Indo-Peruvian Virtual Spanish Exchange
The Spanish Exchange program is an annual DAIS event that gives students an enriching cultural experience and allows them to make memories that last a lifetime. Due to the pandemic this much awaited exchange trip was cancelled. Undeterred by the situation, DAIS ensured continuity of the Exchange Programme albeit on the virtual platform. To gain more knowledge about the culture of Spanish-speaking countries, an essential part of their IB Spanish syllabus, students of Spanish Language B organized this virtual exchange to share ideas about festivals and other aspects of culture.
Session 1: 19th September 2020
The first collaborative session was initiated on the 19th of September, with students from St George's College, Peru and San Silvestre College, Peru. The session started with an interactive round of introductions through icebreakers and games to engage conversation. Following this, the students of DAIS presented the key aspects of Indian culture through a PowerPoint presentation. This sparked many questions between the students of Peru and India about culture and lifestyle. An informal conversation in Spanish, between the students allowed them to discover the similarities and differences between Indian and Peruvian culture, thus allowing them to draw connections between the two. To conclude the session students participated in a game about Indian culture created by the students of DAIS. This encouraged students to further research and understand the different cultures. This platform gave the students an opportunity to broaden their perspective of different cultures and enhance their learning and command over the language, outside the classroom space. The overwhelming positive feedback received at the end of the session, encouraged the students of DAIS to plan another exchange with their peers from Peru.
Session 2: 12th November 2020
On the 12th of November, the students of Year 11 Spanish language B had their second Exchange Program session in collaboration with students from two schools in Peru. This included 21 students of DAIS Yr. 11 Spanish B, 22 students from St Georges College, Peru and 8 students from San Silvestre College, Peru. With the purpose of a cultural exchange that enriches the language learning experience for the students and broadens their understanding of the Peruvian culture – the session revolved around the theme of Festivals. The DAIS students conducted a presentation about Diwali for the Peruvian students. Following this, students divided up into breakout rooms for closer interactions with the foreign students. The students were engaged and actively learned about each other’s cultures. Students bonded over commonalities in their cultures such as sports, family time and food. In order to give the Peruvian students the complete essence of Indian culture, DAIS students conducted an art activity. This activity, along with many other aspects of the session, was very well received by the Peruvian students. The Peruvian students were engaged throughout the session and responded enthusiastically to all the activities planned by the DAIS students. The entire session was conducted in Spanish in order to make students more confident and comfortable with speaking the language. The great enthusiasm evident in the planning of the next session amongst both DAIS and Peruvian students will definitely result in a third Exchange session anticipated to take place some time in December.
Exchange Programme Student Coordinators: Anirudh Fadia, Ananya Sachdev, Atharva Nihalani, Stuti Daga, Krish Bathija, Manan Agarwal and Ishika Keswani along with volunteers from the Spanish B class.
Exchange Programme Teacher Coordinators: Ms. Manisha Nanda, Ms. Nitika Gupta and Mr. Julian Aguilar.
