BRITISH COUNCIL ISA PROGRAMME – A REPORT

The present times are a witness to a lot of changes globally, especially on the education front.  Students are now exposed to numerous challenges and innovations as never before.  Thus globalisation is a key part of the future, one in which our students will be making important decisions which will further bring about fruitful results for the world. 

The British Council International School Award (ISA) is a benchmarking scheme that accredits schools as having an outstanding support for:

a.       Nurturing global citizenship in young people.

b.       Enriching teaching and learning in collaboration with like-minded schools across the globe.

The ISA has opened new vistas for our students to explore un-touched grounds & scale new heights. It has given our students a global edge and an International Perspective about team building & innovation beyond borders. Working on the British Council Project gave them a platform that will enhance their development in all the domains such as Physical, Emotional, Language, Social, Cognitive, Creative, Self Help, Safety and Health with an international dimension.

Throughout the Academic Year 2014-15, the whole school was so enthusiastically involved in the seven ISA projects,  and various supplementary activities which were well integrated into the curriculum and spread across grades Pre-Nursery to XII including all age groups from 3 to 17 years with great fun excitement and enthusiasm.

Each project incharge with the ISA coordination team further sat with their sub-teams of teachers to compile the Action Plan. All planning came from the teachers as they were the ones who were going to make it happen.

To meet the goals of the programme i.e. to develop better global citizenship and enrich International Educational Experience in school, seven project leaders worked on their respective action plans supported by other teachers of the school to channelize it effectively as per the requisites of British Council.

The seven ISA projects and the two supplementary activities ensured whole school participation and worthwhile involvement of parents, partner schools, neighbouring schools and community people throughout the Academic Year 2014-15.

The programme enabled the students to collaborate with their peers around the world and work with school leaders & teachers to inculcate a global dimension and global citizenship in education practice and policy. The scheme provided recognition for teachers and their schools working to instil a global dimension into the learning experience of all children and young people. It supported the school to develop an international ethos embedded-throughout the school.

It also helped form a collaborative curriculum based work with a number of partner schools.  It encouraged curriculum based work across a range of subjects. The ISA projects engaged children in understanding the diverse world beyond their classrooms.

In the early days, the project activities were primarily focussed for ISA achievement but later, it became closely fabricated and infused with the teaching learning classroom activity.  It brought global issues in curriculum, which helped to inculcate global outlooks and skills in the students, teachers and the school as a whole.  A shift in classroom teaching was seen from teacher-centred to experiential learning where all the students were actively involved in the project activities.  Learning was not limited in books but it was linked with real life situations and experiences.  Activities were not only from the local issues but also included the global issues which brought the notion ‘Think Globally, Act Locally“in action.

The larger goal of this initiative is to help the children identify their uniqueness and strength, understand their weaknesses, build their character, imbibe values, develop leadership qualities and spirit of enterprise so that they may grow as global citizens. It is equally important to raise them as citizens who are sensitive to the rising environmental threats, care for mother earth and feel responsible to contribute to the world's peace and harmony.

It was a rewarding and extremely enriching experience that gave an opportunity to implement widely acclaimed pedagogies and Educational experiences as a child development practitioner to optimize their learning experiences and make them joyous learners.

A portfolio of evidences or Dossier of evidences of the activities performed for all the projects was compiled and submitted to the Delhi Office of the British Council for approval. On approval of the Dossier, the school will be entitled to the ISA trophy and the use of ISA kite mark on all its official documents.

St. Mary’s Christian School

Overview Of The ISA Project

PROJECT - 1

‘WATER WORKS’

Overview Of The ISA Project

PROJECT - 2

‘ONE WORLD ONE RELIGION’

Introduction of the project:-  ‘One World One Religion’ was a collaborative project for classes VI to XII with partner school, Annal Jyoti Boarding School, Nepal.  The project helped the students to explore the teachings of main religions being practiced in India and other countries of the world and extract the common teachings of all religions around the world which bind us together with the universal feeling of love, peace and brotherhood.

