Following the Equator | EF's Educational Travel Blog

Soccer player attains new keepy-uppy record

How long can you juggle a soccer ball for? Do you think you could juggle it for 36 miles without letting it hit the ground?

That’s exactly what Dan Magness, 26, did. Magness is the current “keepy-uppy” (as they call juggling in the United Kingdom) world-record holder. Last week, he traveled to London’s five Premier League soccer grounds in the first part of his quest to visit all of the soccer clubs in England while keepy-uppying a soccer ball. The journey took him approximately 14 hours.

After Magness sets his world record, the ball will continue its journey and travel to South Africa to be used in the 2010 World Cup.

Nothing compares to a firsthand look at another culture

By Amanda Strojny, EF Tour Consultant

Before coming to EF Educational Tours to work as a tour consultant, I taught English to 10th- and 11th-graders in St. Petersburg, Florida. I was always skeptical of the benefits of foreign travel for students, but now I am more than convinced that the way to truly gain an appreciation for another culture is total immersion.

As a teacher, I always looked for ways to design my curriculum to make it relevant to current events. Developing a cultural awareness of the rest of the world is a skill most students fail to gain. Almost all teachers have the same goal inside the classroom: They want their students fully engaged and able to develop the 21st century skills they need to be successful upon graduation. Unfortunately, no matter how many hands-on activities or student-led conversations appear to make a difference in the lives of teenagers, nothing can compare to the firsthand view of another culture. 

At EF, I am able to communicate this vision of awareness to teachers and encourage countless students to travel. Recently, I had the opportunity to travel to Germany, Italy and Switzerland with a group of students and teachers. This experience quickly brought me back to the classroom, but most importantly, it made me realize just how essential international travel really is.

Apply for EF's Global Citizen Scholarship by March 1

Are you prepared for the demands of the 21^st century?

Do you want to travel on a free educational tour to China with other students from across the globe?

EF’s Global Citizen Scholarship program unites students around the world by breaking down language, cultural and geographical barriers. Our scholarship recipients enjoy the opportunity of a lifetime: a free educational tour to China designed to develop cross-cultural communication and promote cultural exchange.

EF is giving away 10 scholarships to current sophomores and juniors. All you have to do is watch a video on our website and prepare an essay response to the following prompt:

“As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, cross-cultural skills, communication, innovation and critical thinking are becoming more important than ever before. How could spending 14,000 minutes of your life on a  tour to China equip you with these skills or others? By refining these skills, what future opportunities could become available to you?”

Enter by March 1, 2010.

For more information, visit 
eftours.com/GlobalCitizen or call 1.800.665.5364.

Happy Australia Day

Australians around the world are celebrating Australia Day, which commemorates the arrival of the British in 1788 and the proclamation of British sovereignty. Today, the holiday is a celebration of being Australian, similar to Americans’ celebration of the Fourth of July.

However, the holiday is not without controversy, and some Aboriginal people refer to the holiday instead as Invasion Day. In his instructions for establishing the first British colony, King George III instructed Arthur Phillip to protect the “lives and livelihoods of the Aborigines and encouraged friendly relations with them,” but he also proclaimed Australia terra nullius, meaning that he did not recognize the land as theirs. 

The day the holiday is celebrated is also debated. Some argue that January 26 is an inaccurate day for celebration because Sydney Cove was not actually the first place that the First Fleet landed. In fact, the fleet arrived at Botany Bay on January 18, 1788, but could not find an adequate supply of fresh water so they sailed to Sydney Cove.  Furthermore, the Colony of New South Wales was not officially established until February 7.    

Middle school students raise funds for Haiti

As support from around the world pours in for the people of Haiti, it is a reminder of how interconnected the world really is, and how people come together for a common good, despite barriers of language, culture or geography.

Sure, most people are aware of the aid that came from corporations and celebrities. Cell phone providers made it as easy to donate money as it is to send a text, and Google donated Internet resources to relief organizations. The Hope for Haiti telethon this past weekend attracted some of the biggest names in entertainment, including Madonna, Wyclef Jean and Jack Nicholson. In Britain, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has waived the VAT on a song that Simon Cowell is producing. Proceeds from the single will benefit relief efforts.

However, some of the most heartwarming stories are those of regular people, coming together to do their part. Take for instance, the students of the Weatherly, Pennsylvania, area elementary and middle schools who raised $4,400 at a walkathon for the people of Haiti.

In an article that appeared on standardspeaker.com, one fourth grader, Kasandra Butler had this to say: “I had a dollar to buy a snack today, but I gave it to my teacher for the people in Haiti. They really need it more than I do. I can get a snack some other time.”

Read the full article here.

EF will match the donations raised by Weatherly students.

We're matching donations to Haiti relief efforts

In response to the devastation in Haiti, EF Education First is teaming up with the American Red Cross to support ongoing earthquake relief efforts.
 
