Follow us on:

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube

Archive -Education

Students at private school in Abu Dhabi learn more about Seychelles |14 March 2017

A group of students at the Al Yasat private school in Al Shamkha, Abu Dhabi have learned more about Seychelles through a presentation on the islands given to them.

The presentation, on the theme ‘The Seychelles Islands’, was given by the tourism attaché based in Abu Dhabi, Aliette Esther, at the request of the school.

The idea for the presentation came about following the first trip to Seychelles by one of the teachers at the school, Sara Al-Zu’bi.

She said she fell in love with Seychelles and wanted to share her experience with the students.

“On the first day, I gave a presentation to students aged between seven and eight years. I usually work closely with travel agents and professionals involved with the travel and tourism trade, so these young minds were a different segment of the market. I had to come up with a totally new presentation which was geared towards them. It was challenging, but a lot of fun,” said Ms Esther.

“I covered a few themes like the people, the flora and fauna, the language and other aspects of our culture. The students stunned me with everything that they knew, thanks to their teacher’s hard work,” said Ms Esther.

Miss Al-Zu’bi was enthused about her trip to Seychelles, and started preparing for the presentation and Open Day.

It fitted in perfectly with the curriculum, and that made it even more worthwhile.

From posters to papier-mâché figurines, drawings of the flag and pictures of animals, as well as their own representations of different aspects of the islands, the students seemed to have covered it all.

These were also on display the following week for the Open Day, where the parents of the over 850 students, 95% of whom are United Arab Emirates (UAE) nationals, were in attendance.

The parents asked a lot of questions about the islands, sharing their children's fascination and enthusiasm, Ms Esther said.

She added that the highlight of the day was a dance performance that the class had prepared, and whereby three of the students wore traditional costumes of the Seychelles.

The whole audience was clapping and cheering to the rhythm of the music. 

“It was really touching to see children of other nationalities loving the country so much,” Ms Esther added.  

Everyone went home with fond memories of the islands as well as little souvenirs of the Seychelles in the guise of coco-de-mer keyrings and different coloured tortoises ordered specially for the event. 

The Seychelles was showcased alongside Tunisia, Italy, Argentina, Thailand, Japan, South Africa, Mexico, Cuba, England, Brazil, Canada, France, Ireland, Puerto Rico, Germany, Greece, Russia, Morocco, Australia, Switzerland, Jamaica, New Zealand and India. 

The school’s principal, Dr Jake Madden, thanked Ms Esther for the effort she invested in marketing and selling the Seychelles, and for sustaining the interest of so many parents, children and staff throughout the day.

“I think we can definitely expect a few families from the Al Yasat private school to visit Seychelles this year. They were all impressed by the fact that they can get a visa on arrival and that the islands are only four hours away from the UAE,” Dr Madden said.

“To top it off, it is perfectly safe, and that’s a definite attraction. The UAE is well-connected with the Seychelles archipelago by three airlines and four scheduled flights per day one of which is Air Seychelles the national carrier, Etihad Airways and Emirates Airline,” Ms Esther concluded.

 

 t

 

 

 

 

» Back to Archive