Jet-setting teddies go on a global adventure

Have you ever heard of a travelling teddy bear? Think you’re well travelled? Well try beating the record set by a very special teddy in an E-Bear exchange scheme at St Mary’s School in Folkestone.

St Mary’s has about 15 international links to schools around the world ranging from Finland to the Philippines, Iran to Italy, and Nairobi to Nepal. But this is a linking project with a difference.

As well as communicating with their numerous link schools via video conferences, online forums, e-mails, snail mail, phone calls and visits, they have another trump card. For each of their links, all the classes involved exchange a soft toy with their twin school.

Colette Cotton, ICT and International Co-ordinator at St Mary’s and International teacher partner for Intuitive Media, said that her school started linking in 2001 and the global dimension has grown bigger every year.

"We decided to use soft toys in our partnerships, to make the links more fun for the younger pupils," says Colette. 

So far they have exchanged bears and rabbits for toy camels, rhinos, elks, reindeers and dogs from their twin schools. For example they sent Brownie bear to Peponi School in Nairobi and it was treated to an ostrich ride, a Kenyan wedding and even went on safari!

Whilst Naiserian ,who is an endangered White Rhino sent from Kenya, has visited Slovakia, the local supermarket and been to school football matches.
 
They have linked to Italy through Paddington Bear and Finland through Peter Rabbit and received an Elk and Reindeer in return.

Sunny Bear flew to a school in Qatar in the Middle East and in return Jamal the Camel came on an exchange visit to St Mary's in the UK. 

On arrival in the school, the latest addition to the school register is usually taken on a tour of the school and the pupils take pictures of it on its adventures and activities.

Pictures and reports are then e-mailed between the schools, along with updates about what their visiting toy has learnt on the trip. Colette says that for the pupils in their twin schools, the link is also a good way of practicing their English.

There is even a waiting list for the pupils who want to take the furry creatures home with them for weekends activities, as long as they report back on what the bear has learnt!

‘The benefits of the linking for our school have been enormous,’ says Colette.

‘The communication by snail mail, pictures, emails and safe online forums encourages global citizenship and helps to break down barriers of prejudice about other cultures, especially in the links we have set up with Middle Eastern schools. The pupils find out that children are basically the same the world over.’

"We sent Sunny the Bear to Al Rafaa School in Qatar, " Colette says. "Through this link our pupils have learnt about Islam and Islamic festivals like Ramadan."

For example they learnt that in the Middle East their holidays occur at very different times to the UK.

‘Our students were also amazed to find out that in Qatar their exams start on Christmas day. Or that they start school around seven in the morning and finish at one in the afternoon because of the heat’.

"They also learnt that Muslims pray five times a day. Our kids wrote back and said: “We’re not very good-we only pray twice a day!"

Last year Colette Cotton met an Iranian teacher from Kherad School in North Tehran at an annual ESP(European Schools Project) conference in Amsterdam.

They decided to link up and they now exchange emails and artwork not to mention their well travelled e-bear.

As an ICT school St Mary's also gets funding to use computer technology such as camcorders and online video conferencing.

St Mary's also twin with Dundee High in Scotland and even have an e-bear blog site where the pupils post pictures of their bear Elizabeth and write about her adventures. http://e-bears-l1.blogspot.com

Colette says that the links are embedded in their curriculum and bring their lessons to life, in particular the geography and ICT lessons. St Mary’s received the International School Award in 2005 and they are re-applying for the award in 2008.

Sounds like they might need to apply for a passport for their teddy bears too!

If your school has an unusual linking story, write in and tell us at worldclass@bbc.co.uk

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