Hybrid Bilingual-Bicultural Programme '23 Held
By: Josephine Chloe Confido & Veronica Elizabeth Pan
On February 22-23 2023, Bina Bangsa School held an intercampus programme to help its students explore the wonders of different cultures, both so that they may be familiar with and the ones that are foreign to them. The program is held annually for selected students to participate in activities all across the campuses. It aims to help the students explore the roots of various cultures, namely those from the East such as Chinese and Taiwanese cultures, and those from the West.
On the first day of the Bicultural/Bilingual Studies Program, students were introduced to the materials that they would be working on. Videos from every campus were projected as an insight to direct students to understand the importance of cultural diversity and how different cultures affect and conjoin with one another throughout the years and create the world that we live in today. Students were not only introduced to the existence of merged cultures across the world but they also learned to internalise the wonder of people all over the world, with unique differences that empower humanity all over the globe.
The students watched short vlogs that they and the other campus students have made regarding personal experiences with other cultures. The Semarang campus showed us their field day in a new square in the city that mimicked Western creation and expressed their opinions on the marvel of the world coming together through the decades. The Bandung campus presented a vlog that was created by the HMCA (Harvard Model Congress Asia) delegates earlier this year where they shared their involvement in the cross Eastern culture and how it differed from the one that they used to know.
On the second day of the event, the students tried out activities of their choice: for the writing activity, students were presented with the option of either cursive writing from the Western culture or calligraphy from the Eastern culture.
For the cooking activity, students chose Chinese noodles with various sauces for the Eastern experience and Italian pasta from the Western side of the project.
The aim of this activity was not only to help students understand the differences and similarities of cultures around the world but understand the power of teamwork and coordination in this group activity. Students were presented with the opportunity to bond with one another throughout the flow of the project and everyone enjoyed the program altogether.
This year's two-day activity was a fruitful result, and we hope to have the same enthusiasm next academic year!