On the Road Again: A Gloucester County Teacher Travels Abroad with Students after COVID
June 13, 2024
June 13, 2024
By Hilary Falkenberg
I’ve had many opportunities to travel, both growing up and as an adult, and I believe you can learn some things when on the road that you might not ever learn otherwise. World travel is enlightening, and it’s exciting to imagine being somewhere new, exciting, 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, learning a new language, or just seeing amazing monuments and architecture that date back many years. I think of all the history, all the nostalgia, photo opportunities, and meeting new people from around the world—and I want to interest students in those kinds of opportunities, too. 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. Fortunately, we are back on our feet again, 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. To get started, I took 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. During our trip, I was able to keep in touch via WhatsApp to communicate with family members back home. And we did have some, none that were major but a few that dealt with either getting sick or a minor injury. If a student did get sick or hurt, I had to be the “mama” on the trip and had no problem with that at all. As a mother of one daughter, 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. The effort usually is appreciated, regardless of the skill level, and this is where the “real” learning of a language starts to happen, almost like an immersion, but on a smaller scale.
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. We even got to see a sloth! 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, too: 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. Then we were on to Panamá, where seeing the Panama Canal was definitely my favorite; one the seven wonders of the modern world! We also traveled with other schools from the U.S., which gave each group a chance to meet and connect by sharing similar interests. What a trip! I thank EF (Educational First) for giving us this opportunity.
Bringing travel into the equation while learning a second language really gets students excited to put their hand to paper, memorize key vocabulary, or even conjugate verbs, because they know that on such a trip, their hard work will pay off. 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, another grammar lesson in Spanish or French, and another opportunity to travel and see the world!
Hilary Falkenberg, a member of the Gloucester Education Association, teaches World Languages at Gloucester High School.
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