How International Trips Innovate Careers in Education

The digital transformation in today’s education continues to push teachers to innovate their classrooms, and those virtual skills will need to eventually be mastered in person. As teachers build more online experiences for students, they also have an opportunity to take the right steps in a new direction that will prepare students to go abroad and embrace the future of a globalizing world.

The students and teachers who prepare and prep for those experiences now will put themselves in a better place to innovate their respective futures. Read on to learn how teachers at the middle school and high school level now have an opportunity to use virtual tools to build skills, enhance their classroom and create an immersive learning experience for their students.

TAKE YOUR SKILLS TO THE NEXT LEVEL

Like a class curriculum, a short term study abroad program takes a lot of planning that can be overwhelming if it’s not structured. Organization and time management skills are absolutely vital for your position and are important traits for your professional profile. Through planning school trips, you can make your institution stand out with an international program!

Ordinary school trips are common - almost two-thirds of domestic educational trips stay either in the same state as the school or within 50 miles in the area - but an international program stands out. It shows an important innovation to keep up with an increasingly global society that spans far beyond the classroom! 

ENHANCE YOUR CLASSROOM EXPERIENCE

The students and teachers love experiencing the world through our custom programs because they extend the learning objectives and the school’s mission beyond the classroom! The core behind a truly meaningful international program comes from connecting students with communities around the world. 

Travel makes education last: from a survey of 400 adults who took educational trips between ages 12 and 18, over 300 said that their experience with travel made them more interested in what they were learning in school. This data comes from secondary education school trips staying in the country; imagine how much more interested students can become in your class material after an educational adventure in a foreign country!

You can also liven up your existing class material with pictures from class trips abroad! You might just inspire more students to learn more through their own travels!

Our passion comes from our desire to bring learning to life is our passion! For us, the best way to bring education to life is through traveling. The students and teachers we work with love experiencing the world through our custom, short-term study abroad programs.

IMMERSIVE LEARNING

Add a new, unforgettable element as enrichment to your school’s curriculum. There is so much students can learn from a trip abroad beyond the culture and history of a place. Students can also gain new perspectives that they can use to think outside of the box.

Immersive trips abroad can also inspire students to write engaging, one-of-a-kind stories for their college applications! Colleges are always looking for openness and eagerness in their prospective students. It takes a great teacher to bring out the best in students, and you can play a role in bringing your students’ successes and your school’s standing to a higher level!

THE JOURNEY AWAITS

Taking your students abroad is more than a field trip - it is a new combination of experiences that can improve the futures of your students, your school, and your own! It challenges what they know to be true, their beliefs of the world and it inspires them to want to learn more. 

In a short period of time, you can develop advanced planning and management skills to add something special to your curriculum and to your professional development, but you can also affect the lives of young people behind your classes and extracurricular activities at school. There are obstacles that all students face when considering going abroad, and our role will be to provide you the tools to support students so those barriers become solvable challenges, and we’re here to help support that!

Take your students and your school beyond their boundaries and boost your career with new fun skills at the same time!

Want to gain more perspective on ways to how you can make bring international experiences onto your campus? To learn more, check out our feature on two-time program alumni and former Spanish teacher Greg Semplice in how Teachers Can Bring The World Into The Classroom and see he used his time abroad to provide him inspiration to support his school community!

READY TO GET STARTED?

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Sources

Travel Improves Educational Attainment & Future Success.” WYSE Travel Confederation, 2 

Dec. 2019, www.wysetc.org/2013/10/travel-improves-educational-attainment-future-success/. 

Peltier, Dan, and James O'Brien. “5 Charts Showing Student Traveler Preferences in the U.S. and 

Abroad.” Skift, 15 July 2016, https://skift.com/2016/07/15/5-charts-showing-student-traveler-preferences-in-the-u-s-and-abroad

Travel Prep and Planning Now: Benefits For Students and Teachers

At EdOdyssey, we believe that travel changes people, and people change the world. We know that students experience travel differently at different points in their lives, and educators and school communities play a pivotal role in showing their students the meaning of these experiences.

