Exchange & Field Trip Planning Resource Pages for Teachers
Student Exchanges
The Open House Canada Program (now part of Exchanges Canada) funded many exchanges between the students of Red Deer, Alberta and its twin city, Cap-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec. This article was generated by Rob Porkka and Cathy Hepburn-MacPhail from the final report sent to the Federal Government and was subsquently published by the Alberta Teachers' Association in the Modern Language Journal. The article outlines several points to consider when trying to plan effective exchange programs.
To view the article click on the link below:
"Planning Student Exchange Programs: The Red Deer Experience"
by Rob Porkka and Cathy Hepburn
Guide to School Partnerships
This guide highlights these findings and has been developed to support Alberta schools and classrooms as they develop and maintain partnerships with schools abroad. The guide:
• describes various types of partnerships
• outlines the key steps involved in initiating partnerships
• identifies common partnership challenges and suggests mitigating strategies
• explains how partnership outcomes can link with those of Alberta programs of study
• discusses how partnerships can enhance cocurricular and extracurricular activities
• explores the role that technology can play in developing and enhancing partnerships
• provides a list of resources that support international school partnership initiatives.
Preparing for a Student Exchange
 This powerpoint presentation from Alberta Education provides information for students and parents who will be embarking on any student exchange program. The powerpoint discusses culture shock and factors required to lead to a successful exhange experience.
FRANCE
This manual contains many excellent resources for planning a trip to France particulary Paris and the Battlefields of WW 1 and WW 11.
This manual was developed by Rob Porkka and Liz McNally whille teaching in Baden Baden, Germany for the Canadian Department of National Defence (DND) additional material provided by Debbie Dean and Clem Hebert of Lindsay Thurber High School. It outlines some best practises for group travel and suggests activities that can be linked to the curriculum.
Please click below to download this PDF planning manual:
Paris Planner
This manual is similar to the France Planner but has a greater concerntration on activities in the City of Paris.
Please click below to download this PDF planning manual:
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Taking Students Abroad
 Taking Students Abroad
A Complete Guide for Teachers
by: Maggie Brown Cassidy
Teacher Resource
Most of us at one time or another have considered taking a group of students abroad. It is a perfect way to give our students an opportunity to develop their communicative skills and gain real insight into both a new culture and their own. Of course, organizing such a trip is a formidable task, but . . .
Taking Students Abroad will help you every step of the way. It explains step-by-step how to plan and carry out all aspects of a student trip. Based on her own experience and that of many colleagues, Maggie Brown Cassidy stresses the importance of careful preparation as the key to a successful and enjoyable trip. Taking Students Abroad is full of practical ideas for deciding where to go and what to do, getting school and community support, publicizing the trip, fund raising, orientation, and planning a return exchange of students coming to the U.S. At the heart of the book is this advice: involve your students and their families in the whole process of designing the trip (whether a homestay or tour); these preparations and learning to work together cooperatively are fun and a vital part of the educational
experience. With its chronological organization and open format, Taking Students Abroad is an easy-to-use handbook with hundreds of specific suggestions.
This resource is available on loan from International Services or may be ordered from:
Florida Trip:
Norm Howes and Pat Churchill have taken many middle school trips to Florida. They have shared some documents below that will assist teachers in planning and executing a valuable educational field trip.
SUGGESTIONS FROM EXPERIENCED
GROUP ORGANIZERS
Society for Educational Visits and Exchanges in Canada
201-57 promenade Auriga Drive, Ottawa ON K2E 8B2 1 800 38.SEVEC
Tél./Tel.: 613.998.3760 Fax: 613.998.7094
PRE-EXCHANGEACTIVITIES
You might like to read these comments and suggestions made by group organizers on their post-exchange
questionnaires. You can benefit from their experience as you start your own planning!
“This trip would have been impossible without their support.”
Two things I would do next time to ensure more teamwork between the participants and the
parents:
Communication
•Communication is the key to a successful exchange. Keep regular contact with your twin
organizer, and share all communication and plans with each other.
•Have lots of meetings with your participants and their parents—this is crucial if you want
to avoid misunderstandings and mistakes. Have someone take minutes of the meetings and keep them on hand for reference of what was discussed/decided.
•Make use of e-mail whenever possible—set up an e-mail list for all families to share
information quickly and easily, and encourage participants to correspond with their twins by
e-mail before the exchange.
Teamwork
•It is very important that the teacher have a capable, reliable and hardworking support group.
•Get as many parents as possible involved and formcommittees—delegate jobs and
responsibilities—talk, talk, talk. Involve as many people as possible.
•Get the young people themselves involved in the organization of the exchange. Delegate to
them as much responsibility as they can handle.