Research work done by students:- Students of grade VII to XII were asked to collect the information about the various religions being practiced around the world in May’14.  During summer holidays, the students researched and gathered the information with the help of peers, parents, teachers, extended family members and neighbours under the project ‘One World One Religion’ and prepared Power Point Presentations, Write-Ups, Posters and Newsletters highlighting the similarities and differences between the teachings and customs of different religions to identify common man’s perception towards the term ‘religion’.  These research items were sent to partner school, Annal Jyoti Boarding School, Nepal.  Our partner school too sent us the samples of same kind of research.

Survey & Questionnaire:-  The first experience of conducting a survey made the children realize that this was a more challenging, interesting and surprising way of gathering information than researching online when the students collected the view point of people from different religions by using questionnaire based on personal information and religious approach.  Thus students came to know about the common bounding among the different religions.  Another questionnaire on Religions and Worldviews was framed for the students of grade IX & X of our school and the partner school (Annal Jyoti Boarding School, Nepal) The response/feedback obtained from the students helped us, gauge the students’ understanding and thoughts about the term ‘religion’. 

Visit to Religious Places:- Comparative study and learning experience worked the most when an educational tour was organized in August 2014 to famous religious places of Delhi, the capital of India like Bangla Sahib Gurudwara, Birla Mandir (New Delhi),  Cathedral and Humanyun Tomb.  This tour gave students a chance to came closes to different religions, their teachings, prayers and rituals.  One activity sheet was also developed by the project incharges for students to get the idea of students of experience at different religious places.

Talk:-  A talk on the subject of the project ‘One World One Religion’ was conducted online where Mr. Niroj Maharjan – The Principal of Partner School-Annal Jyoti Boarding School, Nepal interacted with our school students to know their views about the religion while on his valuable visit to our school.

Online Discussions and Exhibitions:- Keeping  ISA in mind, school exchanged information through e-mail to the partner school, On-line discussions were held for students.  Exhibitions were also organised time to time to display the students’ work to the parents and visitors where students interacted with parents and other visitors and showed their talent and research explaining about the theme of their project.  Exhibition was also conducted for Mr. Niroj Maharjan during his visit in Oct’14 & also for students & management from Annal Jyoti Boarding School, Nepal during their visit in Jan’15.

Visit to Partner School in Nepal:- A panel of 10 students along with 2 teachers from class VI to XII visited the partner school’s country Nepal, in November 2014 where they visited various Hindu and Buddhist temples of Kathmandu and the famous World Peace Stupa in Pokhara.  They had meaningful interaction and shared with the students of Annal Jyoti Boarding School, Nepal and shared their views and exchanged their research on the project.  These students gave a live performance depicting the need of universal love, peace and brotherhood to combat rising religious intolerance & terrorism.

Partner school’s visit to our school (in India):- In Jan’15 a delegation of 25 students and 6 teachers from Annal Jyoti Boarding School, Nepal visited our school and witnesses various activities.  Under this project they visited the famous ‘Akshardham Temple’ and strengthened their knowledge about the religion and universal truth of life through the live water show there.  It was a marvelous experience to attend the live water show in which God’s powerful existence was shown through water fountains and laser lights with different graphics and modernized techniques.  It was as surprising as sitting in heaven. 

Conclusion:-  This project led to increase awareness among students, teachers and parents about various religions and a remarkable change felt among all after connecting to the other parts of world as respecting other religions, experiencing cultures followed there and believing in the important teaching of all religions i.e. universal love, peace and brotherhood. 

Thus the project ‘One World One Religion’ meets with all its objectives that all religions lead to one God only and there is a common teaching of all religions of the world which can be described in one sentence and i.e. HUMANITY.

Overview Of The ISA Project

PROJECT - 3 

‘GROWING UP’

‘Growing up’ was an online collaborative project for classes XI & XII of St. Mary’s Christian School, India & classes IX & X of our partner school Annal Jyoti Boarding School, Nepal & class IX of our partner school Malyadeva School,  Srilanka.  The project allowed students :-

1.  To explore the differences and similarities in the lives of adolescent boys and girls in different parts of the world and how the growing up experience influenced their lifestyle.

