There is an Erasmus + enrichment group at SIS run by Mrs Anneli Thompson and Mr AI which has had exchanges with other schools in the past. This year, a subsection of Erasmus + called eTwinning connected SIS with schools in Lyon, France and Weesp, Netherlands. On Sunday, January 14th, the 13 to 16-year-old students landed at Arlanda and were picked up by the SIS host families. The QQ interviewed two students from the SIS enrichment group who told us about their experiences from the exchange.
Sunday consisted of the Dutch and French students meeting their host families and settling in. The students visited and experienced many parts of Stockholm. They went ice skating in Kungsträdgården, visited the Vasa and Etnografiska museums, had a tour of Norra Latin, participated in a Banksy workshop led by Mr Snell, and grilled ‘korv’ and marshmallows in Skansen. What seems to be the unanimous favourite, is the ice dipping at Hellasgården.
Interacting with the students was heavily based on their English levels, which is why many students found it easier to communicate with the Dutch students. Although the French students are still learning English they were quite prepared as they knew the key words for an exchange. Three students on the SIS team speak French, so mixed with a bit of sign language, Google Translate, and help from the teachers, everyone got to know each other. To get past formal introductions, many of the Dutch girls hung out with the SIS girls after school at some of the host houses. They merged friend groups and went shopping which enabled the exchange students to see Stockholm from a different perspective than that of a school setting. It is this cultural exchange that the SIS students found the most interesting; learning that the Dutch bike to school and pack their lunches every day or all the different traditions the French have that don’t happen in Sweden. Team Sweden’s coordinators and the SPC planned a fika (Swedish tea break) every day to enhance this aspect of cultural exchange.
Although the students found it quite tiring being out all day and socialising with many new people, they thoroughly enjoyed it, so much that they are interested in going to the Netherlands and France for the next exchanges. They unanimously agreed they learned a lot from this experience but what they will remember most is the social and cultural aspect of it.
