Arrival Orientation was conducted at National Level in Delhi for 49 participants from fifteen countries. Arrivals of the first batch of students started on the early morning of 3rd July’18 followed with the rest. The group had YES Abroad students, AFS core program students, Boarding School Programs students and student on Semester school Program.
The orientation has a broader vision to prepare the participants with the right expectation from the program with intercultural learning. The orientation provided a great opportunity to make new friends and help it settle in before getting into the host community.
The orientation helped the participants to get familiar with the supporting staff, volunteers, and fellow exchange students. Orientation had element of fun where participants were part of various sessions that were conducted with the focus on intercultural learning, adjustment, adaptation etc. During the orientation, the participants’ full active participation were observed by group leaders and trainers throughout the sessions.
We gave a lot of focus on Risk Management during this orientation. We had a session facilitated by an external organization Safe Campus who made Participants create awareness amongst the personal safety and security with the objective to impart nuances and concepts around personal safety.
One of the focus of this hosting cycle would be learning the local language for each participant and performing community service which also reflects part of Educational goals in the exchange student journey. During the last day of the orientation, we also had an external speaker from the organization Clap Global where they encouraged the hosted students to create more awareness by going to classrooms and giving presentations about their natural country’s culture and traditions. The idea is to create a classroom that is “Global” in the host communities where they are placed during the exchange year.
The Participants put up cultural performances country-wise to share information about their different countries and cultures on one platform. Many of these participants presentations were inclusive and showcased diversity in our world, such as singing and cultural dances, etc and other country participants also joined them which was greatly enjoyed by the volunteers and participants.
We had a city bazaar by the volunteers for the host participants. The volunteers put up their chapter stalls to showcase their cities and states cultures by large. They were dressed in traditional attire with the display of yummiest delicacies which added essence to the chapter stalls. Participants loved the snacks and delicious food.
Participants also got an opportunity to interact with the volunteers, staff, and wonderful representatives from USA, Italy and Thailand Embassies. They all got to know about the interesting facts about the different chapters and diverse cultures within India.
We’re thankful to our volunteers for taking out time and being part of the Arrival Orientation. Special thanks to all the representative of various embassies in joining us during the orientation and interacting with our hosted students. We wish all our hosted students, host families & volunteers a great hosting cycle!