2.  To gauge how socio-economic factors of a country’s economy affect the career choices of its youth.

Learning While Growing

In the first part of the project the students were made aware of the term ‘Adolescence’ by showing a PPT which was prepared by teachers.  The PPT explained the meaning of adolescence, different stages of adolescence, the behavioural changes, likes and dislikes and also how adolescents living in different parts of the world have a varied life style.

v    To provide deeper insight, students’ questionnaires were prepared by  the teachers for ‘Identifying issues such as attention difficulty, agitation and behavioural problems in adolescents’.  Simultaneously, students also gathered information about daily routines of adolescent citizens of other countries like USA, UK, Canada, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

A workshop was conducted by the school counselor to address the adolescence issues under the topic “Growing Up”. She addressed the students of class XI & XII of age group 15-17 years. The facilitator elicited the view points from students on various issues they face as teenagers face, like Biological changes, mood swings, lifestyle,

emotional out-bursts etc. The counselor addressed these issues in a friendly manner thus enhancing their social, emotional and interpersonal skills. Later, the facilitator also brought into picture, their daily routines by talking about what amount of time do they devote to different daily activities.

v      Further, the collected data was analysed interpreted and re-presented by the students through pie-charts.  This helped the students to identify the ideal daily schedule appropriate for optimum physical, mental and reproductive health of an adolescent. 

The second part of the project ‘Growing Up’ focused on the factors affecting the career choices of the youth across the world.  Teachers helped students to design questionnaire cum rating scale on making career choices to identify individual opinions on the decisiveness of social & economic conditions of one’s country taken into consideration while making career choices.

v      Several career orientation talks and workshops were organized for students to open to them a plethora of career options available.  Across the globe, all the Teachers resources and the PPT were mailed online to our partner school Annal Jyoti Boarding School, Nepal to facilitate a comparative study on the adolescent behaviour, daily routine and parameters for career selection.

Activities conducted under ‘Growing Up’

1.  Video Conferencing with Partner school in Nepal

A Skype session was conducted between SMCS and Annal Jyoti Boarding School to facilitate students’ interaction with each other about their daily routine, family set up, their role models and their roles and responsibilities as enthusiastic and dutiful citizens. Interview questionnaires were prepared beforehand and later on a group discussion on the comparative study of the aforesaid data of the two countries was done to sensitize the students on the needs and challenges of adolescent age and also to gauge the relevance of socio economic conditions of a country in deciding the career of its youth.

Tobacco Initiation Intervention

2.  Let’s Make The World A Better Place To Live In

“Tobacco chewing is Injurious to health”. To inculcate the same message in the minds of our dear students SMCS realized the need to organize a workshop on 6^th May 2014 for Class IX & X headed by Ms. Sonia Dutta. Preventive Dentistry lecturer & Public Health expert at Indraprastha college Ghaziabad. The entire session was really interactive and informative which covered scientific awareness to motivate our youth to save themselves from its adverse and harmful effects and spread the message across the entire society.

3.  Stop Bullying and Ragging

Another workshop was conducted on Bullying & Ragging by SMCS in association with an NGO named ‘Hope Initiative’ on 17^th July 2014. The resource person Ms. Marina explained them the types of bullying, the impact of bullying and how it can be avoided.

4.  Health is Wealth

In addition to this a workshop on Health & Hygiene on 4^th September 2014 was headed by Dr. Kansal (Kalyan Nursing Home, Pitampura) to make students aware of “Oral-facial hygiene”. He highlighted the importance of healthy diet and its relation to our health. The other key factors discussed were Hygiene, exercise, fitness etc. 

5.  AIDS Awareness

On 17^th December 2014, Dr. Ruby Bansal, an eminent doctor of Pushpanjali Crosslay Hospital Ghaziabad and our Principal Ms. Ashu John joined hands to raise awareness about AIDS among the students of Grade XI and XII.  Participating students took a pledge to have empathy and respect towards the victims of this deadly disease and also to make wise choices in life.