Visiting a foreign country invites people to pursue new experiences and adopt different viewpoints of the world. Like students, travelers are always learning new things and pondering how their new knowledge fits into their lives.

Travel plays a pivotal role in any student’s experience. School trips add a more adventurous and interactive side to course material. As students grow older and prepare for life after graduating from high school, it is important to provide them with formative experiences that leave a lasting impact afterward and further promote their personal growth.

As avid travelers and educators ourselves, we believe that traveling to a different country can provide students with exactly these experiences, and we believe that you - teachers, parents and communities - can make them happen.

Beginners in student travel, or global student travel experts, have an opportunity to plan to expand classes into a global setting. Now is the perfect time to learn how to develop or be a part of the moment to enhance your school’s experiential learning programs abroad, and you’ll see the long term benefits of preparing and planning for student travel.

YOUTH TRAVEL STARTS EARLY

What do you imagine when you see the phrase “Youth Travel?” A group of twenty-somethings backpacking in foreign countries? College students studying abroad for a semester or two?

While a lot of people travel in their late teens and early twenties, youth travel begins before then in high school.

Young people start traveling before they head off to college and become young professionals. According to the World Youth Student and Educational Travel Confederation (WYSETC), young people make up 23% of international airports around the world!  This survey includes people as young as 15; high school students are among the millions of young people traveling abroad.

High school students also made up a majority of the young people surveyed about their interest in international experience earlier this year. According to data from Statista, over 10,000 of the 18,000 total participants stated that they wanted to experience travel abroad! From the same survey, 8,000 students also said that they were very interested in a study abroad or international exchange program.

Even during a time of travel restrictions, it is important to keep a global perspective and continue planning for international trips for the future. After thousands of students were sent home earlier this year, Ahmad Ezzeddine, the Associate Vice President of Educational Outreach and International Programs of the National Association for Foreign Student Affairs (NAFSA: Association of International Educators) said about the worldwide nature of the current situation:

“It’s a perfect example of how everything we’re dealing with has a global nature. It’s why we need to continue to invest in study abroad and the international experience.”

ADVANTAGES OF SECONDARY SCHOOL TRAVEL

The excitement of adventure does not end after the trip is over - students bring home new experiences and memories that will last a lifetime! The impact that travel has on them during the trip stays with them and can benefit their success in high school and beyond. 

Exploring a different part of the world challenges students to approach topics from new perspectives.

Travel also grants students an opportunity to develop their own viewpoints. Their experiences in a different country are perfect to make their college applications stand out! Each student interprets travel experiences differently, and their unique stories can distinguish them from other applicants and wow the college admissions officers!

Bringing students abroad in high school inspires them to keep traveling and learning on their own beyond the educational setting! A 2016 survey focusing on youth travel states “28 percent of students who travel take more than one trip per year and those traveling between ages 10 and 18 are more likely to return to the destination later in life.” (Peltier and O'Brien 5 Charts Showing Student Traveler Preferences in the U.S. and Abroad)

WHY PLAN NOW?

Just because travel is on hold doesn’t mean that planning has to be. This is the perfect time to plan a trip abroad. This fall, EdOdyssey is hosting its first-ever Global Student Program Certificate for Educators course. Teachers, administrators, and faculty will have a chance to learn skills to develop, market, and enrich school trips abroad.

You’ll have the chance to take any of your benchmarks, your learning objectives, and your content area’s curriculum to infuse them into the design of your program for almost any theme and content area(s). As educators ourselves, we’ll show you how we build a trip that also functions as an academic program that prioritizes student learning while still creating a fun, enriching program.

Pick and choose from different modules, and get certified after completing the entire program. With the right travel planning and management skills tailored for you, you will be able to make international trips a reality for you and your students.

As Matthew Wolfe, an EdOdyssey featured traveler, wrote about his experience abroad, “Being able to see the world from a completely different perspective in another country is an opportunity that you simply should never pass up.”