•Keep all documentation, receipts, and an ongoing file with details of the major activities
involved in organizing the exchange.
•Designate an additional chaperone as back-up in case of illness/emergency.
have each participant earn a set amount towards the cost of their participation in the
exchange; have an obligatory one-hour volunteer participation for each family involved.
Preparation
•Make sure the school and the school board are kept informed about your exchange—reasons
for the exchange, names of students participating, dates they will be out of school, dates the
visitors will arrive/be in school, your own obligations/responsibilities, need for supply
teachers, etc.
•Involve your teaching colleagues in your plans, and ask themif it is possible for themto
integrate information relevant to the exchange in their subject area.
•Discuss with the other organizer policies that will be reinforced, and expectations for
student behaviour during the exchange (e.g. smoking, use of cell phones, wearing of baseball
caps, driving vehicles, etc). Be sure to advise the other organizer if there are particular
policies in place at your school that the visiting students may be unaware of.
•Establish your Code of Conduct and be willing and able to pursue consequences for any
breaches of it.
•Review manners with students before the exchange. What's not always important in your area
may be in another area.
•Tell students ahead of time that things might be different in the other province, e.g. saying
prayers before meals, singing “O Canada” at the beginning of the school day, etc.
•When going from a small centre to a large city, teachers need to informtheir students re: the
multicultural components of the city and how conditions might look in the home of an
immigrant family.
•Have brainstorming sessions on how to be a good guest—some students could benefit from
explicit suggestions.
•Research your exchange destination so that your students know what to expect.
•Check over the program proposed by your twin school to see if any particular preparation
will be needed to ensure the success of a particular activity.
•Start fundraising at least a year before and involve all the participants!
Participation Selection and Twinning
•We let the participants get to know each other through e-mail, letters, photo exchange, and
telephone conversations before the actual participant twinning was done. The participants had
a lot of input into who they were twinned with, and it was amazing how well it worked out.
•There were several perfect matches.
•Students should be encouraged to twin themselves—using e-mail and given a month time
frame to e-mail back and forth and eventually twin themselves. This method also encouraged
communication and sharing of interests as well as community. (Plus they can't blame the
organizer for putting them with someone they didn't really get along with).
•If I don't know a student personally, who has applied to participate in the exchange, I check
with at least two other teachers who know the student personally. I will only travel with
mature students who I feel I can trust.
•Be prepared to spend a lot of time screening the participants and interviewing themat home
with their parents.
•Pay close attention and take your time when matching the students—it’s a key element of the
exchange.
Correspondence
•Make full use of e-mail to have the groups communicate quickly and easily for a considerable
period of time before the exchange.
•Web site sharing turned out to be very popular with the students.
•Both groups made a video of themselves, their school and their community. The videos were
a “hit” and the students watched themover and over.
•Our group took the time in art class to make individual origami paper flowers containing a
message of friendship for their twins. They were very much appreciated.
HOSTING
General
•Prepare checklists, checklists and then more checklists!
•Set agenda early, stick to it as best as you can, but be flexible and go with the flow.
(Sometimes the best things happen unexpectedly.)
•Set rules and regulations and stick to them.
•Explain to the students why the different activities on the program have been selected.
•At the beginning of each day, run through the entire program so that everyone knows what is
going on and what is expected.
•Always have plan B in case of poor weather.
•Have a good mix of fun and educational activities planned.
•Keep the students busy, but keep things simple. The best part of the exchange is the
opportunity provided for us to simply get to know each other.
•Get the two groups mixing together right fromthe very first activity.
•Give different groups of your students the responsibility of planning a day’s activity (with
your help!)
•It sometimes helps to divide the main group into smaller groups—each with their own
chaperone.
•Make sure to build in enough flex time between activities, and enough time for individual
billet activities.
•Have enough down time for students to relax.
•A camping or overnight experience included in the exchange provides a wonderful opportunity
for children to bond.
•I find organizing activities morning, afternoon evening to be very helpful: it keeps kids
busy and engaging in positive behaviour, and it helps kids who are not very social or good at
finding something for their twin to do in free time.
•Some guided tours, etc. are good—but most memorable and beneficial activities are usually
just people-oriented.
•Check out the linguistic abilities of the group members before booking professionally guided
visits in the second language—sometimes these visits can be counter-productive if there is too
much that the visiting group does not understand.
•Family days are a must, many agreed that they were the most memorable!
•Alist of suggested activities to be done during family time (especially the weekend) should be
provided by group organizers to host families.
•We made sure that parents gave their guests ample opportunities to call home and make
contact with other visitors to reduce homesickness experience for all involved.
