Gulf Today, Staff Reporter
Expo City Dubai is celebrating World Teachers’ Day on 5 October, showing its appreciation for teachers and assistants across the UAE by offering a complimentary one-day Attractions Pass, valid for one day from 5-8 October on presentation of a valid school ID.
Marjan Faraidooni, Chief of Education and Culture at Expo City Dubai, said: “Teachers inspire the youth of today to become the leaders, innovators and change-makers of the future, and we’re looking forward to welcoming teachers and assistants from across the UAE with this small token of our gratitude.
The offer comes as Expo City Dubai reveals details of Expo School Programme’s new offerings that address important global topics, which are already proving popular with the UAE educational community, providing students of all ages with memorable journeys and lifelong lessons, with opportunities to discover, learn and play through a range of explorative journeys, interactive workshops and an exciting science show.”
The new journeys build on Expo 2020 Dubai’s aim to engage, educate and inspire future generations and continue the success of the Expo School Programme, which welcomed more than one million students to Expo 2020 Dubai.
Customisable according to areas of interest and time, they encompass three journeys across global themes: One through Terra, another through Alif, and a third Cultural Journey that combines the Vision Pavilion and Women’s Pavilion.
Each journey offers exciting, interactive workshops for students of all ages, shedding light on topics from animal habitats and water conservation, to programming robots and the role of technology in managing waste.
More details, including duration, age ranges, prices and how to customise and book your school trip, can be found here.
Faraidooni said: “Our new, tailor-made school trips address critical global topics such as the environment, technology and creating a more balanced world, and have been designed with the aim of motivating students to think about their future, to imagine what tomorrow might look like, and how they have a role to play in changing the future of everyone for the better.”
Simon Foster, Deputy Head Secondary School, Raffles World Academy, said: “This is my second time bringing students here and I’ve been hugely impressed – [it’s an] outstanding facility and really well organised.
The students find it fascinating. Personally, I’ve been looking at the history behind the strive for understanding and, as a geographer, I find the idea of how mobility is presented here really fascinating. What really caught my eye was walking into the room where there’s a huge globe and the display of connectivity across the world at that point.”
Inez, a student at Raffles World Academy, said: “Today I learned how mobility has changed over time, from the 1st century to the 21st century. It’s very different to the way we are now.
I learned that mobility has always been around us, all this time, and that our goal is to make the world more sustainable with our mobility and make the world easier to move around.”
Ms Brown, Class teacher and trips coordinator from Arcadia School, said: “The kids absolutely loved it. They were really engaged and excited, which is a path for learning.
The workshops were absolutely fabulous, the workshop host was so informative – I learned something new, the kids learned lots of new things too, and loved the fact that it was practical so they could have a go. [It was] so much fun, 100 per cent we’ll come again.”
The school journeys will evolve and expand as Expo City Dubai launches more attractions. For the latest information, please visit www.schools.expocitydubai.com and follow @exposchoolprogramme on social media.
The Attractions Pass, which includes access to Terra – The Sustainability Pavilion, Alif – The Mobility Pavilion, and the Vision and Women’s pavilions, costs Dhs120 (free for children aged 12 and under and People of Determination) and is available at www.expocitydubai.com or one of Expo City Dubai’s ticketing booths.