On Friday 3rd April more than 20 students and staff from IH Ancona-Jesi, IH Torun and IH Newcastle met online to share a drink in English during their first 'Virtual aperitif’. Here is what Roderick Fraser Director of Studies at IH Jesi had to say about the event:
'The idea for this meeting came about through our shared need to connect our students and staff during these lonely and difficult times. We were also keen to link together through the internet other schools within the IH network: highlighting that we are all in the same boat and that International House provides our students with global connections.
Both IH Torun and IH Newcastle were obvious choices to team up with. IH Newcastle has been a close partner over the years through their study abroad programme and the fact that many of our teachers had passed through their CELTA and Delta courses. Glenn Standish (DoS IH Torun), on the other hand had recently presented at our IH Ancona Jesi Teachers Conference in February during which we had discussed the idea of organizing a cultural exchange between the schools in Italy and Poland.
During Friday’s Virtual Aperitif in English students and staff from the three schools got to know each other while discussing Easter traditions and the arrival of spring. The only rule was that no one could mention the ‘C-word’.
What’s next? We are going to repeat the Virtual Aperitif every Friday with different IH schools from around the world. We hope that other IH schools can follow this initiative (if they already haven’t done so) and team up and set this in motion so that through International House we can link up more than ever'.