To explore more about the benefits of travel prep and planning now, learn more about The Four Major Benefits Of Customizable Programs!

Ready to start planning?

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Sources

Duffin, Erin. “Interest among Students about International Experiences by Type U.S. 2020.” 

Statista, 13 July 2020, www.statista.com/statistics/985046/interest-among-students-international-experiences-type.

Peltier, Dan, and James O'Brien. “5 Charts Showing Student Traveler Preferences in the U.S. 

and Abroad.” Skift, 15 July 2016, https://skift.com/2016/07/15/5-charts-showing-student-traveler-preferences-in-the-u-s-and-abroad

Rifai, Taleb. “Facts and Stats.” WYSE Travel Confederation, 2020, 

www.wysetc.org/about-us/facts-and-stats/.

Toner, Mark, et al. “Internationalization, Interrupted.” NAFSA, 1 Apr. 2020, 

www.nafsa.org/ie-magazine/2020/4/1/internationalization-interrupted. 

Four Tips For Connecting With A New Culture From Home

There are exciting ways to go beyond the tourist attractions and still dive into a new culture without getting off your couch! For now, we can still get familiar with future destinations, even from home.

As students, teachers, educators, or travelers, all of us await our adventure and the places we want to visit but that doesn’t mean we can’t gain new knowledge from home. This upcoming semester, students will have an opportunity to learn from EdOdyssey’s team of educators and local partners based in Peru, and educators will learn from our team how to build their own study abroad program.

Below are four tips that students, teachers, administrators, faculty, or travelers alike can embrace in preparation for future travel. These tidbits will prepare you for your next adventure, all from the comfort of your house!

1. Discover New Cultures: Series & Movies 

If you already have it, take advantage of Netflix’s huge catalog of movies, try steering away from Hollywood blockbusters. We are looking for independent films, as the majority of them are produced and shot locally.

Movies about the life of a character in the city, or that international romantic movie that may pop every now and then in your featured list, often show jokes that rely on you knowing the culture in which they are set.

These movies have phrases that have so much more meaning and background information than what the subtitles convey. So dive into these movies, and next time you visit the country they are in, you’ll be familiar with them.

EdOdyssey’s upcoming virtual study abroad programming will include videos and video clips for students learn more about Peruvian culture outside of coursework. Teachers will have an opportunity to learn how to take their classroom content to build a future study abroad program for their students.

2. Listen to Folk Music, Learn Their Lyrics

What’s great about folk music in the majority of countries is that they tell stories about their people. For example, Peruvian creole music, for example, was the way of settling disputes between people in the ’50s, Italian folk songs vary depending on the region of the country you are in, Cuban songs talk about a day in the life. Music continues to be one of the main ways of expression, with many of them making references to the happenings of their time.

EdOdyssey’s virtual study abroad program will focus on cultural aspects involving Peruvian dance and history that will connect participants more with the culture. Our global educator certificate program will provide teachers a way to infuse aspects of their course content from their curriculum into a program that we’ll help them design.

3. Read & Watch Backpacking Stories 

Video blogs give you insight into the experience of traveling through a country you want to visit.

The ups and downs of society, infrastructure, day-to-day adventures. From video blogs portraying life as a budget backpacker to their luxury counterparts, so you can have a grasp of what it’s like to live on both ends of the spectrum of that country you are thinking about visiting.

Bear in mind that this is only one perspective of travel. It will give you an idea of what to expect when, but once you take the leap and go for the experience, you will learn about the nuances and treasures that experiences can give you and your peers!

Students in EdOdyssey’s virtual coursework will enjoy guest lectures that will provide them a new perspective on Peruvian culture that goes beyond their academic coursework. Teachers taking our global student certificate for educators course will learn how to market and connect the value of an international program to students and parents to enjoy a program abroad.

4. Use Google Maps, Take a Virtual Walk

Take to the streets! That is, virtual streets! If virtual mapping has given us anything, that is the ability to visit whichever place in the world you want and experience what is like to walk on its streets.