We hope our contribution can help provide the people of Haiti with resources they need to begin to recover and rebuild. To that end, EF will match up to $100,000 in employee and customer donations made through the Red Cross.
 
Together, our caring community of staff, teachers, students and parents can make a difference for the many people of Haiti who need our support.
 
Please click here to have your donation matched.

Follow Paris O on Twitter

Paris Orientation—EF's free training seminar for new EF Group Leaders—is always an eye-opening experience. It's the best way for teachers to learn about educational travel and about EF, plus everyone gets to see the sights in the City of Light.

I'm fortunate to be joining a large group of new group leaders at our Paris Orientation this weekend. We'll be visiting the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower and lots of other great sights and neighborhoods during a full weekend of exploring.

You can follow along on Twitter, as I'll be posting updates from Paris Orientation on the official EF Tours account: @EFtours.

If you're already on Twitter, be sure to follow @EFtours. If you're new to Twitter, check out this video explanation of Twitter in Plain English.

For more about Paris Orientation, check out the official Paris Orientation site on eftours.com.

Group Leader Spotlight: Chris Seymore

After practicing law in Philadelphia for three years, Chris Seymore decided to change careers and become a teacher. Eight years later he says, “Without question I made the right decision. I look forward to coming to work every day.  I’m a million times happier as a teacher than I ever was as a lawyer.” Today, Seymore teaches World Cultures/Global Studies and Constitutional Law at Ridley High School, outside of Philadelphia. Since 2006, he has traveled on eight EF tours, and in 2009, he visited 14 countries. Here he tells us about his travel experiences.

What inspired you to begin traveling abroad with students?
My only international travel prior to 2006 was when I visited Toronto during my sophomore year in high school. As a world cultures teacher, I decided it was time to experience other cultures with my students  and do some teaching and learning outside the traditional classroom environment. Not in my wildest dreams did I imagine what the next three years would bring! In the last three years, I have been to Europe 11 times (eight tours, one Paris Orientation, one Rome Orientation and one personal visit to Italy on my own). I also visited Jordan and Egypt in 2009 as part of an EF Teacher Convention Tour. In 2010, I will travel on three EF tours: Discover Costa Rica, European Horizons and a customized tour of Paris, Switzerland, Italy, Greece and the Greek Islands. The impact on me has been tremendous, and the experiences we have had through EF have been life-changing for so many of my students.

Happy New Year

The ancient Babylonians were the first to celebrate the new year about 4,000 years ago. Today, the date that the new year is celebrated, as well as the way people ring in the new year, varies from country to country.

• In Scotland, neighbors partake in “first footing.” After the clock strikes midnight, people visit the homes of their friends to wish them good luck for the upcoming year. It is considered especially lucky if the “first foot” into your house belongs to a tall, dark and handsome man.
• Spaniards eat 12 grapes at midnight to ensure they will have 12 happy months in the upcoming year.
• In the Netherlands, people make bonfires out of their Christmas trees to get rid of old spirits and welcome the new.
• New Years Day and the Greek Festival of St. Basil fall on the same day. It is tradition for Greek people to eat a St. Basil cake into which a silver or gold coin is baked. The person who finds the coin is said to have good luck for the new year.

Our 10 Best of 2009

Thank you to everyone for reading, sharing and supporting Following the Equator in 2009. We sure enjoyed posting great stories, facts, tips and profiles about educational travel and the group leaders who make it possible.

We're already planning some exciting new things for 2010. Most of all, though, we want to hear from you. What do you want to read and see on this blog—more interviews with teachers, more amazing travel photos, more fundraising and recruiting ideas, more tidbits about the things to see and do on tour? Let us know at equator@ef.com.

As we look ahead to an exciting year of travel in 2010, we thought we'd take a quick look back at a successful 2009 and our 10 favorite blog posts of the year. Feel free to post your own comments below.

So you think you can dance?

Imagine 400 dancers in four countries choreographed to the same song at the same time on the same day. That's what EF Education First accomplished Saturday.

Working with Ambra Succi from Bounce Streetdance Company, a popular Swedish dance company, EF coordinated dancers in Copenhagen, Denmark; Helsinki, Finland; Oslo, Norway; and Stockholm, Sweden, to simultaneously break into the same dance routine at precisely 1 p.m. December 19.

So you think you can dance like that? The flashmob performance is promoting the EF Dance Off contest, sponsored by the EF Language Travel division of EF Education First, the world leader in international education. To learn more, visit the official site at www.ef.com/dance.

To see more videos, visit the official EF Dance Off channel on YouTube.

Delicious links for Wednesday

• Testimonies: My first EF educational tour
  "I have had the privilege to go on two EF educational tours, thanks to the high school I attended, and both times were fantastic."
  (tags: EF-tours educational-travel educational-tours student-travel London England Paris France Australia NewZealand)