Amrika se amcha Pune

As you enter the City Pride School in Nigdi, you spontaneously greet the visiting group of American students with a ‘Hi’. But they surprise you as they reply with a polite ‘Namaste’.

In Pune, for the last three weeks, these 10 young American students are learning Hindi and the Indian culture as part of the US government’s National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y). International Education and Research Network-India (iEARN), an NGO is the partner in this programme.

The NSLI offers scholarships to the US high school students to study abroad and learn various languages. These programmes immerse participants in the cultural life of their host country, giving them formal and informal language practice and sparking a lifetime interest in various cultures.

While in India, the students had the opportunity to live with a host family, attend intensive language classes or enrol in a local high school, and participate in cultural and community service programmes.

The students Ariel, Sean, Connor, Annelifse, Adelaida, Andreo, Sudney, Milkaya, Maria and Chakgi say they have had the time of their life in India—right from visiting vegetable markets to shops, factories and even historical places. Interestingly, the students also set up small shops and were asked to sell some goods on the school premises. The teachers and students were the ‘customers’ at the stall. This project required the students to communicate in Hindi to sell their wares.

Eager about demonstrating their newly learnt sports skills, the students are quick to tell us about their love for sports like langdi and kho kho, which they enjoy playing with the local children.

Ask them what they enjoy most and the answers one gets range from vegetarian food to the religious atmosphere. Sunita Bhagwat, country coordinator, iEARN says, “The students studying in standard IX to XII are eligible to come to India after they pass a written test. About 2,500 students applied for the test and 25 got selected.”

Last year, nine American students visited the same school for this programme. The students stayed with Indian families for six weeks after a week of orientation with iEARN. The families if the City Pride School students were the hosts.

Bhagwat says iEARN sets a special curriculum for these students. The focus is more on the functional use of language. “The teachers teach Hindi and the school provides us a classroom and other basic support.”

As much as the students seem to be enjoying themselves, the programme is no picnic for them. Every day, they are put through five to six hours of classroom learning. “They go through intensive training in Hindi. To give them practical exposure to the Indian way of life, various field activities are planned. The students learn more by interacting with Indians,” says Bhagwat.

Interestingly, the students also visited the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation’s (PCMC) Hindi medium school—the ‘Godawari High School’—to grasp the language better. Bhagwat says this helped them interact with peer groups.

Maya Sawant, school principal, says the school staff taught them Indian music, dance and sports. “Selecting the host parents for these students was an important job for the school officials. When the school started, we had asked parents about their willingness to host these American students. Accordingly, iEARN gave a questionnaire to these parents and visited their homes to judge whether the houses were suitable for the stay. We are happy that we could carry out this activity successfully and the students are returning with a big smile on their face,” she said.