Anne Frank Project Nepal off to a great start
After two weeks of preparation, Anne Frank Project Nepal 2012 has finally started reaching out to students and teaching them about the Holocaust and the Second World War through the story of Anne Frank. On July 2, we met more than 200 students in Kathmandu Valley Higher Secondary School in Chakrapath, Kathmandu. One of the surprising things about this visit was that unlike most of the students we interacted with last year, few students from this institution knew who Anne Frank is. Most of them did not know about the Holocaust, which was not too surprising. But, we are always amazed to see students being so inquisitive about the topics we discuss, and the students here were no different.
We started off by setting up our banners that portray life during Nazi Germany, the Holocaust, the second world war, and specially life of Anne Frank. The school administration was kind enough to let all the students from grade eight to ten visit those posters during their busy class schedule and also be a part of the discussion session that took place after the poster presentation session. We received a lot of questions from the students about the posters and the materials presented in them, a clear indication that students had started thinking about the topics, a very good start.
We then entered a pretty humid room for the rest of the program. The windows were shut and curtains were up to make it dark for the projector display to be clearer. A room with not enough air flow in a 32 degree C temperature means a lot of sweat and exasperation. Yet, most of the students were patient enough to stay there for around 2.5 hours. We started off by introducing us (Subhash Ghimire, Sabi Gurung and me myself), and the project. We then showed them the power points for around 20 minutes to give them an idea about the topics that the video we were going to show them later will refer to. It was particularly difficult to talk about race, so we took it slow and provided ample opportunity for students to ask questions and discuss. We then showed them a video about life of Anne Frank, which was around half an hour. This was followed by a very quick written survey. With the help of the subjective questions in the survey, we tried to start a discussion. We asked them what they learned, why they should learn about world history, why do they think we were there with the project, what lessons can we draw from the topics, etc.
The program ended with a very positive response from both the students and teachers. We have collected a lot of pledges to amend the social studies textbook to include the history of the Holocaust, and also the story of Anne Frank. We are hoping to visit 11 more schools here in Kathmandu, Pokhara, Gorkha and other districts, and meet more students.
Here are few pictures from the program:
After two weeks of preparation, Anne Frank Project Nepal 2012 has finally started reaching out to students and teaching them about the Holocaust and the Second World War through the story of Anne Frank. On July 2, we met more than 200 students in Kathmandu Valley Higher Secondary School in Chakrapath, Kathmandu. One of the surprising things about this visit was that unlike most of the students we interacted with last year, few students from this institution knew who Anne Frank is. Most of them did not know about the Holocaust, which was not too surprising. But, we are always amazed to see students being so inquisitive about the topics we discuss, and the students here were no different.
We started off by setting up our banners that portray life during Nazi Germany, the Holocaust, the second world war, and specially life of Anne Frank. The school administration was kind enough to let all the students from grade eight to ten visit those posters during their busy class schedule and also be a part of the discussion session that took place after the poster presentation session. We received a lot of questions from the students about the posters and the materials presented in them, a clear indication that students had started thinking about the topics, a very good start.
We then entered a pretty humid room for the rest of the program. The windows were shut and curtains were up to make it dark for the projector display to be clearer. A room with not enough air flow in a 32 degree C temperature means a lot of sweat and exasperation. Yet, most of the students were patient enough to stay there for around 2.5 hours. We started off by introducing us (Subhash Ghimire, Sabi Gurung and me myself), and the project. We then showed them the power points for around 20 minutes to give them an idea about the topics that the video we were going to show them later will refer to. It was particularly difficult to talk about race, so we took it slow and provided ample opportunity for students to ask questions and discuss. We then showed them a video about life of Anne Frank, which was around half an hour. This was followed by a very quick written survey. With the help of the subjective questions in the survey, we tried to start a discussion. We asked them what they learned, why they should learn about world history, why do they think we were there with the project, what lessons can we draw from the topics, etc.
The program ended with a very positive response from both the students and teachers. We have collected a lot of pledges to amend the social studies textbook to include the history of the Holocaust, and also the story of Anne Frank. We are hoping to visit 11 more schools here in Kathmandu, Pokhara, Gorkha and other districts, and meet more students.
Here are few pictures from the program:
Students getting ready to view the posters
Students gazing at a poster
A teacher describing the Holocaust
Subhash Ghimire (Site Supervisor) and Sabi Gurung (Program Coordinator)
Sudip with the introduction banner
Students in a queue to get into the discussion room
Students being handed out the brochure and the survey
Brief introduction about the project and the team
Sabi starts the power point presentation
The pledge to support amendments to the curriculum
Active participation during the discussion session
Written survey
Thank you note by the principal
Getting out of the discussion room: end of the program
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