Meet the 2021 ASEFClassNet School Collaboration Facilitators!
This year, two ASEFClassNet School Collaborations are taking place that focus on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) & Global Citizenship as well as Digital Competences of teachers, with a particular focus on SDG 3 (Health & Well-being) and SDG 5(Gender Equality).
After a competitive application and interview process, 8 educators from Asia and Europe were selected to lead the ASEF ClassNet School Collaborations in 2021.
(1) Facilitators of the “Well-being of Teachers & Students” Project
This school collaboration invites secondary and vocational teachers to jointly create a Handbook that collects Pedagogical Stories from Asia & Europe. The stories illustrate how teachers in different educational & cultural contexts approach their subjects in an online context and give insights into techniques and tools they use to ensure a holistic learning environment for their students. The selected school collaboration Facilitators are:
Here is a brief introduction of the Facilitators:
Ms Geeta RAJAN Head, International Affairs, St. Mark’s Senior Secondary Public School, Meera Bagh, India
Geeta is the Head of International Affairs at St. Mark’s Senior Secondary Public School in Meera Bagh, New Delhi, India. An ardent believer of going beyond the four walls of a classroom, Geeta initiated the use of ICT (Information & Communication Technology) in her classrooms even when it was just an idea in many parts of the world. She encouraged her students to learn beyond classrooms and empowered them to engage in a plethora of collaborative projects with students from all parts of the world. Together with their peers, her students have written books, designed magazines, and websites. They have also won multiple national & international awards. With an experience that spans more than a decade, Geeta believes that cross-country education is crucial to prepare her students with the mindsets needed for a global world. She is an ASEF ClassNet alumnus.
Ms Seema ARORA, TGT English, St. Mark’s Senior Secondary Public School, Meera Bagh, India
Seema is a senior English Teacher in St. Mark’s Sr. Sec. Public School, Meera Bagh. She has been an alumnus of ASEF ClassNet since 2010 when her school hosted the 9th ASEF conference in New Delhi. She has participated in several ASEF projects and has also coordinated many award-winning projects. She has successfully led student delegations to partner schools in Greece, Slovenia, and Malaysia. In 2020, Seema participated in the ASEF ClassNet School Collaboration “A New Education Scenario: Wellbeing of Teachers, Students & Parents” wherein she represented her school and her country in two activities, “Better Together-Parents and Teachers” and “Cross-Country Education.”
*Seema was nominated by her school to co-coordinate this project together with her colleague, Ms Geeta Rajan.
Ms Daiva VAIŠNORIENĖ, Project coordinator, Kaunas Waldorf School, Lithuania
Daiva is a project coordinator and IT teacher at Kaunas Waldorf School. She has a bachelor’s degree in Information Technologies (Lithuania) and two Master’s degrees: in Education Technologies (Lithuania) and Distance Teaching Methods in Higher Education (Belgium). During her 20 years of working experience, she worked in secondary schools in Kaunas, Kaunas College, in Distance Learning Studio in the Lithuanian University of Agriculture, an international team leader in the IT company, and finally turn back to the school. Daiva is also a co-founder of an NGO “The House of activity and Creativity” which is acting in a local community. Daiva is interested in user-friendly and sustainable Information Technology (IT) tools for day-to-day use both in her daily life and in her classroom. In her activities, she involves people in participatory amateur art activities for building and supporting communities.
Ms Cristina DRESCAN Teacher, Teacher Trainer & Project Manager, Liceul Tehnologic Lucian Blaga, Romania
Cristina Drescan can look back on a 33-year teaching career, 24-year project experience, and a 23-year teacher trainer activity. Being an English-German teacher and eager to bring improvements to the way languages and skills are taught and practiced. She has continuously sought to involve her students and fellow teachers in innovative education projects. Some of these projects were either initiated by cultural, social, educational institutions (e.g. Goethe Institut — ´Der Wolf´, ´Was if Gedächtnis bleibt´; British Council — Global Education, Literature Month; Save the Children) or civic movements (Let’s Do It, Shoebox). While working on various types of projects she found that bilateral school exchange projects are usually very successful. However, in the long run, projects like Comenius and now Erasmus+ have a greater impact. Some of her latest youth projects are Bina Mira and Peace Camp that creates scopes for young people to meet regularly and benefit from creative workshops that are life-changing.
