners as I worked with my students not as a teacher but also as a participant of the project. As I am a teacher of English language it was useful for me to get to know about American culture, geographical facts, history, etc.

I really liked that all people in USA love their Motherland, it also changed some of my thoughts about the place where I live, and I think I began to appreciate my Motherland more.

As a coordinator of an IEARN club at Karshi School #34, I promote IEARN projects in my school and in cities nearby. More information about IEARN: http://iearn.org/

Working with several project of IEARN, completion of online IEARN courses, gave me a possibility to acquit with methods of using PBL (projects based on learning) in the classroom and attendance of IEARN training How to create an IEARN club at school and promote IEARN projects to students and teachers made me more experienced on how to promote projects among teachers and students.

I conduct trainings for teachers and students of our school in order to interest and involve them into IEARN club activities of our school. At the training I usually explain the differences in traditional learning and learning though PBL, I describe the advantages of PBL and the impact of PBL on students, than I present IEARN projects and introduce students the ways they can integrate this projects into the classroom. The same thing I do in the cities nearby when I conduct introductory trainings about IEARN.

My students and I keep in touch and collaborate with American schools, I have promoted IEARN project to American teachers too, I send Power Point presentations of IEARN projects so they could introduce with the projects and we choose one the most accordable to our curriculum standards project. When promoting IEARN projects to teachers abroad I work in close connection with the IEARN Center in Uzbekistan, when I find a new partner school interested in collaborating I ask the coordinator of IEARN Center in Uzbekistan Anatoly Kochnev to write an official letter inviting a teacher to take part in the projects.

My students and I had a very good experience completing an IEARN project Get to know other in collaboration with Miami Country Day school, Florida, USA, for more information about the project please visit: http://karshi34.connect.uz/collaboration1eng.html

I also work in collaboration with teachers who promote IEARN projects in other cities in Uzbekistan. We work together to promote IEARN projects in our schools and connect Uzbekistan schools by the help of IEARN project.

As a result of my collaboration with IEARN club coordinator in Namangan school #58 we both involved students and teachers to conduct a project called History of Native Land . Students and teachers of our school and Namangan school #58 elaborated a project idea, they decided to create a website dedicated to differences in celebrating weddings in Namangan and Karshi cities, as in different cities of Uzbekistan traditions and wedding celebrations differ. Students made a research in their cities in order to find information about wedding celebrations then they exchanged with information they got. Students looked though the information of their partner school and wrote comments about differences and similarities in wedding celebration. In final they reflected their research and conclusion online, they created a web site called Uzbegim to ylari which means Uzbek celebrations in Uzbek, check out the web site: http://namangan58.connect.uz/uzb/sites/index.htm (Note: the website is in Uzbek)

Besides IEARN we elaborate our own projects according to curriculum standards of our school and partner school, to the level of knowledge of students and their interests.

That's why I mainly assist students in planning the project, in analyzing the information and research facts, and in assessing the results of completed project.

I usually begin project by arranging a conversation about topics related to a new project, in process of brainstorming I figure out the students who are most interested in the project and what is the level of their awareness about a given topic.

What I usually do to assist students to complete a project successfully:

-         Orient students to the goals of the project, not only at the beginning, but also on a regular basis as the project progresses.

-         Communicate next steps to help them to stay on task.

-         Group student appropriately. Students work big groups in small groups or individually. So when planning a project students and I decide what way we are going to work.

-         Organize the project on daily basis, organize a step-by-step plan and supervise in completing the steps

-          Monitor and regulate student s behavior. I work with student on how to work effectively, especially if student is passive. Give students time limits. Students need time limits and directions for managing their time.

-         Manage the homework. I usually collect the sheets with student s homework or other assignments in a right time.

-         Manage the use of Internet- students have to learn to find information on the Internet efficiently. For my projects I don t just turn students loose and say, go look up something. First I preview some useful web sites and give students a list of sites to start with them.

-         Evaluation (assess the project results) I do it in to make students realize and recognize what has been learned and what has not been learned.

