January 2020 Newsletter

We’re AFSers!

Newsletter

J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 0 Your source to stay up to date with AFS Intercultural Programs India’s activities, events & opportunities

india.afs.org | india@afs.org

Inside this issue 2 Explore the Impact Study -- AFS Research about the learning and personal growth of exchange students 3 Experience #AFSEffect | Read the Words from the AFSers!

4 Read more about our Member School, Lakshmipat Singhania Academy, Kolkata 5 AFS is collaborating with amazing organizations. Know more about Mission Fight Back, an organization that empowers the children 6 In Intercultural Learning, read about the award AFS India received and various trainings conducted for students & educators 7 Learn more about the experiences of our hosted students exploring India in our Hosting Stories 8 Read the Impact Stories of AFS Students hosted in Italy & France 10 Read more about International Volunteers’ Day Celebrations in Joy of Volunteering 11 Send your student abroad to Denmark on AFS Short-Term Exchange Program

Since AFS ambulance drivers returning from the Second World War transformed AFS from a wartime volunteer humanitarian aid program into a groundbreaking intercultural programs organization, AFS has led and participated in research efforts that are focused on achieving a deeper understanding of the impact of our exchange programs. This ongoing commitment to assessment enables AFS to provide students, host families and volunteers with highly effective learning experiences through our programs.

AFS has a long-standing history of significant contributions to the field of intercultural education, often working in partnership with leading institutions and notable researchers.

By exploring a wide range of relevant topics—from the ways that technology affects cultural adaptation processes to the interplay between personality and culture— these research initiatives help identify a variety of factors involved in intercultural learning.

Impact Study One of the earliest studies on the impact of cultural exchange programs conducted by AFS began in 1980 and completed in 1985. Thousands of AFS students were interviewed at different points during their exchange programs to measure their learning and personal growth across 17 different variables: 1. Awareness of Opportunities; 2. Adaptability; 3. Non-Materialism; 4. Communication with Others; 5. Critical Thinking; 6. Understanding Other Cultures; 7. Exchange of Ideas; 8. High Standards for Personal Relationships; 9. Independence Responsibility for Self; 10. Foreign Language Appreciation and Ability; 11. Personal Growth and Maturity; 12. Awareness and Appreciation of Home Country and Culture;

13. Appreciation of Own Family; 14. Awareness and Appreciation of Host Country and Culture; 15. International Awareness; 16. Open-Mindness; 17. Self-Confidence.

The findings were substantial, as subjects showed significantly greater increase in understanding other cultures, awareness and appreciation of host country and culture, foreign language appreciation and ability, international awareness, and adaptability. The AFS experience also seems to help students become less materialistic, more independent in their thinking, more aware of their home country and culture, better able to communicate with others and to think critically. Still regarded as one of the most significant pieces of research on the subject, the AFS Impact Study has been reproduced in several formats, and numerous scholarly journals have published articles based on the results.

Page 02 | January 2020 | Newsletter | AFS India

AFS

Research

AFS started in 1914 when a group of Ambulance Driver came together to evaluate the losses incurred during the war. The men realised that the wars were causing destruction in terms of lives, resources and monetary. No one was gaining anything from the wars. Hence they thought to do something that can help reduce the wars. This is how AFS was born - when the Ambulance drivers thought of start doing exchanges where the "young children" can be given the exposure to various cultures and show that we all are human. We all want to live in harmony. We want to create a world that is just, peaceful and harmonious.

Words From the

AFSers

When our students come back from an AFS program, there is a great impact on them in terms of their thought process, their confidence, their behaviour, their appearance and overall in their outlook. The AFS exchange program brings lot of changes in a student and leaves a great impact on their lives. Here are some testimonials from alumni, school heads and parents that highlights the Impact of the program: Aadil Fahim went on AFS program in 2007. His aim was to go in Engineering after his high school, however after the exchange program he chose to do a major in Journalism and got a Master’s degree in Conflict Analysis and Peace-building. Aadil says, “We all need space to figure out the life we wish to build, the profession we want to choose, and the person we envision to become. AFS Exchange gives you that space -- a space to think, learn and apply your learning to find yourself.”