With this, you can head to Google Street View or Apple Maps, find a landmark that draws your attention and research about it. Why is the clocktower in London called Big Ben? Why is there a statue of an Angel in the square of Buenos Aires?

Cities around the world are full of history! There are tons of fun facts waiting to be discussed and places that haven’t been explored yet!

The internet gives us options to learn more about future destinations of interest. Through our virtual programs, our team will show interactive ways for you and your cohort to be prepared to embrace your destination with open arms!

Want to learn more about EdOdyssey’s Virtual Study Abroad and Global Student Program Certificate for Educators? Sign up for our newsletter here or follow on social media below! Get ready for more information pertaining to virtual study abroad and our global certificate program for educators!

How to Define the Study Abroad "Immersion" Experience

Immersion during study abroad involves a deep involvement and understanding of the culture of a different country. It is not just an overview or a checklist of that country’s features, but a thorough encounter into the sublayers of social, political, ideological, and economic factors that define it as a culture. 

If you are involved in the education field as an administrator, teacher or faculty member, your role in a study abroad program comes from preparing and supporting your students in making the most of their experiences within another culture. For students and travelers, your job starts with embracing the challenges that another country presents and finding the best ways to connect with this new culture.

Our team supports educators from across the academic spectrum, from middle schools to higher education, in creating programs that immerse students in another culture. You’ll learn more about how educators collaborate with us to build programs that authentically educate and inspire students through valuable experiences.

Our students organized over 1,000 pounds of food in Córdoba during their immersion in Spain!

Defining Your Immersion

Immersion is an experience that allows you to go deeper into layers of culture and what it really means to live in another society, despite any stereotypes you may have heard. An immersion experience helps students build a sense of appreciation for all the things that make us different: language, history, race, cultural background and cultural expressions, assets and challenges. As students understand challenges and differences in this new culture, they’ll approach the unknown, but all of our teachers will have a team of experts supporting the program as your group faces culture shock so the group can go into the experience with an open mind and heart.

Certain aspects of daily life cannot be captured in pre-packaged programs that don’t differentiate for learning objectives. That is why EdOdyssey focuses on experiences that are specific to what teachers and educators want their students to learn and value from their visits.

We plan accordingly. If a class’ focus is on improving students’ language proficiency, then every moment becomes an opportunity to teach language. For example, if the group of students has been waiting in line for our scheduled Welcome Lunch, our Cultural Advisor takes this time as a teachable moment. He takes opportunity to educate your students on common phrases used by waiters to tell you that your table is about to be ready. Then we help you and your students find out that the meaning of ahorita, or “right away”, is actually a time construct that can mean either right now or in half an hour, depending on the context.

In all of our countries around the world, our team of educators embrace the quiet moments as teachable moments, time for reflection, and an opportunity for teachers and educators to bond with their students. 

If the focus of the program is more a cultural-type immersion, that restaurant visit becomes a visit to el mercado, or a farmer’s market of sorts, is a more permanent sight in countries like Peru. We take that opportunity to educate your students about the struggles of daily life in certain areas of countries, making ends and how a place like el mercado is a place where the less fortunate can have a high-value meal for a fraction of the price of a restaurant, and where bargaining is not disrespectful but a way to get the most out of whatever budget you have for that day.

Immersion helps students understand culture and cherish it, and our mission comes from wanting to support educators and providing the best possible experience for the students.

The Immersion Experience & The Role of Educators

As an educator, your goal goes beyond taking your students on vacation and expanding their perspective. A vacation by definition is an extended period of leisure and recreation. Vacationers keep away from the daily stresses found back home. However, from our over five years working with educators, the goal of an immersion experience comes from becoming part of the cultural community of the country and embracing the challenges that come with us.

Furthermore, when teachers collaborate with us, the teachers can focus on bonding with their students and all of us as educators can support students to build context around the culture and support them through culture shock.

Our study abroad students in Lima visited one of our local partners!

