What past participants have to say? My name is Quyen Nguyen from AIESEC in Houston, United States. I applied for the International Kindergarten program and shared the American and Vietnamese culture. During my time at the Kindergarten, I played American games and sang Greek songs, taught them the colors, numbers, and basic phrases in English as they taught me the same in Greek. After not being able to communicate with the children because of the language barrier, I learned to handle them more with my tone and actions rather than my words which I have used once I came back. I have never been an expressive person but after this experience, I said less and showed more which made me open up more to how I felt. I made so many amazing memories during this experience but the one I loved was when one of my students made me upset but another student made me feel better by putting his arms around me, kissed me on the cheek and said, "Σ ‘αγαπώ, Κυρία Quyen. (I love you Ms. Quyen)." If I had a chance to do this program again, I would do it without any hesitation because everyone that I met was family and Thessaloniki, Greece was home.
Quyen Nguyen,USA
I participated in the project International Kindergarten in Athens, The project addressed community empowerment, specifically education. I helped the teachers with the regular activities of the kindergarten, but I also had the opportunity to propose projects and develop ideas of my own. This mostly concerned presentations of my country and practical activities to promote cross-cultural dialogue. Working with children surely improved my patience and put me in a different mind-set
Elena Viero , Italy
I had to find ways to communicate with them without having a common language and to catch their attention with my activities, which requires creativity and imagination. I think I really felt satisfied when I saw the children reacting to my proposals with enthusiasm and growing fond of me, despite the differences and the linguistic obstacles. It made me feel that I was really doing something important, both for them and for myself. I would recommend the project because it offers a good perspective to get to know a new reality and a new culture from the inside. Moreover, the teachers allow you to express yourself through your ideas and suggestions, which are really taken into consideration: the engagement is practical and really helps to develop personal skills.