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As educators, we know that experience is the best way for students
to engage in the learning process. Costa Rica provides an ideal
opportunity to open students' minds and get them excited about learning
through its biodiversity, vast array of natural wonders, and diversity
of cultures. Our programs are germane to a wide range of subjects,
including Science (especially Biology, Environmental, and Earth
Science), Spanish, and Social Studies. We will help tailor your
trip to meet your educational objectives.
You may think planning an educational excursion to Costa Rica is
logistically troublesome and overwhelming. Actually, the steps are
simple! We handle all of the details before and during the trip
so that you, the teacher, can focus on the educational experience
of your students, and have a great time in Costa Rica too!
The Process for Planning
a Costa Rican Adventure
Who is this trip for?
What are the dates?
Do I have to go with
my school?
What is the academic
focus of the tour?
How can I organize a trip?
Many of our teachers have gone through this
process without difficulty. We are happy to answer any questions
your administration may have about insurance, safety, rules, and
regulations. For your convenience, we have compiled an informational
packet about the trip and its educational value to help you plan
a presentation. Contact us for more information.
4. Build your customized itinerary.
Review once more the core itineraries we’ve provided to decide
which one works for you; these are the nuts-and-bolts of the adventure.
Then review the Additional Itinerary Options sheet to get an overview
of different regions and possible additional activities. Consider
whether you’d like to add to your own itinerary and contact
us with your ideas so we can customize your trip. We will work with
you to make sure it stays within your budget.
After you give us the dates, the departure
city, and the estimated number of travelers, we can hold tickets
for your group for up to six weeks before a small deposit is required.
This allows flexibility during the recruitment process. For travel
during the peak season (President's Day and Easter weeks), early
booking is advised.
We help to make this part of your job easy
by sending you our video and promotional materials. First, decide
which group of students you would like to target. Some teachers
open the trip to all of their own students, while others focus on
all Biology or Spanish students or Science Club members. This is
entirely up to you. Some recruitment ideas include:
* Organizing a viewing of the video for interested students, with
Q&A afterward
* Promoting the trip on school announcements, radio or network
* Sending a letter to all parents (We have a sample to send you)
* Putting an ad in the school newspaper
* Hanging posters around the school (sample included in packet)
* Asking other teachers to make announcements and/or play the video
in their classrooms
* Playing the video in the lunchroom during breaks
The earlier you start and the more creative
you get the better! We have had groups that raised 100% of the trip's
cost through a variety of means. Some of our groups have gotten
local businesses to support their efforts, others have sold tickets
to a fundraising dinner, held auctions, and raffles (please contact
us for more information).
Many groups sell items in order to raise money. Groups have had
good experiences with CrunchTime and Citrus Fundraising. For more
information on these companies, and raising money for your trip,
click
here.
We will send you our registration form and
waiver for you to distribute and collect from your students. We
will also send you a clear payment schedule to distribute to students
and parents. It is the organizer's responsibility to collect payments
from each student and forward us one check from
the school or a personal back account. We generally require a $200
per person, exchangeable, non-refundable deposit early in the planning
process. The final payment is due ten weeks before departure. It
is important to send us all forms and rosters by their due dates.
We will send you a schedule and checklist to help you keep track.
Once all the details are in place, including
your customized itinerary, flight arrangements, accommodations,
and activities, we will send you a finalized packet for each student
including a packing list, a detailed description of the itinerary,
and other pre-trip information. In addition, we will include a copy
of our newly developed "Walking Lightly" booklet for each
traveler. This guidebook was created to help our guests deepen their
understanding of the places and people we visit on our programs
and also encourage them to apply their learning to their daily lives.
We are always available for questions and
to help prepare you and your group before the trip begins as best
we can. With everything in place, you are ready to meet your hosts
and guides in Costa Rica for a fantastic educational journey!
Our learning excursions are geared mainly
towards groups of teachers and students. Typically, teachers learn about
our programs, and decide that the experience would be beneficial to students
from either a particular class or the entire student body. Teachers from
biology, environmental science, Spanish, and social studies departments
have found our trip to be an ideal compliment to their curriculum. We have
worked with groups from public and independent schools, from junior high
through university. While it is usually easiest for a teacher to organize
a trip and recruit the students, sometimes the students themselves decide
they would like to travel to Costa Rica and initiate the organization process.
We customize all of our trips to meet the
needs of individual groups. Therefore, we will work around the dates that
work best for your group. Most school groups travel during regular school
vacations or mini-mesters, as well as during summer break. Our busiest season
is from February through July.
Not necessarily--Costa Rican Adventures also
organizes other kinds of excursions. Earthconnect is our special, three-week
summer program for high school students. Our Ecovacations department can
plan ecological adventures for everyone including families, groups of friends,
and clubs. Please see the additional information about Ecovacations included
at the end of this packet. We are also planning a weeklong summer program
just for teachers.
The purpose of our tour is to expose our
guests to the natural and cultural beauty of Costa Rica while also witnessing
the problems facing its ecosystems. Throughout the tour, students are exposed
to some of the local and international solutions to these problems by meeting
local peoples and indigenous groups engaged in dealing with the issues.
The purpose of the tour is for students to feel connected to the natural
world, and to realize the important role they all play in protecting it.
For Spanish and focused classes, visits can be arranged to local schools
to meet with local students of the same age. School visits can provide an
additional opportunity to practice Spanish, and gain first hand insight
into what life may be like for a Costa Rican teenager.
Service learning projects often add an exciting element to our excursions
allowing groups to interact more closely with a local community while providing
much needed services. Projects have included beach clean-ups, school beautification
and creating and installing eco-technologies for the communities to learn
and also benefit from.
It's easy! After you chose the dates, we
will discuss your goals for the experience and create an itinerary together.
We will work on all of the logistical details, including air reservations,
if you would like. After that, your main responsibility in the organization
process will be to excite others about the experience so that you have a
group ready to travel, learn, and enjoy.
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