An AFS experience is a step towards becoming an Intercultural Global citizen.

AFS adds value through its comprehensive selection, induction, continuous monitoring methodology, concluding with a debrief and the opportunity to become a member of possibly the world’s most diverse, distinguished and influential alumni groups.

Dr Sumer Singh, eminent educationist says, “Education is much more than Academics. To experience new and varied learning experiences one needs to move beyond ones comfort zone. An AFS experience is a step towards becoming an Intercultural Global citizen. AFS adds value through its comprehensive selection, induction, continuous monitoring methodology, concluding with a debrief and the opportunity to become a member of possibly the world’s most diverse, distinguished and influential alumni groups.

The experience is life transforming and invaluable, the best gift from a parent to a child” Jyoti Arora, mother of Medhavi Arora who studied in Amity International school was amazed to see the difference in her daughter when she came back after a year in Japan. Medhavi continues to be in touch with her family even after these many years with her host family, and for her Japan is a second home.

- Dr Sumer Singh

Aadil Fahim

Dr Sumer Singh

Jyoti Arora

Nishita Mehta

Nishita Mehta has already experienced the work cultures of both corporate and NGO in the 6 years of working. She has been able to shift her thought process to be fit in both these diverse worlds. She says, "AFS gave me the strength to explore while not losing sight of the end goal. It helped me choose French Majors in graduation (my initial plan was psychology) and not feel afraid of the sudden change. It prepared me for my interview for Master’s admission in Communication (had always been my end goal). After I returned from my exchange year to Italy, I got an opportunity to teach basic Italian in a private language coaching institute. Italian tutors were hardly any in Vadodara that time. I took it up. My first batch was a group of professionals who were to travel to Italy for work and interested in learning Italian. I was 18 and they were in their late 30s I assume."

Page 03 | January 2020 | Newsletter | AFS India

Lakshmipat Singhania Academy 12 B Alipore Road, Kolkata - 700027 +91-33-24793600 www.lsakolkata.com

Students standing with Mr. Vladimir Putin

-- Dedicated and Highly QualiďŹ ed Faculty -- State of the Art Facilities for S.T.E.M., Sports, Art and Music -- Participation in National & International Co-Curricular Events -- International Students Exchange Programs -- Multi-Dimensional Curriculum

LSA is committed to academic excellence, quality education, character building and holistic development of its students.

LSA students develop a love of learning, responsible citizenship, personal integrity, leadership, social & environmental consciousness.

LSA students excel in academics, sports, visual arts, performing arts, communication, social service.

Page 04 | January 2020 | Newsletter | AFS India

1. Winner of International Space Settlement Design Competition in the year of 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2019.

2. Winner of International School Award by British Council for the fourth time.

3. Participated at an Innovation Program on Deep Technology organized by ATL at Sirius Centre, Sochi, Russia.

4. Winners of International Cyberfair for last 3 years.

5. CBSE National Chess Champion in Under 14 Girls & 3rd in Under 19 Girls Category.

6. 2nd Rank in Co-Ed Day School in West Bengal and Kolkata by EW India School ranking for four consecutive years.

7. Winner of Excellence in Academics (CBSE)

by Telegraph School Award 2018 and 2019.

8. Recycle Champion 2019, by Vital Waste Group

MISSION FIGHT BACK

#WALKWITHOUTFEAR

www.missionfightback.com +91-8449451111 rohit@missionfightback.com Congratulations…for running a successful school…for being the ‘catalyst’ in shaping the future of thousands of children over the years.

But are the children truly empowered to face the real world? As a principal and parent do you know what’s going on in the mind of the child right now? Are educational institutes and parents not responsible for the physical and psychological well-being and safety of the children beyond the boundaries of institutes and home?

With over 120 rapes (reported) and over four times (400+) unreported rapes daily, across all strata’s of society, and one in every three children having to face physical and psychological bullying universally, our world is advancing on an unenvious and ignominious path.

