Last night, I drove back the 100 kms or so to where I live in a state of high excitement.  I had just spent a little over an hour in the company of a really buzzy, lively group of Portuguese teachers of English and in that short time they had filled me with ideas and enthusiasm.  I'd been explaining the potential for a project being put forward by the BBC, with a bit of assistance from the British Council, to engage kids everywhere with stories and the Olympics (London in 2012, in case you weren't aware).  If all goes to plan then we can look forward to a story making project which will involve schools from all around the world - and especially schools with younger learners, pre-teen and early teen - with, hopefully, schools from every country that is sending a team to the Olympics.  The idea will be to use on-line software to build and share stories, even share the creation of the stories from one school to another, from one country to another, from one continent to another.  Our little group meeting in the Portuguese city of Coimbra got very enthusiastic as we explored the potential - and the pitfalls to avoid - of the suggested project.  They had so many ideas I almost (but not quite) got a headache!

What we are now looking for are teachers from around the world to join in this discussion - develop ideas and solve problems before they happen.  Anyone interested?  You don't have to work in a primary school (though it would help) and you don't have to come from Africa, South America, India or China (but we'd especially love to hear from you) - contact me if you want to know more

fitch.oconnell@pt.britishcouncil.org