Field Trips Bring Learning to Life

By: Anna Gogala
June 1, 2010

Field trips are a different form of learning in which students go outside of the classroom and learn through experience. The purpose of that kind of trip is to explore, observe, and educate in a totally different environment. Teachers can provide students with experiences beyond the walls of the classroom through activities such as going to the museum, theatre, or other interesting places.

These excursions are also led by some of our teachers. Some students had the opportunity to go to some interesting places during their classes. Most of the students are in school to learn English. A few of the teachers take their students to a restaurant for a practical experience ordering food in English. All the students that I’ve spoken to agree: practical application is much more beneficial than repeating the same conversations in the classroom. 

A student from Iraq says, “Even if we have some conversations and dialogs in the classroom, the possibility to talk with the waiter in person by ordering the food or maybe asking him some questions about the menu is much more useful and easier to remember for the future.”

Sometimes just being outside the school can relieve the stress and give us more courage to start the conversation. “I was more relaxed and felt free to talk then when I was inside the school,” says a student from Korea.

That kind of journey is also a good opportunity to get to know each other better.

“I could talk to some other students I’ve never really talked to before,” said one student from Poland, “now I have more friends from other parts of the world.”

Learning through practical application at the actual setting shows that students gain a better understanding of the information than in the school building. We are able to remember more by seeing things with our own eyes than when we just read or hear about things in class.  When learning a new language, practice and repetition by speaking is very important. Each student should have as much time to speak and practice as possible. I believe that field trips are always a good idea to break the school routine and to try something new. The students’ positive feedback towards this method of learning means they would like to do it often. Personally I believe that more of our teachers should do field trips in the future. Language is more meaningful to the students when it is learned in the true setting versus a classroom with a book.

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