“To the girl’s of the world, I say this: Love yourself enough to stand up everytime you are pushed.

This is our world too, and we will claim it.”

Did we know?

-- 95% crime against women are perpetrated by individuals close to the victim.

-- 19% is the dismal conviction rate. It emboldens the perpetrators.

-- 32% (one in three students) gets bullied at school at least once in month and a similar proportion is -- affected by physical violence as per UNESCO. Young boys are just as vulnerable to sexual harassment as are the girls. The -- phenomenon is more in urban areas and Metros.

Physical bullying more common amongst boys, while psychological bullying -- more prevalent among girls.

Indian children are the most cyber-bullied in the world.

As a parent, teacher and society it is imperative to start a conversation early regarding sexual harassment, exploitation and bullying and to take appropriate and timely actions as all these epidemics are real and leaves an indelible psychological scar for life. However, with proper education and training, starting at the right age at least half of these cases can be avoided or prevented at the initial stages.

Mission Fight Back (MFB), was conceptualized by a teenage girl in an attempt to find answers to insecurities related to personal safety. The idea has now turned into a successful school and college level program and is fast turning into a movement being adopted by most schools across the country. MFB is now the most holistic system in the world which synergizes state of the art technology (as an app), psychological well-being and multi leveled on ground street survival training to train the children. GUCCI, the International luxury brand has called it the best school and college level program for the safety of children in the last 100 years.

MFB as a program is targeted against problems which have persisted since times immemorial as well as the new age ones.

- Vedica Mishra, Mission Fight Back

Problems, which the society has either failed to address or have either turned a blind eye towards.

How long will children keep living in fear and humiliation, thrown at them by their tormentors’ day after day?

This evil has to stop and stop now…. and together we can stop it. We at MISSION FIGHT BACK are sanguine that we along with socially conscious educational institute, can deliver a strong message of empowering the children. Join us in our movement to make this world a safer place for children, we owe it to them.

Walk with us and teach every child to Walk Without Fear.

Page 05 | January 2020 | Newsletter | AFS India

EducationWorld India Awards AFS India for Experiential Education We are happy to share that AFS Intercultural Programs India has been highly rated in the inaugural EducationWorld India Eduresources Star Ratings 2020 with the maximum seven stars awarded under the parameters of Content, Programme design & quality and Impact assessment. The EW India Eduresources Star Ratings 2020 have been introduced by EducationWorld (estb.

1999) – India’s #1 education news magazine in association with Edutech India of Nesco Exhibitions (estb.1939), one of India’s largest events and exhibitions companies.

The star ratings have been awarded by a sample of knowledgeable respondents comprising promoters, principals and teachers of India’s top-ranked K-12 schools and higher education institutions who were polled by EducationWorld through an online survey. The nationwide survey invited educators to rate (on a star scale of 1-7) over 60 education products and services across a wide range of categories on seven parameters viz, Training Support, Value for money, Customer satisfaction and Innovation.

Effect+ Workshop and ICL Educators’ Training

Intercultural

Learning

Page 06 | January 2020 | Newsletter | AFS India

We are very proud to have reached over 1500 students and 1000+ Educators with our AFS Effect+ and ICL Teacher Training workshops in the Year 2019! The year 2020 kick started with our first set of workshops organised in Sri Sathya Sai Vidya Vihar, Indore in January 2020.

The Effect + workshops use interactive experiential learning methods to teach students how they can advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and ICL Teachers Training empowers teachers to incorporate intercultural learning in classrooms while also helping the students develop intercultural competences, become savvy about the world around them, and be prepared to make an impact in their local communities. This supports the global movement to advance intercultural learning and global citizenship education and AFS's mission to create CHANGE-MAKERS! The workshops were duly facilitated by Ms. Sarita Badhwar for 40+ students and 25 teachers.

Student of the Second Quarter Greta Callegari, AFS Student on a year program from Italy, hosted in Pune Chapter has been awarded as Student Of The Second Quarter (October to December 2019).

