Introduction
Our challenge today as teachers
What is our challenge in this twenty-first century, for us adults and teachers? We have to prepare our children for the new information and knowledge society which is brutally changing all our paradigms: our old ways are no longer efficient, as children are now surrounded by a new world
which invades their everyday life and opens for them new opportunities of learning. They need new competencies to be effective citizens in tomorrow’s society. Thus it is not enough to put computers in classrooms, nor give the students software to learn “better” their subject matters.

Therefore it is our role to define the new competencies needed, understand the new processes of learning of our students, question our old ways and methods, change our role as teachers and adjust our innovative practices in the learning areas, mostly classrooms for the moment.

It is not our intention to analyze here the main competencies needed in our information society but instead to point out that they differ drastically from the approach of traditional education where the main objective was acquiring knowledge. Now emphasis is put on the processes of discovery and learning, on cooperating in collaborative work, and on exchanging and sharing with others no matter when, or who they are, or where they are. It seemed obvious to us, under those circumstances, that early childhood is the best age to start building these new competencies.

What does research tell us?
Research undertaken in recent years, carried out in different countries (Cohen, 1988, 1992, 1999, 2000; Downes & Fatouros, 1995; Medrano, 1996; Casey, 1997), show that very young children, whatever their nationality, their native language, their socio-economic background: have an immense potential that has yet to be explored, the first years of life (from birth to six) are crucial for their development; need constant and rich interactions with their physical and social environment, because that environment and early stimulations enable young children to achieve their considerable internal potential; can develop mastery of the oral and written languages which are the tools of thinking and the basic guarantee of school achievement and, later on, of social success, and are within the reach of all the children, whatever their origin, their nationality, their native language and their socio-economic background:

• discover, acquire and use the written language at a very early age;
• learn a foreign language and much else such as sciences, music, arts, which, so far, were believed to be beyond the reach of young children until now;
• will have to live in an open and changing environment in which they be called upon to use ever-changing technological means and communication and information.

Our experience shows that they are already quite able to use skills and abilities in their daily lives, together with appropriate activities which should be available in their school world from their earliest age.

What is MMM?
MMM (Mini Web, Multilingual and Maxi Learning) is an ambitious European and international early literacy telecommunication exchange pilot project. It was launched in September 1999 after one year of study, which included international contacts and trials. Aimed at three- to seven-year-old children and their teachers, it is the synthesis of all the findings previously mentioned to which we have added an important innovation: the use of the Internet.

For the teachers, it is a glance to the future of educational practices for young children. The MMM project connects preschools and young elementary classes anxious to correspond through technological multimedia means of communication, including the written language.

The project is first and foremost aimed at the classes situated in so-called “Priority Educational Areas” (low socio-economic background families, most of whom do not speak the language of the environment). Our aim is to share our reflection process with children who need it most, without neglecting other areas, to enrich their environment and their motivations, thus fostering the success of all children at school. The teachers involved exchange their experiences and analyse them in the framework of a shared self-information process.

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Educational Media International,
Vol. 42, No. 2, June 2005, pp. 109–115