6.  Education Beyond Borders

6. (a)  On 6^th September 2014, the Academic Director of SMCS Ms. Shobha Sharma , and the ISA Coordinator of SMCS Mr. Prashant Awasthi, visited Annal Jyoti Boarding School in Nepal to facilitate a workshop on career orientation and the possible fields in which students can pursue their job prospects by all across the globe.

6. (b)  This was followed by a reciprocal visit to SMCS, Mr. Niroj Maharajan, Principal, Annal Jyoti Boarding School, Nepal on 11^th October 2014, with an attempt to foster fresh thinking in students about the careers they would want to pursue and the behavioural attributes of the Adolescents, which are needed to be taken care of by parents and also by adolescents themselves.

7.  Reciprocal Visit: FUN-LEARNING EXPERIENCE

Under the “Students Exchange Programme”, a delegation from Partner School (Nepal) had visited us on 16^th & 17^th Jan’15.  Our students had arranged an exhibition cum interactive session for our partner school’s students. The major highlights were the ideas, thoughts and works exchanged by the students of both the schools on ‘Growing Up’ concluding it as “Be who you are” as it personified their deepest desires, goals and achievements. A graffiti wall was made by the students of both the schools to exhibit their areas of interest in terms of career selection & where they see themselves after five years on their career graph.

Conclusion
Collaborative working through this online project was a great learning experience and achievement for the students.  They learnt to be more patient while coping up with their mood swings, learnt how to be optimistic in most difficult situation.  They also understood that choosing a career is a tough decision which should be based on certain parameters and must be selected keeping in mind their forte and interest.  And most importantly they feet most accomplished by initiating a bond of learning and friendship beyond borders with students of our partner school in Nepal.

Overview Of The ISA Project

PROJECT - 4

‘ME & MY FRIENDS’

The project allowed students of Prep & Kindergarten to learn about their body parts, their friends in different countries like China, UK and Africa, the differences and similarities in their appearances and how they greet in their native languages through PPTs, cue songs (like Be careful little eyes) along with worksheets.

The tiny tots of Pre-Nursery learnt about their body parts through picture assessment cards and quiz. They also learnt about their own features by looking into the mirror and identified their body parts and explored their functions through actions in an interesting manner.  They were shown the PPTs of children from other countries and were asked to recognize their body parts in spite of the differences in their appearances.

The students of Nursery class learned about their friends in different countries and variations in their physical features.  They made related worksheets on identification of appearance of body parts of children in India, China, British and Africa.  Another worksheet allowed made to choose one friend from the given countries with their names in which students coloured and beautified their chosen friend.

Pre-Primary/KG students learned how people in China, UK, Africa and India greet in their native languages, for e.g. India-Namaste; China-Nihao; UK-Hello and Africa-Hallo.  They learnt their greeting cultures and showcased the same to their classmates.

To involve the parents in this wonderful ISA project, a parent interaction session was conducted on 13^th December 2014.  Parents came with their wards dressed up in traditional attires of India, China, and Africa & UK.  Classrooms and corridors were decorated as per the theme to represent different countries.  Through display boards and role play.  Students welcomed the guests in their respective languages.  It was a fantastic learning experience for students as well as parents and visitors.  Remarkable and enthusiastic feedbacks were showered abundantly.

An exhibition was also organized on 16^th January 2015 during the partner school’s i.e., visit to our school.  The students and teachers got an opportunity tom interact with our KG students who welcomed them in attires of Indian, Chinese, British & African.  They also taught the delegates how to greet in different languages.  A jigsaw puzzle activity was conducted in which students from Annal Jyoti Boarding School, Nepal participated enthusiastically.

In the puzzle they had to put together focus of children and match them with their respective nationalities.

Through this project the students of Kinder garten understood the uniqueness of every child.  They also explored that in spite of various differences among people like skin tone, dress-up, hair, language all over the world, every child created by God and is special in the image and likeness of GOD, hence should be loved like our own brothers & sisters.

Overview Of The ISA Project

PROJECT - 5

‘MAP IT!’

This project for the primary students of class 3-5 aimed at developing an understanding of a map, a globe and be familiar with location of other countries of the world.

