The CETA Experience - For Teachers

We Plan for a Rewarding Experience

For many of your students, traveling abroad will offer a once-in-a-lifetime experience to enrich their perspective of the world we live in. Proper planning and applied knowledge is the best way to encourage all the positive experiences waiting for you and your students on this journey.

We are always available and communicate with you every step of the way. We will answer any questions you have, but more importantly, we listen. We make sure to understand what is important to your group, then suggest and plan the best ways to achieve that goal.

Throughout the year CETA will provide information and assistance to help you and your students prepare for your upcoming tour.

Planning Your Tour

• One of our experienced tour coordinators will work with you to help choose the itinerary that will work best for your school.
• For customized tours, we will work with you to help design your tour itinerary based on what you want your students to see and do.
• Based on your feedback, our tour coordinators can make suggestions to enhance your itinerary by offering alternate routes, additional activities or new experiences
• Questions about your tour? Most can be answered in a day or two.

To begin planning, go to Plan a Tour

Promoting Your Tour

• Once you have selected or finalized your itinerary, CETA Tours creates custom, full-color brochures especially for your tour. A tour application is attached to each brochure, making it easy for students to join.
• Customized flyers are included for you to post around your school and help promote your tour.
• CETA Tours also assists you with your sign-up meeting. Depending on your location, we will either attend the meeting or send you a detailed PowerPoint presentation customized to your group’s itinerary. The presentation includes information about tour inclusions, payment policies and images from past tours to the same areas.
• Appropriate documentation for administration or board approval is also provided, upon request.

Tour Preparation:

Once we receive applications from your group, CETA Tours provides the following materials to help prepare your students for their tour:

• Student Handbook
  This handbook contains information specific to the country(ies) your group is visiting, including:
  • What to pack
  • What to expect at the hotels or student centers
  • What to expect in a restaurant
  • What to expect on a typical day on tour
  • Websites of the cities and countries visited
  • Basic vocabulary that is frequently used on tour
  • Information about cultural differences
  • How to deal with homesickness
  • Information about getting money abroad

• Passport application information
  You will receive information about the cost of a passport, the necessary steps and required documentation to obtain one. Students and parents are given deadlines by which to apply.

• Information about immunization requirements and general health precautions

• Teacher contact information (when applicable)
  If your group is traveling with another school or schools, we will send you the names and contact information of the other teachers as well as the tour leader for your group. Included in the contact information is a list of topics that we recommend you discuss with the other teachers on the tour prior to departure.

• Family stay questionnaire (when applicable)
  If your group is having CETA arrange a family stay as a part of your tour, you will receive a family stay questionnaire for each of your students to complete. We will give you a deadline by which we need the completed questionnaire along with a letter to their prospective host families.

After we have received all of the questionnaires and letters, we will mail them to our local family stay coordinator. Shortly before departure, you will receive a list of all of the host families' names, addresses and phone numbers as well as contact information for the local coordinator for your group.

• Parent Handbook (mailed directly to parents)
  With the invoice for the intermediary payment, CETA mails a copy of our Parent Handbook. This handbook is intended to serve as a guide for parents as they help their child prepare for tour. Topics covered include homesickness, packing and calling home and are complimentary to the topics covered in the student handbook.

Pre-Departure

Prior to departure, your group will receive

• Flight schedules
  Along with your flight times and numbers, your flight schedule also has information about where to check in and phone numbers/website for your airline.

• Airline luggage requirements
  This document will give you the carry-on size and checked baggage size requirements specific to the air line your group will be flying.

• Passport pouches
  Each participant in your group will get a neck pouch for their passport, money and ATM cards.

• Luggage tags
  Each participant in your group will receive two luggage tags (with their names and addresses pre-printed).

• Accommodations List
  This list has the names, addresses, phone and fax numbers of all of the places your group is staying

• Passport Accommodations List
  A passport sized accommodations list is also provided for travelers to tape in their passport so they have the list on their person throughout the tour.

While On Tour

• An experienced tour leader will manage your trip
• Or, if you have chosen to lead your trip yourself, you will be provided with a binder with a collection of essential contact information specific to all aspects of your tour.
• CETA Tours provides emergency contact numbers to that tour leaders and organizers can reach a CETA Staff member 24 hours/day.
• Teachers receive home or cell and emergency phone numbers for their students.
• CETA Tours requires teachers to submit a phone tree, which we will activate, if needed.