Educational Tourism

At the Crossroads of Cultures Since ancient times, the tradition of scientific and educational travel has begun. In the Middle Ages in Europe, one of the indicators of becoming a young man was his long journey to the monuments of ancient civilizations, where he went along with the mentor.

The popularity of tourism in general and the educational one in particular is growing rapidly. Education and development in combination with fascinating rest, cultural excursion program make this type of tourism tempting and attractive, so to say, "useful rest", not only for youth. For example, foreign language courses you can go through living in boarding schools or in a family of native speakers in European countries. Many proposals of well-known tour operators combine the acquisition of language communication and the acquisition of skills of ballroom dancing, sports games, riding.

One of the types of children's educational tourism can be attributed to foreign children's and youth summer camps (http://pro-camp.ru), where for children and adolescents a special program provides for a certain number of hours of foreign language (usually English).

The tradition of educational tourism in Russia originated in Peter's times, when the "servants of the tsar" studied sea and ship business in the sea powers. The baton was taken over by Catherine II. With her, the offspring of the court aristocracy comprehended various sciences abroad for several years, then to serve as faith and truth for the good of their fatherland.

Continued the tradition of the director of the St. Petersburg Cadet Corps for children of nobles who do not have their own income. The medalists, after graduation in the corps, could spend three years abroad, traveling for a public account. For them there even existed a special instruction prescribing comprehension of science, since any journey should be the subject of research and comprehension of the sciences. And future teachers, in addition to traveling abroad, had to travel around Russia to notice all the good things worthy of taking note of for the glory of their fatherland. At the end of the XVIII century, rich English youth made grand tours to improve their education - for 2 or 3 years off on a trip to continental Europe. This was the origin of tourism - one of the most fascinating and necessary components of the education of young aristocrats.

In Russia, from the second half of the XIX century began to pay more attention to educational activities. They create their branches in all major cities of Russia. The Society of Lovers of Natural Science and Geographical Society. Tourism is a way of educating the people. Many well-known enlightened minds of that time took part in the activities of clubs and travel societies, were the authors of specialized journals such as "Russian excursionist", "Excursion Herald", published pedagogical and educational literature, and prepared heads of educational excursions.

In the twentieth century, tourism in Russia acquires a mass character. The Law of the Russian Federation "On the Basics of Tourism", defines tourism as "temporary departure of citizens from a permanent place of residence without engaging in paid activity in the place of temporary residence." According to this definition, all types of education and training received outside the place of residence are covered by the sphere of educational tourism. The method of obtaining education in the most prestigious educational institutions abroad, the passage of various specialized courses or overseas internships is becoming increasingly popular. According to the social survey, the bulk of traveling youth (more than 85%) do not consider themselves to be tourists. The opportunity to combine the study of foreign languages with cognitive rest, to feel themselves as researchers - that's what becomes the most attractive element of educational tourism for them. Another area of educational tourism is the residence of students in families of native speakers. As a rule, such families for several years cooperate with a certain tour operator, have the experience of reception and communication, enjoy a good reputation. The educational program encourages the residence of two multilingual students in the family to adapt and accelerate the elimination of the language barrier, using the need for communication. Obligatory control by the representatives of the organization of the training program guarantees normal living conditions for children in the families of native speakers, which is the main concern of parents of trainees. If this is a group training program for students residing in hotels or hostels, it is necessary to check the availability of favorable conditions for classes. In case of group tours for the whole period of group training, the appointed leader must work with the students. The maximum number of students in a group is no more than 12 people. Training can be conducted not only on the language profile. There are special tours for teaching skating on water and mountain skiing, canoeing and kayaking. The most important thing on such tours is to get the maximum result in obtaining the required skills. When developing the training program, the level of metered loads must be taken into account: in the first half of the day, the training process, in the second part, additional services that include the possibility of effective rest. Travel is an important pedagogical and psychological factor that stimulates the learner to the learning process. In the conditions of a trip (travel, business trip), any person mobilizes attention, aggravates memory, thinking, and develops communication skills. Therefore, it is commonly believed that tourism is one of the tools of education and upbringing. In our time there is a great variety of types of tourism. Educational tourism among them is the most popular type of modern recreation.