First Prize in BRC Tata Structura Marathon 2020 We are proud to share that Anna Keyzar, YES Abroad student from USA has won First Prize in BRC Tata Structura Marathon 2020.

Anna is hosted in Kolkata at Lakshmipat Singhania Academy.

The marathon was conducted on 19th January 2020 at Bengal Rowing club, Kolkata. She won first prize in 5 KM race in 14-20 years group in female category (as a guest).

Our Heartiest Congratulations to her on this wonderful achievement!!

To nominate the student of the second quarter, we introduced our second activity where the host students were asked to reflect upon their learning journey throughout these months (July to November 2019) in order to understand their experience so far. They were shared with the "Sheet of Reflection" with certain sets of questions for them to reflect upon on various aspects: host family, host school, local language learning, cross cultural learning and so on. Greta was one of the participants of the activity.

There were 11 entries received which were shared with the Malaysian Embassy. The participants were judged by one of the Officials, Mr. Muhammad Azfar Abdullah, First Secretary of Malaysia Embassy. Greta scored the highest amongst all the participants and became the winner by reflecting the best of her journey of becoming an active global citizen.

We are thankful to Malaysian Embassy for their help during the selection process. #France.

Hosting HOST Stories Page 07 | January 2020 | Newsletter | AFS India

Page 07 | January 2020 | Newsletter | AFS India

Impact of

AFS Program

#Italy Decision That Changed My GOFuture ABROAD

By Manali More, AFS Year Program 2019-20 to Italy "A decision taken two years ago changed my life. This wasn't a small decision. This was something big. Leaving your home and going to a whole diverse cultured country and live there for 10 months is not easy at all. But as they say nothing worth having comes easy.

I chose Italy for my exchange year, a country with best food and its wonderful landscape view. On 5th September I finally began my adventurous journey with a lot of emotions inside. Happy, excited, nervous, scared, a little bit sad all at the same time. I was mostly curious to meet new cultures and my new family. I have been here for almost 5 months now and it has been amazing so far. These 5 months have made me emotionally strong and independent. I learnt so many things. My exchange year has really changed me emotionally. It has made me realise that how a small action of my can have a big effect on the others.

Page 08 | January 2020 | Newsletter | AFS India

I have been able to discover a lot of things. By doing presentations I have gained speaking skills. I have also been improving on my language skills.

I'm hosted in a small city called Travagliato with 9 other exchange students from different countries. Making friends from different countries is one of the best experiences I've had so far. This way I am able to know different cultures around the world and develop international friendships. I've got amazing host family here. Living in the only women's house is another one of the best experiences I've had. One of my favourite things is having family lunch on Sundays.

With an amazing family I'm having best of life and looking forward to have more experiences in next 5 months. Thanks again to all the volunteers and staff of AFS India for making my dream come true.”

Impact of

AFS Program

#France The Vibes Of Newness

GO ABROAD

By Ishan Singh, AFS Year Program 2019-2020 to France “I’m proud to say that I have seen a massive change in myself which is for good. One of the main changes is that - it’s not the same old reckless me anymore. I have learnt to double check and ensure whatever I do is going to get done in its predictable way.

This has improved my patience level. Being completely exposed to a new environment had me learn new and different ways of communicating with people and this has given me the opportunity to absorb the positive features. I tell this to everyone that there is no good time you should be waiting for, just take this time and make it yours and lead your way. One of the most valuable moments till now of my exchange is that there was an AFS Reunion of all batches from 1940-2019. Representing your country and culture during such a big occasion was one of the proudest moments. I was the only student who wore the traditional outfit and everyone praised me for showing up my culture so well.

I have completed four months of my exchange and I am happy to say that the love I have received from my host family is huge. They love and respect me and my country a lot which is a special feeling I am being served with. My delightful thanks to AFS India and AFS France for giving me this opportunity and making this possible. I highly recommend this program to everyone especially the teenagers. They must consider themselves once for AFS as this can be your only chance of exploring in your life, so may the force be with you.