Ms April LEE, Head of Department Character & Citizenship Education, Woodlands Secondary School, Singapore
April is a Nutrition and Food Science Teacher and Head of the Department for Character and Citizenship Education at Woodlands Secondary School in Singapore. In her current portfolio, she led the school in efforts toward contributing to the well-being of students while designing a school-wide approach to nurture active citizenry dispositions in her students. She also conducts training and pedagogical discussion with teachers delivering character and citizenship education. With 15 years in education, April is determined and passionate about uplifting students and helping them progress on the social mobility ladder with education.
Mr Ivan ONG, School Staff Developer, Woodlands Secondary School, Singapore
Ivan is a school staff developer in Woodlands Secondary School. He champions staff professional development and staff well-being so as to bring about positive students outcomes, school improvement, and professional growth of school staff.
*Ivan was nominated by his colleague Ms April Lee to co-coordinate this project together with her.
(2) Facilitators of the “Capacity Building on Education & SDG 5 (Gender Equality)” Project
This school collaboration welcomes secondary and vocational teachers to engage in Virtual Classroom Exchanges to discuss gender equality from diverse cultural perspectives. Contributions will be compiled in an Asia-Europe blog/report and published on ASEF’s social media channels.
The Facilitators of this project are:
Dr Renata DUDA-MERLE, Language Teacher, Küstengymnasium Neustadt i.H., Germany
Renata has completed her Ph.D. on Trans* gender issues in Young Adult (YA) literature. The focus of her work was to challenge schools as highly heteronormative environments and to discuss YA literature as a means for bringing gender-related discussions into the classrooms. For her academic work, she received the Gender Research Prize from the University of Kiel. Currently, she is a secondary school Teacher for EFL and German/GFL. Throughout the last ten years, she has taught in both Germany and other European countries such as Poland and Kosovo.
Ms Jieun YOON, Language Teacher, Taejeon High School, South Korea
Ji Eun Yoon works as an English teacher at Taejeon High School in Korea. As a teacher, she wants to have a good influence on her students’ lives. After working as a teacher for 15 years, she believes that knowledge itself is important, but she felt the value of helping students more to contribute to creating a better world where they live together. She considers being a coordinator for the ASEFClassNet School Collaboration a great timely relevant opportunity. Through this project, she is determined to help students grow into global citizens who understand what it means to be culturally diverse. She hopes that her students will become a force for positive change in their communities through experiencing changes in themselves, the people around them, and the community through small actions.
Dr Maria da Piedade DA SILVA ,EFL Teacher, Teacher Trainer & Project Coordinator, Agrupamento de Escolas de Sátão, Portugal
Maria Silva has been teaching English at Agrupamento de Escolas de Sátão in Portugal for 21 years. She is also a teacher trainer (Edufor Training Centre), a researcher 2019/20 and 2020/21, affiliated to the CECC — Research Centre for Communication and Culture, Universidade Católica Portuguesa and a Certified Microsoft Innovative Educator and MIE Expert 2018/2019, 2919/2020, 2020/2021. In 2000, Maria Silva enrolled in an MA course presenting a thesis entitled “Contributo para uma Pedagogia Dialógica da Oralidade” which presents a shifting learning environment based on project work that moves from teacher-centered pedagogy to students-centered pedagogy. In 2008, she enrolled in a PhD course on Linguistics and Language Teaching and in 2012 and completed the course with excellence by defending herthesis: O projeto eTwinning LOA : uma abordagem intercultural para a integração pedagógica das TIC no ensino das línguas. She won several awards for conducting international projects.
Mr Fernando ORINGO, Social Studies Teacher, Institute of Global Citizens- Thai Binh Duong Campus, Viet Nam
Fernando Oringo is from the Philippines who is currently working as a Social Studies Teacher and International Curriculum Extra-Curricular Coordinator of IGC School- Thai Binh Duong Primary-Middle-High School, Vietnam. He worked as a high school social studies and research teacher from 2013–2017 and was later assigned as the Grade School Academic head of Lorma Basic Education Schools from 2017–2019. He studied Bachelor of Secondary Education major in Social Studies at Saint Louis University, Philippines, and pursued his master’s degree in Sociology at Ton Duc Thang University, Vietnam. Fernando first joined ASEF ClassNet Conference in 2015 and coordinated the project “Feeding the Hungry Planet.” He has coached students in international competitions throughout his teaching career and participated in conferences in Malaysia, Indonesia, Bulgaria, Hong Kong, Viet Nam, and Thailand.
Currently, the coordinators are developing the programme for collaborations together with the ASEFClassNet Team.
Have questions about the ASEFClassNet project or the School Collaborations? Then drop us an email at classnet@asef.org.
Visit our website to learn more: https://www.classnet.asef.org/
