AFPN School VisitsIn order to teach students about the Holocaust, Anne Frank and the Second World War, the AFPN team, consisting of 4-6 volunteers, visits schools throughout the country and spends 1-2 days at each school. The project is divided into three different parts:
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SCHOOL ASSEMBLY (5-10 minutes)
A volunteer begins with a brief introduction of the project, mission and purpose, and the schedule for the day to an assembly of K-12 students. This segment is intended to spark curiosity and discussion among students and teachers and to encourage them to attend poster session.
POSTER SESSION (Throughout the day)
This segment features 15 large banners with emotional photographs, informative captions, and interesting facts capturing life during Nazi occupation of Germany, the story of Anne Frank and the history of the Holocaust. The poster session is open to all students and teachers. They are displayed in a common hall throughout the day, so students can explore these banners whenever they have free time.
DISCUSSION SESSION (2-2.5 hours)
This session is geared toward high school students, mostly 10th graders. A short power point presentation with important terminology, definitions, and basic facts about the Holocaust and Anne Frank is presented. This is followed by a documentary video detailing the life of Anne Frank. Finally, there is a discussion session with the students. They are first asked to fill out a multi-question survey aimed to gauge how well the students learned about the topics taught throughout the day. Next, one to two volunteers lead the discussion session asking them important questions, like “what have you learned today?,” “why do you think these topics are important?,” “what lessons can you draw from the Holocaust?” etc. This is a crucial part of the project because it encourages students to think critically. It helps them reflect on the subject matters covered and discuss their perspectives with their peers. They also have the option to sign a pledge to support a movement to include topics of the Holocaust and Anne Frank in the Nepalese school curriculum. The number of pledges is the metric for success for the traveling educational exhibition.
Each school visit concludes with donating books and other educational materials related to Anne Frank, and other topics discussed, to the school library. Students can go back and access these books if they are interested in learning more about these topics. Each student will also be given a brochure with a brief description of the major topics discussed and AFPN contact information, if they want additional information or volunteer opportunities in the future.
