With the new year come new opportunities, and the AMeLiE blended course is one of them.
What is the course about?
The course is on how to address online hate speech at school and is based on the well-tested and proven methodology of Parole Ostili. Course participants will have to register on the AMeLiE online platform to access the ready-to-use lesson plans for all educational levels (from pre-school to high-school). On the platform, they will also find case studies and examples from other countries, and a network of colleagues who are working on the same topics. Experiences trainers will answer teachers’ enquiries and facilitate discussions.
The platform
The AMeLiE platform https://platform.amelieproject.eu is ready and will be launched on 17th January, with a one-hour webinar at 17h CET. The webinar will mark the start of the course and will be attended by the teachers and trainers who will become initial users of the platform and will be the first to access and test the AMeLiE lesson plans. So far, twenty-one detailed lesson plans have been uploaded on the platform, grouped according to the students age group – 3–6-year-olds, 6-10-year-olds, 10-14-year-olds, and 14-18-year-olds. More worksheets will be uploaded in the coming weeks.
What will happen during the course?
The course is divided into two phases. In the first phase, during January and February, a group of selected and highly motivated teachers will join the platform. They will be the very first people who will have access to the resources. They will choose two lesson plans, test them in their classroom and share their experience with their colleagues on the platform. In the second phase, starting from March, each of the first teachers will bring at least five other colleagues to the platform. They will get access to the training materials and to the stories and experiences already shared. On top of this, every week, the platform moderators and tutors of the blended course will publish inspirational posts with further reading, case studies or other reflections related to the ten principles of non-hostile communication, that are at the heart of the course.
The Kind Speech Day campaign?
In addition to the lesson plans and other resources, teachers will learn how to organize a communication campaign in a school context to raise awareness about the topic and inspire students, other teachers, parents, and the whole school community to counter online hate speech and apply the principles of non-hostile communication. The course culminates in a practical activity – all participating teachers should organize a local Kind Speech Day campaign in their school. The best campaign will be awarded.
