Spanish Teacher Tasha Byzinski shares tips she learned when she took her students abroad for the first time.

1. Pick the brains of NETC’s Tour Consultants. NETC Tour Consultants have a world of information at their fingertips. Whether I was asking for suggestions about specific tour options or different insurance plans, my questions were always answered right away. They even anticipated questions before I asked them!

2. Go on an NETC Teacher Convention, if you qualify. Once I booked my trip, I had the opportunity to travel to Prague for free! I’d never been before, which was great for a couple of reasons. I got to see a fascinating new city and I also experienced what my students would soon feel: being immersed in a new language and culture. Even more importantly, I got to find out firsthand what NETC was all about. It was great to tell the parents the wonderful experiences I had traveling with NETC, easing their concerns and answering more of their questions.

3. Hold lots of organizational meetings. Organizational meetings are a great tool for making sure everyone’s on the same page throughout the planning process. After publicizing the trip at school and through letters to parents, I began to organize evening meetings with parents and students, from my initial informational meeting to more detailed sessions after the applications were collected and initial deposits made. Each meeting was important to clarify any questions and explain all the aspects of the trip.

4. Contact your companion travel group before departure. About a month before departure, I emailed the head teacher of the other group that would be traveling with us in Spain. It was a great help to know a little bit about her group - where they were from, what kind of school they went to and what policies they were implementing for their trip. That way, as head teachers, we had common goals and policies for the trip.

5. Treat your students like young adults, and they will respect you and your rules. One reason why our trip was such a success was that my students behaved so well. They knew from the beginning that they would have to follow strict rules and policies or face tough consequences. I wrote a contract explaining in detail what was expected of each student, including behavior and drinking policies. Each student and parent had to sign the contract before departure. With these policies in place, students weren’t tempted to push any boundaries.

6. Reward good behavior. Since my students did behave so well, I allowed them more free time for shopping in the afternoons and more time to chat with their friends in the hotels at night. They were very appreciative of this time and enjoyed the overall experience even more.

7. Use your chaperones as role models. Three teachers and three parents joined me on our trip, and they served as adult role models and as extra eyes and ears during the trip. They were also helpful during free time, because we were all able to split up to accompany the smaller student groups.

8. Rely on your NETC Tour Director. From the moment we reached the airport in Madrid, our NETC Tour Director was with us 24/7. He was a great help with answering questions, finding out information, figuring out how to make the most of our time and organizing extra excursions, like arranging a boat ride to a disco for us one night.

9. Participate in NETC’s hands-on activities. NETC offers many cultural and educational experiences on their tours. I suggest that your participants sign up for as many optional LEAP! activities and tours as possible. Two highlights of our trip were LEAP! activities: learning how to dance the flamenco and cooking up a real Spanish dinner!

10. Enjoy yourself! You’ve already made the right decision by signing up with NETC. Now trust them to do the great job that they know how to do and enjoy the experience!