They will do a theatre workshop with noted alternative theatre director Parnab Mukherjee for the children of Charanagar, they will have an arts workshop with renown artist Pravin Mishra, teach English to underprivileged children and set up a micro credit initiative that was kickstarted by their peers in the previous exchange.

Continuing a longstanding relationship with the school community of MGIS and different communities of Ahmedabad, it is a pleasure to welcome them back a third time for yet another enriching intercultural experience.

Photo credit: Abida Desai

All of the French students and teachers were put up with host families from MGIS, and over the past couple of weeks, have been involved in a number of interesting activities at the school that have exposed them to the different facets of life in India. They participated in garba-classes, and an art workshop with Mr. Toofan Refai, they learned about and celebrated holi; they visited the many heritage sites in the city, and also made a three-day trip to Zainabad.

At the same time however, these exchange programmes serve another very important purpose: of doing meaningful and beneficial work in assistance of the underprivileged .The French students were here especially to collaborate with MGIS on various community-service projects, and to set up a micro-credit programme for those in need.

The exchange programme culminated yesterday with a retrospective of sorts. grade 10/11 MGIS students put up stalls of the different activities that had taken place (tie & die, henna, block-printing, Indian games). While the French students expressed their own experiences of their time here through role-plays, songs, collages/visuals, and a short film.

Here’s to the success of another wonderful and enriching exchange, and to the hopes of many more in times to come.

Click here to read a student’s account of the opening day of the exchange

Click here to read related press article

The students enjoy lunch at the Natraani Cafe

Learning to use a Charkha

A visit to the city museam

MGIS and Lycee international students have dinner at Rajvadu

Celebrating holi on campus!

Block-printing stall on last day

A french student at the henna stall on the last day of the exhange programme

The students during their trip to Zainabad

Pics: Reema Shah

In April this summer, we commenced the first leg of our exchange programme with the prestigious Lycée International School of Saint Germain-en-Laye. Fourteen students from the tenth grade and three teachers embarked for a two week stay in Paris. During the course of their visit, the students were all hosted by French families, attended classes at Lycee International and were, in essence, exposed to the culture and people of a foreign country.

Of course, the host-families, students and teachers in France were unraveling our own culture in equal proportions; with our students holding interactive sessions introducing Gandhiji and his philosophy of Ahimsa, as well conducting presentations about India and  its many attributes and customs.

The seeds of this exchange programme were planted in October last year, when Anjou Musafir, Pascal Chazot and Minoo Joshi went to initiate discussions with the faculty of Lycee International regarding the prospect. Subsequently, a team from the American Section of the Lycée International led by Mr Brian, a trustee and former manager of Macintosh in Europe; Mr Sean Lynch, the director and two professors Ms. Terry and Mr. Scott came to visit us at Ahmedabad to finalize the terms of the exchange.

With the success of this first batch, both schools are keen on continuing the partnership and organizing more exchanges in time to come. Since 8 July 2009, three students and a teacher of the Lycée International have been here to set up a community service project and explore some tangible aspects of the next exchange programme. What is more, it has already been finalized that in February 2010, 15 students of Lycée International will come for two weeks to MGIS and collaborate on a series of community service projects and a micro-credit programme for the underprivileged.

Click here to read student  accounts of the trip

Click here to read a teacher’s account

View slide show:

Activities done with the school:

Our students had a busy schedule, organizing  activities and workshops for the students of Grade 4-12 of Lycée International in Paris

-    Presentation on Mahatma Gandhi with a movie & conflict resolution activities. They were organized for grade 9-12 so as to give them a feel of Gandhi and make them understand his philosophy.

- Introductory classes across the grade 4-8 about India where the students wrote their names in Hindi, danced Garba, solved a jigsaw puzzle of the map of India… and a surprise dance performance by Sakhi Ganeriwala and Vishal Pandit on “Jai Ho”.

-    Special classes for the younger children also to familiarize them about India. They learnt how to make rangoli, tie and die, henna tattoos etc.

-    Franco-Indian Night: It was a fusion show where French students and we performed. Sakhi Ganeriwala danced Kathak; Shrishti Bhandari danced Bharatnatyam; we had some bollywood performances by Sakhi Ganeriwala, Fowzia Hawa, and Mahi Baid; and in the end, a Garba performance by Mahi Baid, Vishal Pandit, Parin Mehta and Tanvi Karwal.