The desire to travel, the desire to change places is considered to be natural for people. The purpose of travel can be very diverse – business, in quest of adventure, getting strong feelings, for relaxation, for distraction from the monotony of everyday life.
However, one of the most relevant areas of tourism is a so-called educational tourism. Pro-Papers experts will be happy to talk about the features and possibilities of this type of travel services for students.
Today, young people all over the world prefer to combine leisure with the acquisition of new knowledge. Therefore, students are the main contingent of participants of educational tours. Every year interest in this type of tourism is growing more and more, because students are the most active members of society who want to combine learning with development and recreation with traveling.
What are the advantages of such educational tours?
First of all, they represent an excellent “ground” for overcoming mental barriers, learning a foreign language, forming an idea of how a foreign university differs from a domestic university.
Such tours are interesting not only for those who want to get a higher education outside their native country, but also for those who are interested in additional training in European specialties.
They are also useful for general development. Educational trips will be appreciated not only by future students – any adult or child will be delighted with the walk through a foreign university.
What are the most popular types of educational travel services available to students?
A language learning tour is the most common type of educational tourism. The main goal is to learn a foreign language by the method of “immersion” into the language environment. Such tours are especially popular among students. The duration of the language tour can vary from ten days to three to six months. In addition to the intensive course in language and grammar, exciting excursion programs, gastronomic tours, educational and sports activities are held.
Foreign language tours are very popular among clients of various ages who are interested in conversational business language for conducting various negotiations. The combination of language learning with recreation and tourism in the country of the studied language gives very good results.
Language learning tours can be individual and group (most often – this is a business language group, a group of students). Training programs are a special language course in classrooms, language laboratories. All programs include 2-4 classroom hours (45 minutes) of foreign language classes per day. The first half of the day is devoted to learning a foreign language, the second half of the day is provided for entertainment, leisure, sports and excursions. Tours with intensive language learning with a program of 20-30 hours per week are also offered. Excursion and educational programs include the study of the culture and attractions of the country of visit, its history and literature. One of the forms of education can be visiting theaters.
The main feature of the language-learning tour preparation is an exclusively individual approach: schools and curricula are selected for each person, taking into account his/her language level, age, education. Specialized receptive tour operators are mainly engaged in organization of linguistic and educational tours. They conclude contracts with local educational institutions (universities, institutes, colleges, etc.) for the use of the training base, the work of teachers and the use of teaching aids.
Sports, and educational tours are excursion programs aimed at training and practicing some sports, such as diving and surfing, tennis and golf, horseback riding, skiing and snowboarding, sailing and others.
Vocational training tours include various on-site refresher courses, seminars and internships. The duration of such a trip can vary from several days to several months.
European countries such as Great Britain, the Czech Republic, and France are very popular in educational tourism, especially in terms of language programs. In order to attract interest in languages and traditions of these countries, special programs are created for students. And in this regard, the championship holds the UK. If earlier it was thought that studying in a foreign college was the prerogative only of elite youth, now the views have changed. Each student can choose an educational tour.
In addition to the study of languages, in the field of educational tourism a very special place is occupied by very exotic trips – the so-called yoga tours that combine spiritual and physical training. As a “destination”, you can choose, for example, India or Thailand. Yogic practice in recent years has gained a lot of fans in our country, so there are a lot of people willing to deepen their sacred knowledge.
When you make an individual program there is a huge choice of courses:
– according to the intensity and objectives of training: standard (15-20 hours per week), intensive (up to 30 hours per week), for passing language tests or exams, for obtaining certificates, for entering a private school;
– combined courses: with additional paid classes in certain sports (yachting, surfing, tennis, horse riding, football, etc.), with the study of special disciplines (history, information technology, art design, etc.);
– multi-activity camp (study + sport) and adventure camps.
Individual courses, compared to group ones, are certainly more effective, since they allow you to more fully immerse yourself in the language environment, provide the widest choice of different programs in the best colleges. However, as a rule, individual programs are 20-30% more expensive than group programs, due to the quality of training, individual transfers, etc.
Definitely, traveling to another country with a different education system and culture is the best opportunity to gain knowledge and relax. So do not be afraid, without doubt, such a trip abroad will be the best and most rewarding experience for you.
