What’s not to like about a field trip? Now that Covid restrictions have lightened up, we can get out more, and so we did!
A field trip has the advantage of a hands-on experience. This past Thursday I accompanied the high school Seniors on a trip to the southern part of our beautiful island to visit a castle. A castle on a tropical island? Yes! The home of one of the most distinguished families of the 19th century, the Serrallés family built a castle from the lucrative sugar cane industry and ran a famous rum distillery. Ever heard of Rum Don Q? Well, that’s them. It was later turned into a museum so visitors from all over the island could visit. It’s now become a well-known tourist attraction drawing visitors from all over the world.
Of course, we were not going to visit just to visit. We visited the castle and the surrounding areas to learn; and as an English assignment, the students had the task of taking pictures and creating a narrative of their experience, using that language, of course. It was a three-way exercise for the students. For their Spanish class they also have an assignment as well as one for the history class. Three birds were “killed” with one stone, so to speak.
In the end, we combined some fun with learning. Isn’t that what a field trip is all about? ~~LMMolina
The Castle and Its Gardens
And a lovely Japanese garden across the way.
teaching tidbits 