In the process of working with the project I try to create an optimal learning and friendly environment among students. I usually try behaving not like a coach, but as a supportive participant of the project in order to bring students together, make them closer in order to achieve the best results.

Also in order to direct or to orient students into a project I show students examples of excellent work of other students who have ever completed this project, as I think sometimes students don t know what they are working toward.

For example I show students the examples of what was done a year before by other students or other school. It boosts the quality of projects students want to be better than the other students did last year.

I think that the most empowering for teachers is to see the success of other teachers.

That s why by my opinion, the fact that I have successfully integrated PBL into the classroom empowered other teachers of our school to take part in Online Collaborative Learning.

I was the first teacher at our school that integrated Internet into the classroom. At teachers weekly meeting I was asked to share my impressions about integration of Internet into the classroom, as two years ago Internet was an innovation at our school.

I shared my opinion about online resources and methods I used at the lesson and how it differed from a plain lesson. I think this was the first step in empowering teacher to use online collaborative learning.

I began my work with PBL and OCL, I think this is the main reason I have improved my English language skills and my teaching skills.

Soon when I became more advanced in using IT and interactive methods at the lessons, I began to take part in monthly online contest called The best lesson plan using IT , the contest required to elaborate a lesson plan using handouts and resources from Internet, I took part four times I and each time I was a finalist of this contest.

This gave me an opportunity to conduct trainings How to use Internet resources in education and how to elaborate lesson plan using online collaborative learning and projects based on learning for other teachers in town where I live and other cities nearby.

At the trainings I have been introducing teachers with what an online project is, how Internet resources benefit on education and what are the advantages of online collaborative learning. I encouraged teachers to use online collaborative learning at the lessons basing on examples of my personal experience.

Major of teachers who attended my trainings became very advanced in sphere of IT and at the present moment actively use Online Collaborative Learning.

The best example on how I empowered other teachers to use online collaborative learning is a Teacher of computer science Emil Galipot from Shahrizabs school #93 (Shahrizabs is one of the Uzbekistan cities near Karshi). Shahrizabs school #93 was also recently connected to Internet and I was invited there to share my experience on using Online Collaborative Learning in the classroom. Emil Garipov actively participated in my training.

As he said: Natalya Hamidova was the teacher who empowered me to use Internet in order to improve my teaching skills and increase students progress, I am glad that I had a chance to attend her training that day.

Here you can check out all advantages that Emil achieved since he got involved into online collaborative learning:

http://www.connect.uz/best_month..php?t=7&id=490 &PHPSESSID=ee685284170994643ca091c59ece0ead

What are the biggest challenges or obstacles you have encountered in conducting OCL projects?

As has been mentioned above one of the biggest obstacles we had to overcome was a language barrier, as students learn English as their second foreign language. Students had some difficulties in translating or reading materials sent by their American partner schools. But working all together students overcame this obstacle, they worked together searching in online dictionaries and I helped them to with English grammar.

The second obstacle was the time difference between America and Uzbekistan, USA was 10 hour back, so during communicating in forums, chats and conducting online conferences students had to stay late in the evenings to discuss project issues while it was morning time in USA.

The last one is postal exchange, some of our projects required to exchange with packages though post-mail. It is being hard as sending a package to USA cost very expensive in Uzbekistan. So we solve this problem by passing the package with people who goes to USA from Uzbekistan.

What could GSN do to help you meet those challenges or overcome those obstacles? You may want to suggest possible new online organizing and conducting an OCL project easier?

In comparison to developed countries such as USA, Germany, Canada, Australia, etc. Uzbekistan is still a developing country. Therefore the educational system in Uzbekistan and supplement with necessary equipment such as computers, Internet and other software is still at a low level. Therefore students are less experienced in working with OCL and online projects in general. Therefore, sometimes it is very hard to take part in GSN projects, as students do not have enough experience and necessary skills. So I would suggest GSN to pay more attention to the IT access and language abilities of students while evaluating projects. Finally, I want to suggest an idea to create specific and targeted projects especially for countries where OCL is in the stage of development for countries like Kazakstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, etc. in order to boost the knowledge and use of IT.