For short term programs, it is understandable that you may be eager to have your class visit and have a look at the most popular or important places the other country has to offer to you, but remember that teachers and your group are not tourists. The students will approach these sights with the aim of becoming familiar with not only their history, but how that history defines their culture today and how their society behaves in relation to that history.

A short experience does not mean it can’t be a deeply enriching experience.

Managing Your Expectations

In another country, some services or situations may not always work or happen as you expect. Certain places might require cash and credit cards may not exist or be widely used in certain areas. 

Conveniences that we have taken for granted at home may not be available and we need to adjust when abroad. Before students go abroad, we share important notes and packing tips that will support them. That way, students will start to appreciate the nuances and particularities of their new home country, and by the end of their time abroad, they will tell stories of how they are now ready to take on challenges that life presents them.

Your Perspective Matters

Even if the program is short, teachers and students can still make the most of their stay by simply maintaining focus. It is not a vacation, it’s an immersion. As such, if the allotted time for your group is short then our team will aim for your group to gain the most authentic experience possible in that time. Your group will get a taste of what living there really is like, and everyone involved will be amazed at how much can be learned from a country in just a few days with an educational approach.

The right approach can turn challenges into opportunities, and that is the change of mindset we want our students and teachers to enjoy when they’re abroad. That is a positive change, a change of feeling empowered rather than hopeless. A feeling they will carry with them for the rest of their lives because they may be on the other side of the world, but they will be just fine.

Are you interested in taking the first step and building a truly meaningful immersion experience abroad?

It’s never too early or too late to start planning or to improve a past program! Please shoot us a message here and tell us about your idea for prospective program abroad!

Turning Youth Travel into Study Abroad: Sarah's Story

My name is Sarah Shorter and I’m really excited to be a content writer and curator intern with EdOdyssey this summer! During my first three years at the College of the Holy Cross, my double major in Anthropology and Latin American, Latinx, and Caribbean studies has increased my appreciation of global cultures. This interest led me to study abroad with EdOdyssey in Lima, Peru, where I matured academically, socially, and personally.  

Me competing in Austria!

Photo Credit: Synchrophoto.eu

PASSION FOR TRAVEL GROWING UP

Since my youth, I have had the privilege to travel throughout the U.S. and to numerous parts of the world. A large portion of my travel, particularly internationally, was to competitions with my synchronized ice skating team. The main focus of these trips was always the competition, yet my team would often have a few opportunities to explore the city we were visiting before the competition began. 

For five years, I was incredibly fortunate to compete on behalf of Team USA in 7 countries across Europe, Asia, and North America, expanding my global perspective. Visiting and competing in other countries not only enabled me to view different cultures and societal differences, but it also was a unique opportunity to connect with people around the world who share the same passion as me. At competitor parties and banquets, the love of synchronized skating connected people from very different backgrounds.

Having extensively traveled for skating and taken some family trips to Europe and other regions of the U.S., I was ready to channel my inner anthropologist and plant myself during my junior year of college in a completely new country, not as a tourist, but as a global citizen. 

My goal was to not only SEE the differences and similarities that Peru has with my home of Lexington, Massachusetts, but to actually LIVE and UNDERSTAND them. I wanted to truly become a part of the community. 

Visiting Machu Picchu with EdOdyssey!

STUDYING IN PERU

Having learned a lot about other cultures and various aspects of Latin America through my two majors, I was drawn to the idea of studying abroad in Peru. The well organized and supportive program which EdOdyssey has in Peru made my decision to study abroad in Lima much easier. It also helped me convince my parents that I should spend a year

I distinctly remember my pre-departure phone call with the EdOdyssey team in Lima. I hadn’t spoken Spanish in about 6 months and I was sweating from nerves as I got on the call. Yet when the call ended and my Dad asked me how it went, I was enthusiastic, excited, and confident that I would be totally fine when I got to Lima the next month.

The Lima team: Patty, Luis, and Narda, are the absolute BEST! 

