Our eighth entry comes from Kaprice Dal Cerro, Program Director for Footprints of the Mind and Class Instructor in their geography enrichment program, “Wander Our World.” Find out how Kaprice teaches children about — and learns about their perceptions of — other cultures through In-School Field Trips!
I am one lucky adult to have a job I love and be able to “travel” the world with some of the best people I have ever met, children!
Each week we bring new adventures to our classes sharing amazing countries and new cultures. Many of these places have never been introduced to their young minds. To date we have been able to share with our “travelers” the love of geography through a hands-on tactile approach. We have traveled to over 17 countries sharing amazing stories and the wonders our world holds.
Not only are the children learning new things about our world, I am learning as well. When I share information with our students I LOVE to see their eyes light up and watch how they are sucking in the information we are sharing with them. Not only are they learning about new cultures I am learning about their perceptions of the new cultures and how they view the world they live in.
From the beginning I knew our program would make a difference in children’s perceptions, but it is confirmed when I see a group of children two weeks after they have participated in only ONE of our one hour In-School Field Trip sessions and they great me with “JAMBO”! The information has been retained and they are looking and wanting more information about the rest of their world.
Our classes share the love of using our imaginations as well. As I mentioned our “travels” take place in a classroom (even though we would love to go on plane), we need to get creative on which travel method we are going to use to get to our new destination on a different continent. The imaginations and creativity are endless!
I have had children zip line into the Amazon Rainforest, jet sky across the Atlantic Ocean, take a helicopter ride to Australia, and even swim through our wondrous oceans. Our students take pride and look forward to being the most creative.
The students come prepared each week, passports in hand, excited to guess where we are traveling to and where to find it on the map. Our adventures would not be complete without sharing with our “geo agents” country related treasures. To be able to hold and see something from another country is truly an amazing experience for each of them. They often wonder how we get such treasures from so far away.
We are very excited to be able to meet such wonderful open minds and share the love of geography, culture, and travel with each of our students. We often hear “I cannot wait until I am old enough to visit….”!
Until next time…Bon Voyage!
This is such a great event! What an amazing way to teach the children about what is going on around the world. I applaud all of the great work that you do.