A session was held among the children where a power point presentation was shown to them to understand them that a map is a 2D version of globe, four cardinal directions (east, west south, north), Continents (Europe, Asia, Antarctica, Africa, North America, south America, Australia) and Water Bodies (Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Arctic Ocean, Antarctic Ocean) they also heard to a travel story “Around the world” they identified the map of their home country ‘India’, smallest country ‘Vatican city, largest country ‘USA’, adjacent neighbor country sharing boundary with India (Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri lanka) they also coloured the water bodies BLUE and landmasses BROWN on world map.

A short quiz was also organized which augmented their knowledge of geographical location of different countries, continents and water bodies on world map.  It was a fantastic learning experience for students, fun and knowledge went hand in hand.

As the saying goes ‘Doing is learning’ they we involved in making various models and art and craft articles which provided them joyful learning.

Sundial activity was also performed by the students which enabled them to understand the changes in time according to the movement of the sun, also formed the part of the project.

An exhibition was organized where in the classrooms were decorated to represent the project ‘Map it!’ and students’ work was put on display by them.  Children were also dressed up as different continents and learnt the facts of the same.

Keeping ISA in mind, our students visited partner school, Annal Jyoti Boarding School, Nepal to exchange the work done by them.  Students of the partner school were also invited to our school.  Different activities like identification of our home country, India and Nepal, smallest and largest countries, continents, continents and water bodies on wall size world map and quiz was also organized by our students to promote cultural and educational exchange.

It was a fantastic learning experience for students and parents and helped us understand the value of working together for a common goal.

Overview Of The ISA Project

PROJECT - 6

‘ANIMAL HABITATS AROUND THE WORLD’

‘Animal Habitats Around the World’ project allowed the students to explore different kinds of Animal Habitats in different desert & forest regions of the world and to understand how climatic and geographical conditions of different countries influence the animal habitats.

To set a preface, Teachers prepared PPTs and Students were provided with mini books on forests :-

·         Indian Rain forest (Kerala), India

·         Deciduous Forest (Gujarat), India

·         Tropical Evergreen Forest (South America)

·         Tropical Deciduous Forest (Brazil)

·         Temperate Deciduous Forests (Korea, Japan)

·         Mediterranean Forest (Asia, Europe)

·         Coniferous Forests (Canada, Northern Russia)

and on deserts :-

·         Thar Desert (Rajasthan), India

·         Cold Desert (Ladakh), India

·         Hot Desert Sahara, Kalahari (Africa)

Which provided them a lot of information about these regions.  They were able to locate major desert regions and different kinds of forests on the World Map using an Atlas. 

Supporting template presentation and videos were also shown to give the knowledge about plant and animal life of deserts & forests across the world.

A video named ‘Magic School Bus’ in the Rainforest was shown to students to give knowledge about rainforests of South America.

            Worksheets were developed on animal habitats and students were encouraged to complete the same using their newly acquired knowledge.

Students were able to put together common features of all desert habitats across the world and also various forest regions in world through desert & forest dioramas.

Mr. Niroj Maharjan, Our partner school Principal from Nepal on his visit to our school appreciated students’ work which highlighted displays of ‘Animal habitats around the world.    He gave his valuable inputs for further improvising our project.

During the educational and cultural trip organized in the month of November (23^rd to 27^th) to our Partner School ‘Annal Jyoti Boarding School, Nepal.  Students of both schools visited a famous tourist place ‘Bat Cave’ Pokhara inhabiting 80,000 bats under the project ‘Animal Habitats around the World’.  Where they got to know about habits and habitats of this nocturnal creature i.e. they live in dark & humid places eg grasslands, ponds, waterways, woodland edges, rivers, footpath, corridors.  They mostly feed on insects & can judge the distance of their obstacles with the help of ultra sonic waves as they are blind.

