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Vol. 3, No. 1, Dec 2014, pp. 3-6   

 

 
 
Commentary 
 
Teacher Travelers in Jamaica: Using Study Tours as Field-Based Experiences                                                        
Karen Foster  
University of Central Missouri 
 
 

In his article titled “Why We Travel,” Pico Lyer (2000) clarified a clear distinction 
between travelers and tourists with “travelers” leaving their assumptions behind and “tourists” 
complaining that “nothing is the same way it is at home.”  When a group of six undergraduate 
students and one faculty member from the University of Central Missouri (UCM) spent a week 
teaching 125 students a day in an at-risk youth camp in Petersfield, Jamaica in July, 2013, we 
were immersed in the local culture enabling us to experience Jamaica more as teacher “travelers” 
than “tourists” in many ways.   
 
Home Stays.  The fact that we stayed in host family homes encouraged the “traveler” 
experience.  Rather than living in a hotel or Club Med environment, this group lived with local 
host families.  Chosen very carefully for their gracious attitudes, an extra bedroom and bathroom 
for visitors, proximity to the campsite, and good cooking skills, these women and their homes 
were definitely a strength of the program.  We picked fruit for breakfast from the trees in the 
backyard and walked three to five blocks to school viewing the local neighborhoods up close and 
personally.  Part of these daily trips was walking past metal roofed food vendors, a local bar, and 
cattle or goats in the front yard of houses.  Additionally, cold showers and living without air 
conditioning were integral to this immersion into a small town in Jamaica. 
 
Camp Teaching.  Working as a lead teacher for a group of 25 or more Jamaican students 
discouraged feeling like a tourist.  Because this trip was a “service learning” trip organized 
through Amizade (www.amizade.com), UCM students planned and implemented four and a half 
days of lessons for a designated age group from Kindergarten to high school. With the theme 
God Loves All the Children of the World, each college student picked one country to write an all 
day integrated lesson using library books, original reading materials written with 
www.glogster.com, and art.  “Foldable” notebooks, reading logs with teacher conferences, and 
FAB FOUR cards put on pipe cleaner rings (predicting, questioning, summarizing, & clarifying) 
were also included in the lessons. (See picture below). The middle school/high school group 
emphasized writing original math story problems related to the topic each day.  
 After six weeks of finding and revising materials, these six undergraduate students 
became the lead teacher for their age group.  However, each UCM student had at least one 
experienced local teacher or high school student assisting her.  This interaction with the local 
people both for planning and teaching became a strong bond.  A large group “reflection” was 
held at the end of each day as well as individual conferences with their UCM professor 
conveying what happened in class that day and what was planned for tomorrow. There was a lot 
of growth as flexible and realistic teachers from Monday to Friday of our week of camp school. 
Indeed, this week of teaching in Jamaica added an additional practicum experience to each pre-
service teacher’s Program of Study.  



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Activities.  The types of extracurricular activities encouraged up-close local interaction.  All tour 
groups have planned activities, but the activities in Petersfield, Jamaica focused on being with 
local teens and young adults “off the beaten path.” On the first day, the group plucked thirty six 
chickens to be cooked and served that week in camp as well as gong to a very natural local beach 
with picnics packed by host mothers.  We also went on a cave tour stopping to pick sugar cane in 
route and to Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville beach in Negril, Jamaica.  (See picture below). 
                                                     

  
 
The first night each person was individually introduced at a special welcome dinner at the 
Association of Club’s (AOC) building.  Later in the week, the host mothers staged a creative 
cooking class featuring local specialties enticing our taste buds.  Being present at the weekly 
AOC Thursday night meeting was another community touch, and they asked us to pledge 



 

Teacher Travelers 5 
 

allegiance to the U.S. flag to close the meeting.  Finally, two farewell parties combined with a 21 
year old birthday party promoted rum punch, local music, and dancing to round out the week’s 
extracurricular activities. 
 
Socialization.  At each activity and hour of teaching, these UCM students were communicating 
with local people and negotiating the local English dialect.  Far beyond a conversation with a 
waitress or desk clerk, we made friends, exchanged e-mail address, and fielded children’s 
questions. We were entrenched with the running of the AOC camp school from feeding them to 
teaching them.  Although English was spoken with a British dialect, Patois (“Pat-wa”) was also 
heard at school and during social interactions outside of camp.  Patois is an informal language 
from the descendants’ African roots.   
 
Weather.  Because we walked to our camp school, taught outside, and stayed in un-air 
conditioned houses, the students from the U.S. had to adjust to the heat and humidity of this 
tropical region.  Drinking lots of water, wearing wet shammy cloth rags around our necks, and 
taking frequent cold showers kept us hydrated and healthy.   
 
Conclusion.  In conclusion, six pre-service teachers and one professor flew from the middle of 
the United States to Jamaica to lead students of all ages in an at-risk youth camp for a week.  
Thematic units around a country were written, materials made, and lessons implemented.  
Flexibility and adaptability were key attributes practiced.  Indeed, this adventure added an 
additional practicum experience to Programs of Study for these junior level pre-service teachers.     

In retrospect, we were much more like travelers than tourists as we stayed in local homes, 
planned and implemented lessons in the AOC at-risk camp for four and half days, participated in 
local recreational activities, negotiated verbally with the local dialect, and endured the tropical 
weather without air conditioning.  

In route from the Kansas City airport to our college campus in Warrensburg, Missouri 
upon our return, one student sighed, “Oh, it is so nice to be on roads without any potholes!” Our 
perspectives have been forever changed.   
                                                                         

References 
 
Amizade: Global Service-Learning. www.amizade.com.   

Lyer, P. (2000).  “Why we travel.”  Reprinted with permission from Salon.com in Amizade’s   

journal, p. 3-21. 

  



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