Parent's Guide: Washington DC Spanish and French Education Tour
Your son or daughter is being invited to participate in a school field trip to Washington, D.C. . Although it will be lots of fun, your child's trip is primarily an educational experience.How will your child benefit from the trip?
The short answer is this: your child will probably learn more about the world and its ways during a visit to Washington, D.C. than during any other three or four days in the school year.
For many students, a school field trip to Washington, D.C. is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit a foreign country and to meet and interact with people with a different language and a distinctly different culture.
Students of French will read French signs and hear French spoken from the moment they cross the Canadian border, and they'll have many opportunities to use language skills that they've learned in class in everyday situations.
In addition to hearing and reading new words and phrases in Quebec, the fundamental lesson is that the study of a foreign language is a practical tool and not just an academic exercise.
For some younger students, the trip is a first overnight away from home and parents. This expression of confidence imparts a measure of maturity, independence and worldliness in many kids. You'll see the difference when the trip is over.
Your son or daughter will quickly learn that your hometown is not the center of the known universe (of course, it's not necessarily Washington, D.C. either). He or she will learn, and remember, that there are people with different ideas, different tastes, and vastly different lifestyles, literally millions of them, living just a few hundred miles from their home.
Crossing the border to and from Washington, D.C. is a very memorable civics lesson about national frontiers. A uniformed customs or immigration agent stepping onto the bus and asking to see evidence of citizenship makes a big impression on students who have never thought very hard about their own citizenship before, or about the real value of a U.S. passport.
Many schools require students to write reports about the exhibits in the museums and institutions they've visited, or about how what they've seen or done relates specifically to some aspect of their curriculum.
Often the reports are illustrated with photographs taken with the single-use 3M flash cameras provided by VISIT Washington, D.C. and the Imation Company.
For some younger students, this assignment is an introduction to the world of photography. We might add that we've been told that the trips sometimes bring out the best in the students least expected to respond, and that the cameras (for one example) can be a wonderful opportunity for some students to find a new way to express themselves.
We'll be surprised if many of the lessons learned don't stay with them for a lifetime. (Return to top.)
The trip is being planned an operated by VISIT Washington, D.C., a New England-based operator of tightly structured, closely supervised, and highly educational tours of Washington, D.C.. For more information about us, read the Guide for Teachers page.
Generally, all VISIT Washington, D.C. programs take one adult chaperone from your child's school for every ten students, and an experienced VISIT Washington, D.C. guide will escort the group from its arrival at the destination until its departure for the United States.
VISIT Washington, D.C. employs only mature, professional guides, and offers only meticulously planned and genuinely educational activities. Moreover, we house our students (your children) in immaculate, safe hotels that have been personally inspected and re-inspected by senior home office staff. (Return to top.)
What kinds of clothing should my child pack?
The two most common mistakes we see students making are not bringing shoes appropriate for walking or weather, and not bringing rain gear (clothing or umbrellas).
Please remember that "Spring" means "Rain" in much of North America, and that "April Showers" have been known to spill into May. So your child should take the suggestion to bring weather-resistant shoes and clothing seriously. (Return to top.)
Try this today, then remember to do it again the evening before the trip departs so you'll have a better idea about specifically what kinds of clothes your son or daughter will need in Washington, D.C.. (Return to top.)
For your protection, all payments and deposits to VISIT Washington, D.C. are covered by a $250,000 Consumer Default Protection Plan with the National Tour Association (NTA). (Return to top.)
An important word about your child's teachers
Your child's teachers have selected this field trip on the basis of its quality and content, and not on the basis of any gratuities paid back to them for selecting our company to plan and operate it.
We empathize with the teachers who lead our trips. We know that some parents think of the field trips as free vacations for the teachers who organize them. This is grossly unfair.
Taking your child to Washington, D.C. is a big responsibility. Teachers typically devote months to pre-trip planning and recordkeeping, and long, long hours supervising the students while on the trip. In short, the trips are no vacation, and they're hardly free! (Return to top.)
The lessons learned on a VISIT Washington, D.C. trip will be long-remembered. For some students, an international field trip is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and for virtually all students, the trip is remembered for the rest of their lives.
We'll do our best to make sure that it is. (Return to top.)
Sixteen Buck Road Hanover, NH USA 03755
800.451.5552 603.643.8600
EducationalTours@wingedvictory.com