What inspired you to take an EF tour?
The joy and inspiration I get from traveling was the first factor that motivated me to travel with EF. When traveling with a group, I get as much joy and inspiration from seeing other people excited as I do from my own experience. There is a powerful force generated by groups of people traveling together. I chose EF because of two things that seem like they can’t coexist, but they do. The professional side of EF is outstanding. I also appreciate the personal side of the company. The open and constant communication has made it easy as a first-time group leader to feel like I’ve been doing this for years.
How do you use your blog to promote your tour? Do you use any
other types of social media (ex. Facebook, Twitter) to promote your
tour?
I use the blog for trip and meeting updates right now. As we get
closer, I’ll be adding information about the destinations and our trip
details. My Twitter just announces the trip and connects to the blog,
so it is not really in use yet, but I can see us using it in the
future.
As a first-time group leader, you've been incredibly successful at recruiting students for your tour. What’s your secret to success? How do you encourage students to sign up for your tour?
The first thing that made recruiting students successful was finding a core of social students who were very interested in going on a trip. I then involved them in the decision-making process of where we would go on our trip. We set up our first recruitment meeting in October, and I started going to classes and talking up the trip. The posters and itineraries that EF provides were hung up and distributed before our meeting, so even more people were getting exited. We had over 200 people show up for our initial recruitment meeting. I was amazed by the turnout. I had gotten some gelato to share with the group. I had Flickr slideshows going of the destinations we would be traveling to, and I had EF YouTube videos playing. One of the potential chaperones had traveled with EF in the past, so he spoke with the group about the professionalism and personal connection that EF provides. We had a best price deadline of October 31, and a first-night sign-up raffle for $50 off the trip.
One of the benefits of planning so far in advance is being able to allow participants to plan how they will pay for the trip. I really like the monthly payment plan that EF provides. The system makes the payments more manageable, and before you know it, you’ve paid for half of your trip.
Do you have any tips for other first-time group leaders?
Get the ball rolling, and you will find that it will go a long way with a little push. I have found that what I thought was going to be a small group of 6-12 students going to Europe has turned into a group of 74 people making the trip. The organization and support EF has provided is making the task of being a first-time leader with such a large group seem as manageable as the small group I was expecting.
Do you do any fundraising?
One thing we were able to do at our second meeting is establish a
fundraising committee, which is made up of parents and students. The
establishment of this group has allowed some people that were on the
fence to get on board so that they could cut the cost.
How do you incorporate your EF tours into your curriculum?
There will be many educational opportunities before we go to learn about what we will be seeing. The humanities classes learn about the cultural aspects of the trip. The language classes will have a great opportunity to connect their curriculum to our experiences. I teach psychology; so in the study of our human behavior, we’ll be able to look at similarities and differences related to things like personal space, pace of life or gender roles.
Why do you think it is important for students to travel on an educational tour?
First of all, it is exciting to travel. Creating fun and excitement is a great part of being a teacher. I think another great reason is related to the way in which our world is becoming interconnected: We can communicate instantaneously, travel quickly and interact with people all over the world in many ways. Experiencing the world is now part of life more than it has ever been in history, so to take part in that journey firsthand is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that will translate into many facets of our lives.
EF believes that 21st century skills (such as global literacy, problem solving, innovation and creativity) have become critical in today’s increasingly interconnected workforce and society. How do you think travel helps foster these types of skills?
When we travel, we are immersed in the society and often the workforce that is dependent on those 21st century skills. Just like for learning a language, immersion is the best, hands-on approach to learning those skills.
Anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
I am looking forward to making this trip more than just a 12-day experience. Planning for 2011 allows gifts for students over the next year and a half that relate to the trip. Those gifts may be luggage, maps, books or even money. The time also allows us to really learn about the countries, the culture and the languages of our destinations in a broad perspective as well as a narrow perspective within each city. Students can think about the scheduling for next year and potentially sign up for classes, which would educate them more about the trip and the destinations. The technology of this generation will allow for the students to see pictures and videos and hear music from our destinations. The possibilities are endless which keeps the excitement and energy at a high level.
