City Notes: Fureidis joins ‘Laptop for Every Teacher’

Program empowering teachers across the country already includes over 7,200 school, kindergarten teachers in 498 institutions.

By TAMARA ZIEVE
laptop 311 (photo credit: Wikipedia Commons)
laptop 311
(photo credit: Wikipedia Commons)
NORTH
In the framework of the “Laptop Computer for Every Teacher in Israel” program for empowering teachers across the country, primary school teachers in the Fureidis Local Council received laptops and advanced training courses. The ongoing program already includes over 7,200 school and kindergarten teachers in 498 institutions spanning 190 localities.
In the program’s most recent activity, teachers from three elementary schools in the region received laptops.
The program is an initiative of the Athena Fund, in cooperation with the Teachers’ Association, the Education Ministry and Bank Massad. In addition to laptops, each teacher receives a 120-hour training course, which includes basic computer use; digital skills and integrating computers into teaching; and making use of information accessible on the Internet.
Fureidis is the first local authority in the Arab sector to join the program. Athena’s mission is to empower teachers in Israel and to ensure that every teacher in the country is furnished with a laptop, accompanied by the course, enabling the teachers to use the computers as a work tool for improving their teaching skills. The organization’s aim is that by 2015 every teacher in Israel will be equipped with a laptop alongside professional training that will provide them with the tools to deal effectively with the “information revolution” and the changes that it brings to the role of teachers.
Man, 25, killed after car flips near Ayelet Hashahar A 25-year-old man was killed in a car accident near Kibbutz Ayelet Hashahar last week, Magen David Adom said. The man was killed on the spot after his car flipped over. MDA paramedics pronounced him dead on the scene.
Haifa man stabbed, taken to hospital in moderate condition A man was stabbed several times in his back on Sunday night at Sheetrit Beach in Haifa’s Kiryat Haim.
He was evacuated to Rambam Medical Center in moderate condition. Police were investigating the incident.
Police find bomb-making lab in Kiryat Tivon apartment A bomb-making lab was found in an apartment in Kiryat Tivon, police said on Sunday. Police uncovered pipes for makeshift pipe-bombs, various chemical compounds used to make explosives, instruction manuals on how to make bombs, weapons and grenades.
The lab belongs to a suspect who was arrested on Saturday after throwing a stun grenade on a Kiryat Tivon street.
CENTER
Givatayim hosts annual healthy eating conference The annual healthy eating conference will be held next Thursday at the Givatayim Theater on Remez Street. The two-day conference focusing on nutrition and healthy cooking is a joint initiative of the EatWell portal and Focus Publishing, which specializes in books on nutrition and healthy lifestyle. The conference has become the largest event of its kind in Israel and is running for the fifth consecutive year.
Participants are invited to attend lectures on healthy eating, participate in healthy cooking workshops and peruse the various booths.
The purpose of the conference is to raise awareness of the importance of incorporating a healthy diet into daily life, through lectures and practical workshops led by leading experts in the field of healthy nutrition. The lectures will include current information on the benefits of a healthier menu in the home.
Fifty stalls will be set up, offering visitors a variety of health foods, natural desserts, smoothies and other food samples, alongside new products such as cooking utensils, professional books, nutritional supplements and a range of natural methods to lead a healthy lifestyle.
“The conference will be a healthy gastronomic experience, with rich and diverse content, and will provide participants with practical ways to change your diet. The uniqueness of the conference is that it places an emphasis on cookery workshops, to help participants find healthy substitutes for their daily meals,” said Ben Yakir, CEO of EatWell. “In addition, the conference will feature a special lecture on changing habits, which is an essential step in the process and is often difficult to implement.”
The conference will be held on Thursday from 6 to 11 p.m., and on Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The cost of a single ticket for a lecture or cooking workshop is NIS 49; two tickets cost NIS 90; and for three tickets or more, each ticket costs NIS 40. Participation is limited; the conference organizers advise members of the public to buy tickets in advance via the website www.t-g.co.il or by contacting the theater ticket booths at (03) 732-5340. Entrance to the booths is free of charge.