Celebrating my host parents’ 50th anniversary

THE PERUVIAN EXPERIENCE

Once I got over some fears and embraced all the unknowns and unfamiliarities that defined my new home of Lima, Peru, becoming a global citizen is exactly what I did! During my 7 months in Peru (before COVID unfortunately frantically had me packing to come back to the states), I learned to dance salsa, to use Peruvian slang, and to embrace “Peruvian time”. 

I became friends with Peruvian classmates, and bonded with my host family. Having had this incredible experience, in large thanks to the EdOdyssey team, I am immensely grateful to be able to continue to work with EdOdyssey. Traveling and engaging with different cultures, peoples, and places is an invaluable privilege and opportunity. 

Enjoying the Sand Dunes during EdOdyssey’s Ica excursion!

One of the greatest things I learned in Peru was that being courageous, taking chances, and following your passions will lead to some of the most rewarding experiences. As I look ahead to my future after college, I hope to get the chance to live abroad again. I am still discerning what my future plans will be, yet I have no doubt that the lessons I learned in Peru will be an integral part of anything I pursue. 

Do you want to learn a bit more about the special EdOdyssey team members who made my experience in Lima a brilliant one?

Be sure to check out the blog Q&A: Meet EdOdyssey’s Local Team in Lima, Peru to learn more about the amazing team that supported, guided, and challenged me throughout my time abroad!

From Bicultural Upbringing to Study Abroad in Rome: Hui's Story

Hello! My name is Hui (pronounced “Huay” and rhymes with “way”). I am a Chinese-American college student from Boston. As a recent study abroad returnee and avid traveller from a young age, I am a firm believer of EdOdyssey’s motto “Travel Changes People, People Change the World.”

Traveling is more than just collecting souvenirs - you collect experiences and memories as well!

BICULTURAL YOUTH 

My family and I moved to Boston when I was very young, and I have a strong cultural connection to China, where all of my relatives are from. I grew up speaking mostly Mandarin Chinese at home and learned almost all of my English at school. I love learning about different cultures and how they shape the mindsets of people around the world; I combined these two passions into my two majors in college: Classics (the study of ancient Greece, Rome, and other cultures in the ancient Mediterranean) and psychology. 

Outside of class, I help with the school newspaper. It’s good to try new things and gain new skills!

COLLEGE EXPERIENCE

The best part about learning is that it is not limited to the classroom. I learned a lot from extracurricular activities such as helping with photography, writing, and graphic design for the student-run newspaper. I am excited to bring these skills to the EdOdyssey team this summer - my experience helped me with my role as a study abroad blogger when I spent a semester in Rome last fall.

STUDY ABROAD: ROME

Studying in Rome was a dream come true: it was one thing to learn about ancient Rome in school, but it was really something else to see the sights and artifacts that you see in books become a part of everyday life. I loved exploring how the past overlaps with the present through my adventures in the city and beyond. Learning directly from the place itself changed me and how I saw the world: I learned to contemplate how both ancient and recent events affect people in the present and future.

It was amazing to see the place I had first seen in my books come to life in front of me!

POWER OF INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCES

Travel does change people: I can attest to that personally from my own travels. In seeing different parts of the world, I learned to view things from new perspectives.

Everywhere I went, I developed a new connection with each place I visited. When you experience a place in person, you gain a deeper understanding of its history, people, and culture.

As I explored new places, I took in all the sights, sounds, smells, and feelings around me. Taking in everything a place has to offer allows you to appreciate even the smallest details beyond the surface.

Immersive experiences abroad bring you so much more than a tourist trip - you get a lot of hands-on experience with cultural activities!

TRAVEL INSPIRES

These eye-opening experiences allowed me to change the world in my own way. When I returned to campus after my semester in Rome, several younger students who read about my adventures through my blog told me that they wanted to experience new things by travelling to other countries themselves. 

It was very touching to see that my love for learning through can spark the same enthusiasm in others. I see this as the way that travel has changed me and it will help me change the world. I hope my work at EdOdyssey can continue to inspire others to enrich their lives by travelling abroad.

Want to learn more about how travel changes people and people change the world? Check out the reflections of our travel-loving writers and content on the EdOdyssey blog here!