If your curriculum could use a creative boost from the international dimension, join the DCSF Global Gateway – and consider these project ideas to get you started

Have the case studies in Learning World whetted your appetite for international teaching and learning? To get started on bringing a worldwide dimension to your classrooms, or to find an international partner school, simply sign up at the DCSF Global Gateway website: www.globalgateway.org/register

You’ll get a newsletter, partnership alerts and invitations to join projects or attend useful events and workshops. But one thing that only you can do is decide what your project will be about. You might want your project to be cross-curricular and focus on a specific theme. Bear in mind that the project should entail ‘learning from’, as well as ‘learning about’:

			Think about exploring some of the aspects of the culture, such as how festivals are celebrated, popular leisure activities, expectations of the young and attitudes towards the elderly
			Consider an important global issue – such as climate change, drugs and health, HIV/AIDS, homelessness, or conflict – and explore how it affects you and your partner school and what views people hold about it
			Focus on a specific event in which both countries may have an interest; for example, schools in South Africa and the UK could focus on the 2010 football World Cup
			An international link is a great way to look at skills-based learning in your school, developing communication and team working
			Agree on a resource to study together. It could be a poem, a story book, a novel, a Shakespeare play, or even a text describing an event in history
			Discuss the nutritional values of staple foods around the world and the ecological value of locally sourced ingredients. Try out some cookery; compare and evaluate recipes (Food Technology)
			Take a historical approach (past and present) to portray local buildings such as churches, farms, shops, homes and factories, and use mapping skills to pinpoint locations. Share timelines through urban development and population changes.

Useful links For a project template (one A4 page on the adjacent project ideas or others), e-mail editor@globalgateway.org giving your school name and local authority and requesting templates. To start one of the above projects, e-mail elanguages@britishcouncil.org For curriculum-based work with your link school, see www.globalgateway.org/projects To start a ‘work locally, compare globally’ science project on a choice of 12 topics, go to www.scienceacross.org To have fun doing maths with schools around the world (charges apply), go to www.mathletics.co.uk For curriculum-based resources covering the global dimension across all ages, themes and subjects, see www.globaldimension.org.uk