In the ISA exhibition organized for parents and neighbouring schools, The Animal Habitat Project arena was well decorated with charts & other study material, models were displayed with related assignment sheets.  Students also dressed up as trees, animals & birds from different countries of the world like south Africa, Kenya, Australia, Canada, United States, Mexico, New Zealand, Congo etc students welcomed the visitors, parents and students and introduced themselves by giving information about their important features and characteristics (habitats, food habits, adaptations) This dress character enactment / Role play had a great impact on the learning of the students about the animals living in desert and forest regions of above mentioned countries.  Feedback of the visitors was recorded for improvisations. 

Our partner school students during their visit to our school were involved in various activities to promote cultural & educational exchange.  Under the same the partner school students and our students jointly participated in ‘Slogan writing activity’ on ‘Environment and Animal Habitat Conservation’.  Response observed was tremendous.

This way this project successfully fulfilled all the learning objectives in a well planned manner thus enhancing the knowledge of the students regarding animal habitats in various desert & forest regions of the world and also their own country India.

Overview Of The ISA Project

PROJECT - 7

‘FABRICS IN OUR LIVES’

Introduction of the Project:-

‘Fabrics in our lives’ was a collaborative project for class I to V with partner school ‘Annal Jyoti Boarding School, Nepal”.  This project helped students to explore the facts about the need and use of different fabrics in the lives of people across the globe.  The students understood about the different kinds of clothing, how they are made and how to take care of different types of fabrics.

Research Work:-

1.   Under this project students were shown different PPT’s highlighting different kinds of clothes and the process of making of fabrics.

2.  Different types of worksheets are done by the students of class I and II.

3.  Charts showing the ‘Comparison of clothes of different countries’ and ‘Ancient and modern clothing of different countries were made by the students of class III and IV.

Teaching through powerpoint presentations, worksheets and charts was a great learning experience for the students as they had to do an in depth research on global clothing and how the clothes have changed over the years.

Handloom unit visit:-

Experiental learning was one of the greatest highs of the project where an educational tour was ortganised to a handloom unit.  The students of class III to V visited cloth will at ‘Pilakhuwa Waterproofing company’ students were shown the step by step process of making cloth.  They saw the place where raw cotton was kept.  And then how machines change cotton into thin thread.  Then they were shown how these thread are converted into cloth.  The process of how thread is woven into cloth was also shown children enjoyed the process and asked several queries.  The visit was planned for the students to integrate the learning in the classroom with a practical experience.  The entire visit was enriching and useful as such excursions developed their social listening and communication skills.

Fancy dress character enactment:-

A fancy dress character enactment was organized for the students of class I and II.  Students were dressed state wise and country wise.  Due to this fancy dress character enactment children were able to understand the different cultural and casual dresses of states and countries.  Fancy dress character enactment had a great impact on the learning of the students about the need and use of different fabrics in the lives of people across the globe.

Exhibitions:-

Keeping ISA in mind, the school organized exhibitions time to time to display the work done by the students for parents and students and visitors.  In exhibitions students got the chance to interact with parents and visitors.  They were explaining about the work and research that they had done for their project.  Everybody was appreciating the hardwork of the students that they had put in the project.

Visit to partner school in Nepal:-

A group of 10 students and 2 teachers visited the partner school “Annal Jyoti Boarding School’.  Their the students of both the school shared each others work and the id3eas and suggestion about the project.

Partner school’s visit to our school (SMCS):-

A panel of 25 students and 6 teachers form partner school visited our school enjoyed a lot.  They were amazed to see the arrangements of exhibition of our school.  They enjoyed different activities that were planned by our school for them.  They interacted with the students of our school and appreciated the work of students displayed in the exhibition.

Conclusion:-

The journey from beginning till the end of this project ‘FABRICS IN OUR LIVES’ was a fantastic learning experience for the students of our school and partner school.  It helped us to understand the value of working together for a common goal.

The project led to increase knowledge among students, parents and teachers about various kinds of fabrics of different states and countries.  We all came to know the need and use of different fabrics in our lives.  We are able to describe the making and taking care of different fabrics that are used across the globe.  This project meets with all the objectives of making students aware of different fabrics, their need, use and process of making across the globe.

