Get Out There…Explore!

Some postcards made by one of my classes as part of the ‘Tourism’ topic (source – Pulped Travel)

I am a Geography teacher in a secondary school, here in the UK. I mention my travels, and the experiences I have had on them, a fair bit in my lessons (whenever it is relevant to do so, of course). Occasionally a student will suggest I am “always going on about my holidays”; bragging about my trips to other countries, cultures and environments. As I aim to do in my posts on this site, I am very conscious that I do not tell my students these travel stories as a way of showing off either a) my wealth (which for any prospective golddiggers out there, is pretty small, by the way) or b) to somehow seem to beat someone else’s equally exciting travel experiences into submission with my heavily stamped passport. I simply tell the students my money does not go on attending expensive Premiership Football matches, buying Playstation and XBox games, boozing every weekend in Leeds city centre or a snazzy fast car, befitting a man of my age. I save my hard-earned cash to spend on travel. I hunt down the cheapest flight possible to ensure that I get the best value for money from my journeys and take as many trips as I can with the holidays I have. Just as I aim to with you readers here, I want to inspire the students I teach to travel when they are older. To take themselves off on journeys that make them more rounded individuals; exposed to all the amazing sights and experiences this magnificent world has to offer, as well as help them to developing an awareness of the world’s problems and what impact we humans have on the planet and the environments in which we live. My recent post titled ‘Why You MUST Travel’ highlights this. To travel is not to just simply get a better understanding of the world, but I believe it is vital in helping you understand yourself better. It is this that philosophy I am trying to get across to the students I teach.