•We had every student present a small, inexpensive gift to host family for their involvement.
Activities
•Arrangements should be made for the group to be met when they arrive at the airport.
•Our opening night potluck supper was very valuable to integrate the two groups. It also got
the parents involved.
•At the beginning of the exchange, activity-based (hands-on) activities are essential. This helps
students develop leadership skills and they develop strong bonds early in the exchange.
•We found that the students got to know each other better and faster when the activities were
“activity-based” (horseback riding, caving, walks/hikes) rather than museums, etc. They
enjoyed getting dirty and having fun with their new friends and had more common ground.
•Using incentives such as prizes encourages participants to push themselves to take more risks
in speaking the second language, and team incentives for groups of twins promotes teamwork
and groups support of each other.
•Keeping activities designed around interactive challenges. Keep students actively engaged in
the learning process.
•After an activity for the whole group upon arrival, keep the next day free for family activities.
•One day spent in the school would also be a good initiative.
•Having social evening activities for the interacting of the students.
•Each day we had different students partner up for the bus/transportation times.
•Staying overnight in a motel at the end of the exchange because of a very early morning flight
was a great finale to the experience.
Projects
•A daily journal is an excellent tool, which stays as a lasting souvenir.
•Make a daily Web site with comments and pictures of students.
•Our Web site, where we posted pictures each day for parents to see what we were doing, was
excellent.
•We were fortunate to have access to our school board Web site. This meant when our guests
were here, we were able to post daily the previous day's adventures and digital photos. Family,
friends and interested parties both guest and host could hit on the Web site to keep updated. I
think this made the families of our guests especially happy to be able to follow our itinerary. I
would strongly recommend a Web page to future exchanges.
•Organize a treasure/scavenger hunt in your own community.
•Have students “airband” songs in their second language after being taught by their twins.
•Having the students take pictures and write journals, post both of these on the Internet on the
school site was a great way to communicate while on exchange.
POST-EXCHANGEACTIVITIES
•Always send thank-you letters and cards!
•Exchange daily journals.
•Video taping our visit and then making a keepsake tape for each of the participants.
•Sending signed thank-you notes with a group photo enclosed.
•An activity that has proven to be very effective is an electronic photo album—students
download pictures fromtheir trip, write a brief description (in their second language) and
present as a PowerPoint. Students also burned a CD copy to give to their twins.
SAFETY AND SECURITY WHEN TRAVELLING
•It would help first time organizers to know to check birth certificates against the names given
by parents.
•Have 4-5 copies of all medical and student info. Organizer should photocopy each student
birth certificate and medical card to be on the safe side.
•Our kids had laminated picture ID cards with all important names, phone numbers, medical
info, etc. that hung around their necks. We taped on a quarter for an emergency phone call in
case it was necessary.
•Child's ID and ticket were placed in a small brown envelope. Envelope given to child at airport
and then collected after passing through security—child retains boarding pass.
•All organizers need a good cell phone with an extra battery. A contact # at home. Answering
message at school.
•Rent a cell phone for 1 week for your visiting organizer, e-mail them the number a day in
advance; make sure all students and organizers have both cell numbers at all times.
•I found each participant and organizer and parent having a schedule of events, emergency
numbers and student contact numbers very helpful and did seemto make everyone feel
“easier” about the week.
•Mark everything down, collect passports and at least one piece of ID.
•It is helpful to have at least one organizer/chaperon who knows First Aid.
•We developed an emergency phone chain for parents while we were away, in case of changes
regarding travel itinerary or any other information that needed to be passed on.
•Counting off—each participant was assigned a # and we had regular count-offs.
INVOLVING PARENTS
•Get the parents involved early in the planning. Formparent groups for committees (hosting,
financial, administrative, host family screening).
•Encourage parental involvement, delegate, have confidence in them. Let themcontrol certain
aspects.
•Get parents and participants involved as much as possible in all aspects of the exchange.
•Have confidence in both your participants and their parents—they really can organize all
kinds of activities.
•I feel the parents that made an effort to contact host parents on a regular basis (more than a
couple of times) made it much easier for their children to feel comfortable in a host family's
residence. I feel this is necessary in order for the exchange to be an enjoyable one.
•The pre-exchange contact that parents had with each other made the parents feel at ease about
sending their son/daughter so far away. This was especially important in boy-girl pairings.
Red Deer Public Schools' First International Trip April 1975
The first ever International Trip in the history of Red Deer Public Schools was held in April of 1975. Mrs. Lea Peter French and German teacher at Lindsay Thurber High School lead the 15 member group on a 2 week tour to Paris and Munich. The cost of the trip including hotels and airfare was $690.00
Click on photo to enlarge
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