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Dear Principles, Administrators and colleagues, My name is Chiara Pasquini (chiara.pas@gmail.com). I teach English at something between a high school and 2-year college (in comparison to the US educational system), the Istituto Tecnico industriale G. Marconi, situated in the town of Rovereto (in the Province of Trento), in Northern Italy, near Verona and close to the Austrian border (site: http://www.marconirovereto.it – an English version will be available soon). Ours is a large school, with over one thousand pupils aged 14-18 and two hundred teachers. It lasts 5 years and embodies two fundamental kinds of Italian high schools : the “Liceo scientifico tecnologico” (Technical-Scientific Lyceum), and the “Istituto tecnico Industriale” (Technical Institute). The “Liceo” or Lyceum is oriented towards studying both Arts and Sciences, and is conceived as a university preparatory course. The “Istituto tecnico” is more oriented towards practical subjects, in our case Electronics, Computer Science etc. At the end of the course, pupils become qualified technicians and decide whether to work or enroll in a university. The school is well- rooted in our socio-economical system, and has a number of alliances with universities, industries and cultural agencies on a local, national and European international level. We would be very pleased to establish a so-called “twinning” or cooperation with an American school to enlarge our horizons, letting students and optionally teachers discuss educational themes to be chosen or develop projects together. We and our students are interested in a variety of topics and carry out many extra-curricular lab and technical projects, a campaign to support schools in developing countries, and activities such as theatre performances, ballets, concerts, sports competitions etc. Nevertheless, we suppose that it would be much easier to start a partnership with our students communicating among one another quite freely, about their lives, interests and their countries, with some minimal support from their teachers. Our students, for example, would be very pleased to talk about our politically autonomous region of "Trentino-Alto Adige/South Tyrol” and the way we collaborate on enacting laws on economic, social and environmental issues, while they would be extremely interested in learning about life in the US communicating directly with American students, rather than resorting to mass media. In an optional second year of partnership, if you wish, we may carry out a more complex or structured project. We intend to create a group of students (about 16) selected from our different fourth- year courses (age 17), to work on the twinning in extra-curricular hours (afternoons), Communication may occur in a simple way (either via e-mail exchange or blogs) or in a more structured way (creation of a virtual class, for example on our e-learning platform, via webconferencing, etc.) and the final product may be something quite simple, like a collection of significant mails or a blog, or something more articulated, like a site. We are open to any suggestions. Teachers may participate as well by choosing their level of involvement, from a very simple one, minimally supporting the students in their communication, or also exchanging materials and discussing methodological issues with the Italian staff. I personally work with some colleagues of mine in a project devoted to improving our e-learning and e-teaching skills (creation of e-learning modules to suit our students’ needs) and we would be greatly interested in discussing this with our U.S. colleagues. Local school authorities have provided us funding to arrange students’ visits in extra-European schools, which may range from either one day or a few days, while the overall journey may last ten days. We would therefore be very glad to visit your school in the spring, just as we would be pleased to host American students, teachers and administrators/principles at their convenience. We may find an accommodation in a hotel or hostel, however it would be much more educational if we could be privately hosted by your students and privately host you in return, to promote a better understanding of life abroad and provide a chance for global interpersonal relationships. We would very highly view the opportunity to host American students and colleagues, to show our school and drive you around our Province of “Trentino”, one of the most beautiful Italian Alpine regions (http://www.aptrovereto.it/welcome.htm; http://www.trentino.to/home/index.html?_lang=en;http://www.apt.trento.it/English/ENG_Home.htm;http://www.gardainforma.com/en/village/index.html) and to the nearby city of Venice as well. Our students may host your students in some classes in the morning and organize a special event for their American colleagues, involving the school's theatre, ballet, music and sports groups . We understand, however, that you may have organizational problems, especially in the short term. In this case we could start with us coming there in the spring of 2007 (April or May) and wait for the best time for you to come and visit us in the future. We sincerely hope to stimulate your interest and be able to create a twinning with your school. If this might not be possible, we would be very grateful if you would be so kind and forward this invitation to a school, with which you have contact and might possibly be interested. I would like to thank you for your attention and am greatly looking forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, Chiara Pasquini (High school teacher)
Last updated: November 7, 2006 |