YES National Pre-Departure Orientation for 2017-18 Batch
YES Batch of 2017-18 came under one roof to attend a National Pre-Departure Orientation Camp in New Delhi from 6th June to 8th June 2017 in New Delhi. The event was organized for 3 days with the participation of total 36 students going on this program. This program is sponsored by US Department of State. The aim of the orientation was to guide and prepare the students for the program before their departure in August 2017. There were AFS Staff members and AFS Alumni to facilitate the sessions. The sessions focused on:
- Setting the students expectation from the Program and converting them into goals,
- AFS and Camp Rules along with Etiquettes,
- Line of Communication Channel,
- Iceberg Concept of Culture and Tips for adapting in New Culture & for Successful Exchange,
- How to adjust in Host School & Host Family,
- Risk Management,
- Indian Traditions,
New Methodologies like Case Studies along with very creative Icebreakers and Energizers were adopted to carry out the sessions which made participants interact and take active participation. Intercultural components were added to give more exposure to the participants about being on exchange programs and how ICL can help them achieve their goals overall. On the other hand, the participants were filling up the DS160 form for the VISA purpose.
Participants were enthused to be part of the program, and they look forward to being on program. Thanks to the alumni for being part of the orientation and sharing their valuable suggestions and experiences.
National Pre-Departure Orientation for 2017-18 Batch
The AFS Year Student Exchange Program Batch of 2017-18 came together to attend the Pre-Departure Orientation Camp in New Delhi from 6th to 9th June, 2017. It was a 4-day camp with a total of 26 AFS Program Participants, going to USA, Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland, Costa Rica, Finland, Denmark, Austria, Canada, Hungary & Portugal. This is the first time AFS India is sending participants to Hungary and Portugal on an yearlong program.We had AFS India Staff members and AFS Alumni to facilitate the sessions. The concept of Educational Goals and Intercultural Learning was explained to the participants, so that the participants should have a deeper understanding of goals of the programs and cultural of the host country they’d be going for a year. The sessions conducted were same as YES Pre-Departure Orientation as YES & AFS participants were together during all sessions.
We had AFS India Staff members and AFS Alumni to facilitate the sessions. The concept of Educational Goals and Intercultural Learning was explained to the participants, so that the participants should have a deeper understanding of goals of the programs and cultural of the host country they’d be going for a year. The sessions conducted were same as YES Pre-Departure Orientation as YES & AFS participants were together during all sessions.
In addition to YES session, we took the Language Test and conducted the Country Specific Quiz also for the reality check. Participants along with AFS India Staffer visited respective Embassy (Italy, France, Portugal, Finland and Switzerland) of the country they’d be going for their exchange to gain deeper insight about the culture, interact with the officers & learn from their experiences.
We’re thankful to the embassies for giving us their precious time, and thanks to all the alumni for being part of the orientation and sharing their experiences.