A letter from our Ecuadorian host school

ONE OF THE MANY POSITIVES that arise from spending time in a new country is the relationship that our students and faculty develop at the host school. While in Cuenca, we had the chance to bond with the Colegio Aleman Stiehle Cuenca community. We were delighted to recently receive the following email from Agi Orosz, a CASC staff member, reinforcing the belief that the benefits of pairing with a host school are reciprocal.

Dear TGS,

Well let me start by saying we miss you! Our students and staff had gotten used to you guys being around and doing something exciting and awe inspiring every week!

Everyone I spoke to, students and staff alike, agree that your presence has broadened the perspective of our students, opened their eyes to new cultures, new ideas, new ways of thinking about our world. One student said it helped break down prejudices that our students might have had about other countries they didn´t know much about, but having met students their age from those countries, they now understood their culture much better. Another student said that the TGS students’ contagious enthusiasm and appreciation for all things Ecuadorian had made him appreciate the beauty and cultural richness of his own country much more.

The buddy system helped our students bond, and they had so much fun together at the various events TGS organized like the film festival and the photo exhibition. Their talent is truly inspirational. Our students had the opportunity every day to practice their English in real-life communicative situations with their TGS buddies and they made a real effort to improve since they wanted to be able to converse with your students. One (female) student´s English has improved dramatically owing to the special attention of one of your (male) youngsters! And many keep in touch via facebook and so the sharing goes on.

TGS organized speakers that we could only have dreamed of coming to visit us, I mean how often does the head of the World Wild Life Fund (WWF) coming knocking at your door? Yolanda Kakabadse gave an inspirational speech beautifully illustrated with vivid images and videos that raised awareness among our students about environmental issues that are not much discussed here. Virginia, the other guest speaker was the author of the book the TGS students were reading about Ecuador, it was also such an uplifting experience and a lesson to our students about the racism still endemic to Ecuadorian society.

Our staff were able to mingle too, thank you so much for the delicious welcome dinner, and we hope you enjoyed our goodbye buffet. Our Sushi nights will not be forgotten either!

All the staff I spoke to said that they were impressed by how polite and kind your staff and students were, always asking, never demanding. The staff especially wanted to thank Bob for his excellent training day on Brain-based learning, we all got a lot out of that.

And last but not least, thank you so much for all the material things that you have donated to us. I personally thank you for all the support you have given to the jungle charity “Puma Rumi”, the Wrists for Rights bracelets which the TGS students designed will be sold in order to raise money for a community living in absolute poverty in the Amazon region of Ecuador.

From all of us here at the Colegio Aleman, Cuenca:

Thank you TGS!