Archives for January 2011

Yemen has been in the news plenty over the past 18 months.And most of it negative. This BBC News timeline sets the scene.

Reports of Al Qaeda activity from a country on the brink of civil war may cause UK schools to shy away from Yemeni links, and that is understandable.

But a school in Chester has developed flourishing links with two Yemeni schools. Is it time to think again?

We were thinking about this because of a message which arrived in the World Class inbox over the weekend. We first worked with Upton High School's Deputy Head Sylvie Beuzet in 2009 when BBC Four broadcast Syrian School, a documentary series following schools in Damascus through a single academic year.

Working with the British Council, we offered UK schools the opportunity to twin with a school in the Arab world - and Sylvie drew on her experience of linking her school in Chester with Yemeni schools to write a 'Get Started' schools pack which is still available on the World Class website in English and translated into Arabic.

Upton High got in touch this week to tell us that - for the first time since they had started twinning with Yemeni schools in 2008 - pupils from Chester and Sanaa had had an opportunity to meet up face to face.

This happened in November when pupils from the UK and Yemen attended a British Council Connecting Classrooms conference in Istanbul.

Pupils visited the Blue Mosque together - Sylvie sent us this picture - where Yemeni pupils were able to explain the prayer rituals, symbols and artefacts to their British friends.

After the visit, Chester pupils commented:

"It was exciting and interesting to talk to people with such different customs and traditions, who are enthusiastic and proud of their nationality and were so happy to share their knowledge with us. I am sure we've all come back as new people! " 

"The trip really helped me to understand different cultures and appreciate people's beliefs and customs. I was able to acquire knowledge about both Yemeni and Turkish cultures... this was incredibly enriching and informative."

Roz Thompson, another Upton teacher who attended the conference, told us that the pupils connected despite the news agenda. "During our visit to Istanbul there was a lot of negative press surrounding the Yemen in the UK,” she wrote.“Being able to establish friendships with our Yemeni partners, in an adverse climate,  made it more relevant to the importance of forging positive connections with students in the Middle East."

Does the news agenda affect your school partnership? Please add your comments below...

It’s fair to say the World Class team haven’t had much sleep over the last couple of weeks. After spending six months working on the Olympic Dreams project, just one weekend event would prove whether the project would set off faster than Usain Bolt at the starting blocks or belly flop like a badly executed dive.

With 140 people representing 89 schools from 17 different countries in one room, anything could happen.

The schools arrived in London on Friday and were greeted by British Council representatives. When everyone came together in the evening and met their partners for the first time there was a great buzz.

Teachers and students had travelled from all over the world and a range of timezones. At 7pm in London, it was 1am for the Indian Schools, 3am for the Chinese schools and 12pm for the American schools. From the first evening it was clear that it would be a weekend to remember.

The event at the British Museum kicked off with a video message from four-time Olympic gold medallist and face of World Olympic Dreams Matthew Pinsent.

The weekend was jam-packed full of activities giving teachers and pupils the opportunity to shape and plan their partnership. It was the BBC’s chance to talk to them about becoming journalists and film makers to tell their school's stories. It was the schools' opportunity to get a crash course in international partnerships from the British Council. How did we manage it?

At the end of the event, UK schools invited the athletes'schools to return with them for a visit.

Over the next 18 months we’ll be working with the network of schools to help develop their partnerships and tell the stories of their journey to 2012. We want your school to twin for 2012 - find out more at World Class