With this my exchange program I can say that I have an improvement in my creative thinking. Now I have a broader mind and a new way of looking at things. This vibe of newness has made me focus on my chosen field of career.”

Page 09 | January 2020 | Newsletter | AFS India

International Volunteers Day 2019

VOLUNTEER The Joy of Volunteering

International Volunteers Day is celebrated each year throughout the world on 5th December. AFS India being a volunteer driven organisation is very honoured to have so many volunteers working towards the vision and mission of the organisation. There are no words to describe our gratitude to the thousands of our volunteers who are with us in the mission of developing active global citizens.

The Eect + workshops use interactive experiential learning methods to teach students how they can advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and ICL Teachers Training empowers teachers to incorporate intercultural learning in classrooms while also helping the students develop intercultural competences, become savvy about the world around them, and be prepared to make an impact in their local communities. This supports the global movement to advance At AFSintercultural India, the whole month learning and global of December was dedicated to AFS's citizenship education and the volunteers to celebrate mission to create volunteerism.

15 chapters The workshops CHANGE-MAKERS! celebrated International were duly facilitated by Ms. Sarita volunteers day with great Badhwar for 40+ students and 25 fervour and enthusiasm. Some teachers. chapters arranged outings, parties, get-together, watched a movie together and some also did community service and celebrated the day with the elderly and children spreading love and happiness. It gives us immense joy and pleasure to see our volunteers happy!

A BIG shout to all of our volunteers who contribute their time, energy and talents. Our missions cannot be achieved without your hard work. Thank you for being part of AFS India and helping us make the world a better place to be.

Thank you for Volunteering!

Page 10 | January 2020 | Newsletter | AFS India

This summer program embraces the school´s educational philosophy, which emphasises the development of the learner´s interests and the quality of essential courses. This approach strengthens the participants teamwork skills as well as the ability to think and become more independent. The students can have the opportunity to work and relax together with young people from different cultural backgrounds.

The students will become more confident in speaking and using English language. They will gain a good understanding of Danish history and culture. In the Science classes they will experiment and explore nature (learning about Physics, Chemistry and Biology).

------

Arrival Date: 2nd July 2020/11th July 2020 Departure Date: 11th July 2020/25 July 2020 Age Criteria: Between 15 to 18 Years Application Deadline: 1st April 2020 Final Fees: INR 205,320 (approx) + Air Fare + Visa

APPLY Now!

For any queries or more information, please reach out to Devika Sahni at devika.sahni@afs.org or call at +91-8586-925-383.

Summer Camp at

Ranum

Denmark

“

Before my exchange, I had only heard about the examples of Nordic and Scandinavian countries in matters of socio-economic development and high standard of living. But during my exchange, I realized it was all true. Equality is a deeply ingrained value in Denmark.

- AFS Returnee, Denmark

Page 11 | January 2020 | Newsletter | AFS India

AFS Mission AFS Intercultural Programs is an international, voluntary, non-governmental, non-profit organization that provides intercultural learning opportunities to help people develop the knowledge, skills and understanding needed to create a more just and peaceful world.

AFS Values AFS enables people to act as responsible global citizens working for peace and understanding in a diverse world. It acknowledges that peace is a dynamic concept threatened by injustice, inequity, and intolerance.

AFS seeks to affirm faith in the dignity and worth of every human being and of all nations and cultures. It encourages respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms without distinction as to race, sex, language, religion or social status.

AFS activities are based on our core values of dignity, respect for differences, harmony, sensitivity and tolerance.

Cover Photo: Nikki Thevannoor from Ooty For any suggestions, or sharing stories or experiences, please write at aadil.fahim@afs.org Learn more about AFS at india.afs.org Be inspired by our history at india.afs.org/afs-timeline/ Connect with us at: facebook.com/afsindia youtube.com/afsindiaofficial twitter.com/IndiaAFS instagram.com/afs_india/

AFS Intercultural Programs India

Anand Bhawan, 12, Hailey Road, New Delhi - 110001 Office:+91-11-42512498/41501672/41540827 www.india.afs.org | india@afs.org