There are some things students understand best when they experience them for themselves.
This week, HAIS had the pleasure of welcoming a group of young dancers from Algeciras, Huila, Colombia, to our campus as part of a cultural exchange programme organised through the Embassy of Colombia in Vietnam.
For our students, it was a chance to meet young people from another part of the world, discover something new about Colombian culture and experience traditional Colombian dance up close.
Cultural exchange, right here in Hoi An
The visit brought music, movement and plenty of energy to campus.
The Colombian dancers shared traditional dances from their home region, giving our students a glimpse into the stories, traditions and cultural expressions that are part of life in Huila. Our students watched, listened, asked questions and enjoyed the performance together.
For many of them, this may have been their first opportunity to meet young people from Colombia. It was a simple but meaningful reminder that the world is much bigger than the places we know, and that there is always something new to discover.
At HAIS, this is one of the things we value about being an international community.
With families and students from more than 40 nationalities, different cultures
There are some things students understand best when they experience them for themselves.
This week, HAIS had the pleasure of welcoming a group of young dancers from Algeciras, Huila, Colombia, to our campus as part of a cultural exchange programme organised through the Embassy of Colombia in Vietnam.
For our students, it was a chance to meet young people from another part of the world, discover something new about Colombian culture and experience traditional Colombian dance up close.
Cultural exchange, right here in Hoi An
The visit brought music, movement and plenty of energy to campus.
The Colombian dancers shared traditional dances from their home region, giving our students a glimpse into the stories, traditions and cultural expressions that are part of life in Huila. Our students watched, listened, asked questions and enjoyed the performance together.
For many of them, this may have been their first opportunity to meet young people from Colombia. It was a simple but meaningful reminder that the world is much bigger than the places we know, and that there is always something new to discover.
At HAIS, this is one of the things we value about being an international community.
With families and students from more than 40 nationalities, different cultures are already part of everyday life on our campus. International learning is not only about studying different countries or cultures from a textbook. It is also about meeting people, sharing experiences, listening to different perspectives and finding connections with one another.
Learning through real experiences
Cultural exchange gives students an opportunity to learn in a way that cannot always happen inside a classroom.
Through music and dance, our students were introduced to a different part of the world. They saw how traditions can be expressed through movement, heard stories through performance and experienced the enthusiasm of young people who were sharing something meaningful from their own culture.
These moments also encourage curiosity.
A new face can lead to a question. A new dance can lead to a conversation. A different tradition can open the door to learning more about the people and places behind it.
For our students, these experiences are part of growing up in an international community and developing a wider understanding of the world around them.
Taking the cultural exchange beyond HAIS
The cultural exchange continued beyond our campus, with the Colombian dancers giving a public performance at Ba Mu Temple Gate in Hoi An Old Town.
Their visit gave our students a chance to experience Colombian culture in their own school community, while their public performance allowed even more people in Hoi An to enjoy and connect with the traditions they brought with them.
We were delighted to be part of this cultural exchange and grateful to the Embassy of Colombia in Vietnam for creating this opportunity for our community.
At HAIS, we believe some of the most meaningful learning happens when we open our doors to the world.
Sometimes, that learning comes through a new friendship, a conversation with someone from another country, or simply watching a dance we have never seen before.
And sometimes, it starts with a morning when Colombia meets Hoi An.
