CheongShim International Academy’s Memorable Exchange

Posted: 27 June 2019

IDEALS

• Internationalism
• Democracy
• Leadership
• Service

Discoveries

• Communication skills
• Inquisitiveness
• Sense of responsibility
• Courage
• Self-awareness
• Compassion

Age range

Secondary

Curriculum area

• History
• International relations

About

In June 2019, we hosted two exchange students from Vidya Devi Jindal School in India. As part of their exchange experience we organized the opportunity for them to pay tributes at a ceremonial pillar built in memory of the Indian soldiers who had participated in the Korean War, at the War Memorial in downtown Seoul.

We decided to do this primarily as a way to improve the exchange experience for our guests from India. It wasn’t tied to any larger memorial day events, but we felt that the Korean War was one of the strongest bonds that Korea has with India, despite the contribution of Indians being relatively unknown in both countries.

In coordination with the Indian embassy, we arranged for a representative from the Indian military stationed in Korea to attend so that students could ask questions about the history of Indian involvement in the war, and to hand over a commemorative plaque on behalf of our two schools. Students also gave speeches that they had prepared beforehand on their feelings about the role played by the Indian military, using the discoveries from the Round Square Discovery Framework as their guiding values.

Planning

We planned the event by directly contacting the Indian embassy in Seoul to see whether they would be interested in sending representation. The parents of the two Korean reciprocal exchange students kindly funded a wreath, which we placed next to the cenotaph.

In addition, students researched for a week before the ceremony and linked their research to character traits of the Round Square Discoveries.

Activity

The actual day was broken into parts:

(1) Wreath laying ceremony
(2) Photos with respective country’s flags
(3) Speech by Round Square Representative (me)
(4) Speeches by students from CheongShim International Academy and Vidya Devi Jindal School
(5) Ceremonial Plaque presentation to Indian military representative

Impact

On an academic level, students from both schools learned facts and stories about the Korean war that they would otherwise have remained ignorant of. But on a deeper level, these students took part in a serious, solemn ceremony that actually attracted a sizable crowd who were curious about what was going on. To give a public speech in such situations showed courage, self-belief, leadership, and responsibility on behalf of these students. Likewise, for those watching, the fact that this sort of commemorative show does not occur frequently spurred interest in what we were doing and the stories that the students were telling.

Long term

We now plan to do this for all exchange students coming from countries that were involved in the Korean War. We feel that this is an area of history that is often overlooked, and thus gives student participants the chance to engage in authentic research about the topic, and a public setting to demonstrate their new found knowledge, all while commemorating fallen soldiers and connecting two countries under the Round Square umbrella.

Advice

• Create authentic buy-in among all stakeholders
• Get parents on board as much as possible in terms of logistics
• Use the event to promote Round Square in your school
• Have students write a report for the school newspaper about the event

 

Author: Liam Birch, Round Square Representative, CheongShim International Academy