This is the most genuine, comprehensive, and well-organized program I have ever come across.
Why do you like to share international travel with your students?
International travel to the rainforest had a significant impact on me as an adult and I had wished that I had been given the opportunity to have these experiences much earlier in my life. Global Explorers allows me as a teacher to give my students those experiences. I can share my passion and enthusiasm for science and give my students the chance to learn some things about themselves and the world they live in that they would not be able to learn in their home town.
What do you like about Global Explorers as the organization that you travel with?
Global Explorers is the best! I cannot say enough about this organization! Global Explorers is much more than just a travel group. They are concerned about educating our children not only about the world they live in but also about themselves. The GEx staff has a vision and a passion for educating others and helping the world become a better place. You can tell this when participating in the program, using the curriculum, and just talking with the staff. I have been teaching for sixteen years and traveling for ten. I have looked at many international travel programs and Global Explorers is the most genuine, comprehensive, and well organized program I have ever come across. This includes the pre-travel preparation, the travel experience itself, and the post travel activities.
Global Explorers does a wonderful job of giving educators all the information, guidance, and support they need to implement this program in their schools. They provide two binders. One outlines the administrative information with timelines, forms, examples, suggestions, and other information needed to organize the program. The other binder contains an excellent curriculum with activities, suggested time lines, materials needed, objectives, and teacher background information. Global Explorers provides support for those wanting to begin this program by offering to send a Global Explorer staff member to visit the school, meet with administrators, provide documents and references, or answer questions by telephone and email. Global Explorers walks you through the process step by step and works with you in any way they can to help your program run smoothly.
The program provided by GEx does more than teach about the environment, it is a comprehensive multi-disciplinary curriculum that teaches important skills and concepts for life in addition to math, geography, culture, ecology, and many other disciplines. Students that participate in this program not only get to see first hand the flora and fauna of a world much different than their own, but they get to meet the people, see different ways of living, and experience all of this by participating, not just watching. Students not only learn about the ecology and biology of the environment they visit, they work with scientists to conduct field research. They learn about the culture by learning to create crafts form indigenous people. Students work with school children to conduct service projects, and they learn a great deal about themselves while do this. They learn how to be good leaders, they develop self-confidence, and learn to appreciate their own talents and abilities.