Overview Of The ISA Project

Supplementary Activity - 1

‘CULTURAL EXCHANGE’

Cultural Exchange was a collaborative supplementary activity for classes V to XII with our partner school Annal Jyoti Boarding School, Nepal. This project aimed at promoting multicultural awareness among children through various activities which helped the children appreciate different cultures and traditions with respect to India & Nepal. Within this exchange students learnt about:

·         Different cultural, linguistic or religious backgrounds;

·         Different  geographic areas, e.g. rural, regional , metropolitan;

·         Different socio-economic backgrounds or family circumstances;

·         Different forms of government.

All these activities provided the opportunity for students to develop a greater understanding of diversity-both in Nepal and India. This allowed students to interact with each other and learn to participate in new and unique experiences beyond their own communities.

Celebrating Festivals Together

The students were introduced to the festivals of both the countries. It began with the onset of Dussehra-the main festival of Nepal and Diwali- the main festival of India. To celebrate these festivals together students were involved in making greeting cards, art & craft articles, decorative items showcasing specific features of these festivals and then these were sent via courier to the Partner School in Nepal.

Reciprocally our Partner School too sent us greeting cards and decorative items for Dussehra. Wishes were exchanged on the eve of Christmas and New Year too, which made these occasions more meaningful.

Relishing Different Cuisines Together

The students of both the schools got an opportunity to visit each other’s countries.  This reciprocal visit caused students to develop positive relationships with others, understand a broader range of perspectives and developed the knowledge and skills for meaningful relationships beyond borders.  While the trip to Nepal, they have arranged a bone fire in which they provided us with a platter of Nepali cuisines which were really lip smacking and mouth watering.

On the same when we welcome the delegates from Nepal we served them Indian cuisines which were prepared by teachers of SMCS alongwith the students.  They really enjoyed the meal.

Over all students enjoyed hospitality of each other country.

Fostering Love amidst students beyond borders

To foster mutual respect for both the nations National Anthem of both the countries (India & Nepal) were sung at the special assembly organized on 16 Jan’15 to welcome the delegation from our Partner School comprising of 20 students & 6 teachers.

Exploring Religious Places

Realizing the importance of different religions, students visited several place of religious importance in both the countries that entwined the feeling of compassion and peace among children.  Such as

India	Nepal
·         Akshardham (Delhi) ·         Gurudwara (Bangla Sahib) ·         Cathedral Church (Delhi) ·         Humayun Tomb (Delhi)	·      World Peace Stupa in Pokhara, Nepal ·      Pashupati Nath Temple in Kathmandu, Nepal ·      Boudhanath Temple (a Hindu and a Buddhist Temple listed in UNESCO Heritage)

Varied Dance Presentations

During reciprocal visits classical & Regional dances of both the countries were presented in each others school that highlighted the cultures of the respective nations.

Visit to a village in Nepal

During the visit to Nepal, students got an opportunity to visit a local village, Sunakothi and to interact with the local residents to compare socio-cultural differences.  They talked about:

-          Their daily routine

-          Their life style

-          Economic activities etc.

Students also got the chance to enjoy a marriage ceremony in the same village which enabled them to understand the rituals and traditions of the rural community in Nepal.

Visit to City forest in India

During their visit to India, delegates from Annal Jyoti Boarding School, Nepal along with the teachers and students of St. Mary’s Christian School, India visited the cityforest near Hindon Airbase, Sahibabad.  There 10 schools took part in an ‘ON THE SPOT POSTER MAKING ACTIVITY’ on the Topic :

·         Save Nature

·         Preserve water resources

·         Nourish the forest

·         Depletion of Ozone layer

·         Conservation of Flora & fauna

  

Through ‘Cultural Exchange’ programme numerous goals were bagged:

Ø  Encouraging students to cross state, regional and cultural border to enrich academic experience and personal needs.

1.  Learning to respect the value of diversity.

2.  Learning to appreciate the uniqueness of other countries and cultures.

Ø  Developing multi cultural perspective.

On the whole the entire experience was enriching and fulfilling for they have made friends & memories which will stay together.

