As you probably know, we have been conducting an online cultural exchange program with students of the Majorstuen Skole of Norway since last year. This year, we got off to a grand start with 4 of our students participating in a “Skype conference”. Shubhankar Deshpande, Neel Kelkar, Rujuta Kelkar and Mukta Joshi spoke to Hannah, Lea, Olivia and Sølve of Majorstuen. Co-ordinating from our side was Arpita Madam, and from Norway was Oliver Madsen.
This year, this first conference was going to be covered on National TV on Norway, and was also going to be overseen by an important diplomat from Norway. Here is the link of the news clipping – you probably won’t understand much, unless you know Norwegian!
The students will first spend the few sessions getting to know each other, and then knowing about each other’s countries and regions. Then, they would discuss one or two festivals in detail – the food, the custom, the history, celebration style etc. After that, they will wrap up, and end the cultural exchange. And yes, there will be lots of time for small talk too – like which movies they like, which songs they like (you would be surprised at the number of Hindi songs the Norwegian kids know!) etc.
This virtual cultural exchange has become a wonderful international learning experience for our children! In this ‘flat’ globalised world that we live in, the Millennium kids will get an edge over their peers and be able to adapt, surive and thrive! And that exactly is our founder’s vision – that after a decade – when our alumni are adults – they will take on the world!
