On the Road Again: A Gloucester County Teacher Travels Abroad with Students after COVID
2024年6月13日
2024年6月13日
希拉里·法尔肯伯格著
我有很多机会去旅行, 无论是成长还是成年, and I believe you can learn some things when on the road that you might not ever learn otherwise. 世界旅行很有启发性, and it’s 令人兴奋的 to imagine being somewhere new, 令人兴奋的, and with lots of different cultural experiences. But, as they learn about other cultures in class, does the average student think this way? How do such students get opportunities to travel and see other parts of the world, especially in the aftermath of an international pandemic? Family trips are always options, but not all families get these opportunities.
I want to get students excited about seeing different cultures, 学习一门新语言, or just seeing amazing monuments and architecture that date back many years. 我想起了所有的历史, 所有的怀旧, 照片的机会, and meeting new people from around the world—and I want to interest students in those kinds of opportunities, 太. Because of modern technology and our growing ability to get to faraway places, bringing international travel back to my students at Gloucester High School has been a goal of mine since COVID’s dangers lessened.
This is a daunting challenge, as we work our way back into traveling. 幸运的是, 我们又重新站起来了, but it takes someone to really get everyone on board again. Someone has to step up, make plans, and then get students and staff excited about it. I’m the cheerleader here, and it’s not always easy. There is always skepticism because of potential chaos overseas. Everyone wants to be safe, which is, of course, a primary concern.
It has always been my goal to ensure that students feel safe in my classroom, and I want them to feel the same way about traveling. It’s a little more complicated on the road, however. 开始吧, I 太k a small group of GHS students to Costa Rica and Panama over spring break this year.
Having meetings prior to our trip was key because I could reassure students and families about safety and potential travel issues. 在旅途中, I was able to keep in touch via WhatsApp to communicate with family members back home. 我们确实有一些, none that were major but a few that dealt with either getting sick or a minor injury. 如果学生生病或受伤, I had to be the “mama” on the trip and had no problem with that at all. 作为一个女儿的母亲, it felt good to be the mom away from home for our traveling group of five girls. The families saw this and trusted me with their daughters, and we all got safely to Central America and then home safely. The entire experience was a success, and I will do it again!
Most of the students along on the trip were either taking Spanish at the time or had taken it in the past, and it was an amazing opportunity for them to take their classroom learning into a real-world setting. Native speakers almost always love it when anyone tries to speak their language. 这种努力通常是值得赞赏的, 无论技能水平如何, and this is where the “real” learning of a language starts to happen, 就像一种沉浸感, 但规模较小.
Getting on an airplane and traveling out of the United States was a first for a few of the girls. The first two nights in Guanacaste, Costa Rica were true eye-openers. Just going to an ATM and then exchanging currencies was an experience. Hiking at Rincón de la Vieja National Park was educational, both for the opportunities to explore all the beautiful hiking trails and see spider monkeys and unique-looking birds in their natural environment. 我们甚至还看到了树懒! The Arenal region was spectacular as well, with its tropical setting and beautiful flora and fauna. Of course, the major highlight was seeing the Lake Arenal Volcano. La Fortuna waterfall was a definite sight to see, 太: 500 steps up, 500 steps down. And our whitewater rafting experience on the Sarapaquí River was just amazing and one of my favorite adventures while in Costa Rica. 然后我们去了巴拿马
Bringing travel into the equation while learning a second language really gets students excited to put their hand to paper, 记住关键词汇, 甚至动词的变化, 因为他们知道，在这样的旅行中, 他们的辛勤工作将会得到回报. Plans are in the works to take another group of GHS students to Spain and France in 2025. So off to globetrotting we go: Another trip to get excited about, 再上一堂西班牙语或法语的语法课, and another opportunity to travel and see the world!
希拉里·法尔肯贝里, a member of the Gloucester Education Association, teaches World Languages at Gloucester High School.
According to the Economic 政策 Institute, teachers in Virginia earn 一美元的67美分 compared to other (non-teacher) college-educated workers. Virginia’s teacher wage penalty is the worst in the nation.
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