Overview Of The ISA Project

Supplementary Activity - 2

‘FAMOUS PERSONALITIES ACROSS THE WORLD’

‘Famous personalities across the world’ project aimed at gaining insight into the world of eminent people who made a mark in the history with their principles.  Besides learning, this project played an important role in polishing the personality of students, thereby, making them suitable for a buffet of high standard living.  These people put a great impact and impressed our lives by their meaningful thoughts because it’s the positive thoughts and ideas that can help students reach their full potential.

Great leaders to the likes of Swami Vivekananda, Mother Teresa, Napolean, Mahatma Gandhi, Gautam Buddha, Albert Einstein, Madam Curie & numerous others, have shown the path of simple living and high thinking.  To imbibe their positive character traits and to discover amazing facts about their life, their biographies were discussed with the students.

A desire to become someone and achieve is something extra-ordinary people are born with, and this was the common factor in both-

·         Mahatma Gandhi and

·         Gautam Buddha

The two main idols focused upon in our project.

Mahatma Gandhi, an epitome of non-violence is reversed as Bapu in India so our students picked his life for exchange with our partner school.  Under the same light the life history of Gautam Buddha, the greatest preacher of non-violence and peace was picked up by our partner school for exchange with our students. 

The exchange under this project fostered fresh thinking and instilled a fine blend of respect and value among the students, future of our nation.  To add to the patriotic fervour and moral lessons a wide array of activities were organized and were attempted by the students of St. Mary’s Christian School along with the students of our partner school, Annal Jyoti Boarding School, Nepal.  Students participated with vigour and zeal.

Gautam Buddha, the great man was born in Lumbini.  His teachings constituted the message of love and peace.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhiji, formally called as Mahatma Gandhi.  He followed the principles of truth and non-violence.

To make children aware about them first in the sequence of activities was the collage making, followed by making of scrapbook and a short quiz.

Collage making on life of Buddha

To overview the life of Buddha, a collage making activity was organized in which students of both the school (SMCS and AJBS) showcased the life of Gautam Buddha in form of series of events that took place in his life.  Students of Nepal brought with them a plethora of his pictures, his thoughts, his nine virtues etc.  and shared them with our students and unleashed their creativity on the Graffiti wall that at the end turned out to be the centre of attraction.

Biosketch of Gandhiji

In a similar manner students of SMCS exposed the students of AJBS to the life of the Father of the Nation person Mahatma Gandhiji.  Our students (SMCS) collected all the relevant data about Gandhiji and then shared it with AJBS students which further helped them in making a special memory book that depicted Gandhiji’s journey from birth to martyrdom.  The students took pride in glorifying and celebrating the spirit of patriotism, togetherness and unity during the freedom struggle of India and they were completely imbued with the spirit of oneness and truth.

Event Ladder

Next the ‘Event Ladder Activity helped students to have a glance over the life of Mahatma Gandhi and Gautam Buddha.  This was a clubbed activity in which students of SMCS worked along with the AJBS, Nepal.  Here students were given a worksheet on which different events of the life of these two eminent personalities were provided in jumbled manner.  Students had to put them chronologically which they did quite excitedly.

Relevance of their teaching in day to day life

Now, next in the bundle of activities, it was the turn to inculcate deeper the teachings of Gandhiji & Buddha.  Students were provided with a worksheet in which practical situations of life were given and students have to tell what step they will take to face that situation by introspecting it with the perspectives of Gandhiji and Buddha.  It was  indeed an eye opener for them.

All in all, the project focused upon the life history of two great people in the world one from India and the other from Nepal.  It brought out various amazing facts about these renowned persons i.e. Mahatma Gandhiji from India & Gautam Buddha from Nepal.  This project also illustrated the historic importance and helped children to discover various facts of both the countries.  The writing and participation by students reflected the impact of their lives, which was clearly successful in achieving its goal.  The students endeavours were really qualitative and they participated enthusiastically.  It was really worthwhile to learn about the teaching to the secrets of the life of these great people Mahatma Gandhi and Gautam Buddha and more importantly it helped us to understand the value of working together for a common goal.  It was a fantastic learning experience as fun and learning went hand in hand.