International Programs

International Classroom Partnerships Continue

The International Classroom Partnerships established last year between four Illinois high schools and four high schools in Romania continue to flourish! The partner classrooms are continuing to work together on joint learning activities that help students learn basic economic concepts and apply them to issues in their families, communities, and countries. The classrooms use e-mail and the International Classroom website (www.internationalclassroom.net) to communicate and share work, including pictures of student activities.

One of these partnerships shifted to a new U.S. school, as partner teacher David Travis moved from Kaneland High School to Addison Trail High School. David continues to partner with Octavian (Tavi) Pop at Brukenthal School in Sibiu, Romania. The other partnerships are Bloomington High School and Scoala Centrala in Bucharest (Amanda Van Allen and Maria Lacatus, teachers); Dunbar Vocational Academy and Grupul Scholar Energetic in Sibiu (Matt King and Florin Teodorescu, teachers); and Harlem High School – Machesney Park and Tudor Vladirimescu High School in Bucharest (Brad Sweet and Mihai Nazdravan, teachers).

Brukenthal also continues to maintain a partnership with Kaneland High School through student exchanges. Kaneland sent nine students and two teachers to Sibiu at the end of October to take part in Brukenthal’s 625th anniversary celebration. The celebration included presentations by students from both Brukenthal and Kaneland about their “Ideal Cities” projects (part of the Classroom Partnership) from the previous school year. The schools are now working to raise money to bring the Brukenthal host students to the U.S. for a visit in Spring 2006.

ICEE President Joanne Dempsey also participated in the Brukenthal celebration, and visited all of the partner schools in Romania to talk with teachers, students and administrators about the value of the partnership program. Dempsey found that all of the schools had especially valued the interactive nature of the learning activities, the process of working in cooperative work groups, and the application of economic concepts to real life issues and concerns.

The classroom partnerships are funded through a grant from the National Council on Economic Education as part of the EconomicsInternational program. NCEE funding for the international classroom partnership programs comes through a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, in cooperation with the Department of State. The student exchange between Brukenthal and Kaneland was separately funded through private contributions.

Opportunities for Classroom Partnerships

Teachers interested in creating a classroom partnership with a teacher in another country will soon have access to a handbook that provides guidelines for economic education partnerships. The “International Classroom Partnerships Handbook,” published by the National Council on Economic Education, will provide teachers with information on making connections to international teachers, guidelines for an economic education partnership, and suggestions for activities to use in partnership programs. Many of the activities from NCEE curriculum materials lend themselves well to this type of partnership program. The handbook, written by ICEE President Joanne Dempsey with contributions from current partnership teachers, is tentatively scheduled for publication in late Spring 2006.

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