Man drowns in sea in Tel Aviv A 35-year-old man drowned in the sea in Tel Aviv on Sunday night. MDA paramedics attempted to resuscitate him but eventually pronounced him dead.Dope-smoking high-school students caught in the act Four high-school students from Rishon Lezion, among then one minor, were caught smoking drugs in the parking lot of the military cemetery by the Rishon Lezion Security and Public Order Company’s youth team, the Local website reported Sunday. During a routine patrol the team spotted a car “parked suspiciously” and detected a strong odor of drugs emerging from the vehicle. The quartet was found to be in possession of half a finger of hash and a folding knife. The youth were detained and the youth department found that none of them had criminal records.
“They were shocked and scared,” a supervisor from the security company told the Local website. “They realized they had made a mistake.”
SOUTH
Palestinian and Israeli youth kick for peace
The Peres Center for Peace held its annual “Mini World Cup” soccer tournament last week in Kiryat Gat, bringing together hundreds of Palestinian and Israeli children through sport.
Three hundred children participated in both the girls’ and boys’ tournaments. The tournament is the 10th of its kind, and is part of the NGO’s “Twinned Peace Sport Schools” project, which culminates in this event.
The schools, of which there are both football and basketball, bring together Israeli and Palestinian youth from some 35 underprivileged Palestinian, Israeli Jewish and Arab communities.
In each locality the center establishes a school, through which participants enjoy bi-weekly sports training, peace education and inter-language learning. Each community is twinned with another, and they meet every month for joint Palestinian- Israeli activities, playing in mixed teams rather than against each other.
This year, boys from Sderot, Kiryat Gat, the Merhavim Regional Council, Abu Ghosh, Ein Rafa, east Jerusalem, Jaffa, Nablus, Yatta, Sha’ar Hanegev and Rahat took part. Meanwhile, kicking for the girls’ teams were residents of Yeroham, Kfar Menahem, Beit Nir, Kiryat Gat, Abu Ghosh, Ein Rafa, Ein Kerem, east Jerusalem, Jericho, al-Nwameh and Yatta.
All of the young football players competed in mixed Israeli- Palestinian teams, forging new identities with each team representing a different country in the world. “When they are playing they are not Israelis or Palestinians, but under the identity of team England or Canada,” Peres Center for Peace sport department director Tami Hay explained.
Maccabi Tel Aviv player Moshiko Lugasi, who is himself a graduate of the program, attended the boys’ tournament.
There was also an “exhibition match” in which coaches from the program played against a group of celebrities, including Channel 10 presenter Danny Roup and actor Aki Avni.
The project is supported by Adidas, HP Indigo, USAID and Jafora, and Adidas staff from Israel and Germany volunteered their services as judges and team leaders in the event.
“The Mini World Cup shows the strength of sport, which is a common language,” Hay stated following the events, adding that it gives the children the opportunity to take part in these activities together – which is not something that can be taken for granted – despite daily hardships. The event “proved again to us all that football can make a change, despite our ongoing conflict,” the center’s sport department wrote on its Facebook page.
Hay also noted that this year, for the first time, the number of boys and girls taking part in the program was exactly equal, which is a great achievement as there is always a greater male presence is soccer programs across the country. She added that they managed to do so thanks to the help of USAID over the past two years.
1 killed, 3 injured in Negev road accident One person was killed and three critically injured in an accident between two trucks at the Lehavim junction in the Negev.
MDA paramedics treated the injuries at the scene and evacuated the victims to Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba. Police were investigating the circumstances of the accident.
Man, 27, stabbed to death in Ashkelon fight
A 27-year-old man was stabbed to death in Ashkelon on Sunday. Police stated the stabbing occurred during a fight outside a market in the industrial area of the city. MDA paramedics evacuated the man to Barzilai Medical Center in the city, where he was pronounced dead.