This section provides information for teachers leading a team of students to the summit.
How do I register my team of students for the summit?
Please click on the “registration” link and follow instructions there. You will need to know full names, passport nationalities, age, grade level, gender, accommodation requests (in terms of preferences for either host stay families, if you know someone at ISK, and/or students from your own team you would like to stay with), and dietary restrictions for all student participants on your team. You will also need flight details in terms of airline, flight numbers, and arrival and departure times.
How do I pay all registration fees?
Towards the end of the registration process, you will see instructions in terms of payment. You may elect to do a bank transfer or use an online Paypal option (with a credit card) to pay your fees.
Do we need visas to visit Kenya, and what will happen when we arrive at the airport?
Most visitors to Kenya apply for an ordinary/tourist visa upon arrival at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. You will be given a form to fill out on arrival. Ordinary/tourist visas cost $50 per person.
Please consult the following web site to determine if you need a visa to enter Kenya. There are several passports that will not require a visa: http://www.immigration.go.ke/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=102&Itemid=140
Please ensure your students have valid yellow fever cards to return to your country of origin, if this applies. You do not need a yellow fever card to enter Kenya, but your home country may require it upon your return.
Nairobi is not in a malaria zone. No medication for malaria is required in Nairobi. Please follow the directions of your own physician if you are planning excursions outside of Nairobi.
How will my team get from the airport to ISK?
The ISK AISA-GISS welcoming committee will provide airport transfers from and to the airport. Once we have your flight information, we will arrive transport for your team. In fact, there will be a welcome desk in the arrivals area of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport where you will be greeted by ISK teachers and students, receive your welcome packages and then be escorted to a van or bus for transfer to ISK.
What role will I play, as a teacher advisor, during the summit? What will my primary responsibilities be?
Ultimately, you will be responsible for your team and the behavior of your students during the summit. Please coach your students, in advance, of proper behavior in keynote sessions (no talking, no computers, no cell phones) and in general (students should be highly engaged, socialize with students from all other teams, be respectful to home stay families, etc.). As a teacher advisor, you will be part of a sustainability team and a service day team. You will also participate in advisor sessions where you will be able to share what is happening at your school in terms of GIN initiatives.
How can I connect with other teachers who work with Global Issues Network clubs on their campuses, or with service learning in general?
Teachers and other adults who wish to collaborate with each other may join a network called GI-ANTS, which stands for “Global Issues: African Network for Teachers for Service by clicking the link. Please share collaborative projects that other teachers can consider presenting to their students.
Where can I stay during the summit? What are my accommodation options?
Students will stay with home stay families during the summit. Teachers may choose 1 of 3 options (option #1 is recommended):
Option #1: Comfort Gardens Guest House: because there is a sizable United Nations Environment Program conference happening at the same time as the AISA-GISS summit in Nairobi, we have pre-booked a block of rooms at Comfort Gardens. This is a lovely guest house right next to Village Market shopping mall. Transportation will be provided for all GISS teacher advisors to and from Comfort Gardens, daily, during the summit. If you would like to reserve a room here (6500 Ksh per night/single room or 8500 Ksh per night/double room), please contact Comfort Gardens (web site below) and indicate that you are booking as part of the GISS teacher group.
All hotel fees at the Guest House will be paid by the advisor directly to Comfort Gardens.
More details at www.comfortgardens.com
Option #2: home stays. Teachers may request to stay with an ISK teacher during the summit. If you are interested in this option, please contact mwilson@isk.ac.ke (Marilyn Wilson: Home Stay Co-ordinator). If you have a friend in Nairobi who lives close to ISK, you are also free to make your own arrangements for accommodation and transportation. Please check with Marilyn about distance from ISK and feasible logistics in terms of options for staying with friends.
What is arranged for teachers in terms of transport during the summit?
For teachers staying at Comfort Gardens Guest House, bus transportation will be provided to and from the guest to ISK each day.
How can my team prepare a really good workshop and how many workshops will my team need to lead?
Thorough preparation for student-led workshops is crucial if workshops are going to be successful.
In the reflections after the previous four years of GISS, students have emphasized the value in preparing for and participating in workshops that are led by students who are as passionate as they are about working together on solutions for Global Issues. The following are just a few of the perspectives that students expressed.
- “This workshop experience builds our own service learning leadership skills and provides a valuable connection to other young people for future collaboration.
- Experiencing the creativity of other students inspires us to try similar presentation and participatory techniques.
- We appreciate the amount of work it takes to ignite the enthusiasm required to break a cycle of apathy about Global Issues.
- We see that we can make powerful impacts now, and that we can’t just wait until we are adults to start creating the change we know the world needs.”
Some guidelines for this years workshops are:
- Student workshops are 45 minutes in length, including participatory activity and time for questions and discussion of “next steps”.
- Each school should plan to present one workshop; if your team would like to do another, please contact us.
- Workshops should focus on a global issue and can be rooted in a project you are running at your school.
- The best workshops every year are those that include interesting and engaging activities, discussions and “out of the box” learning; teachers, please coach your students on how to plan a 45-minute presentation that includes these types of approaches
An excellent step for AISA-GISS 2014 might be to have students create a multimedia workshop guide that would highlight excellent presentation and participatory techniques. This could be posted on the website and collected over the years.