Although the Final Celebration at Railway was the official showcase and end to TMS classes, we all decided to have small-scale celebrations at our AIF schools for the students who could not make it out to Railway.  We were lucky to have a few special visitors for those celebrations, including Liz Jones, a friend from the American Consultate in Hyderabad, who came out to meet the students at MGM and watch the screening of their video On the Road: Traffic in Hyderabad.  She was greeted by the customary sea of students and the chorus of “Hello m’am’s,” and interacted warmly and patiently with the onslaught.  The girls were so excited to have a visitor and to get a chance to examine the Ipad she brought along to teach them about the Consulate’s webpage and Facebook site.  She also took a lovely class photo for us and offered to cross-post the video on the Consulate’s webpage to help spread the video’s important message about pedestrian rights.

We are so proud of the videos the girls have produced this semester. Aside from all the work that went into writing, directing, shooting, and planning these video projects, many of our students also engaged in service learning projects that taught them how to become change-makers in their communities. It was truly inspiring to see this realization take hold in them. I look forward to hearing about the progress of these different projects — the TMS garden and clean-up project and the efforts of the girls at MGM to bring attention to the dismal conditions of the roads and hazards to pedestrians in front of their school.

Samantha’s Railway Class: Our Environment

Sultan Bazar: Our Time in TMS

Our Time in TMS from The Modern Story on Vimeo.

MGM School: On the Road

On the Road: Traffic in Hyderabad from The Modern Story on Vimeo.

Great job, girls! Your teachers are so proud of you!