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example of ship's activities for families, kids and adults while traveling, CLICK HERE >> ONBOARD ACTIVITIES, |
| Teacher Educational Cruises, 2323 Clear Lake City Blvd., Suite 180, Box 124, Houston, TX 77062. Tademarks and copyrights apply. Member C.L.I.A. http://www.cruising.org/. CONTACT US: james@teachereducationalcruises.com |
| NOTICE: About getting adjacent cabins
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Now available Shuttle from Bush Int'l (IAH) roundtrip to Carnival drop-off at Port of Galveston. Book shuttle here: *Arrive as late as 1:00 to 1:30 pm in most cases. Call for confirmations. *Child under 2 is free. Check site for details. * Contact james@teachereducationalcruises. com to see if any group rates will apply! |
Galveston <to> Progreso <to> Cozumel Nov. 26, 2007 (Mon to Sat)
Plus, FREE $100 per stateroom in onboard credits* *Requires minimum group size. Call for details. **Does not include travel insurance. See notes below.** |
| No Passports Needed (until Jan 2008) See New Requirements for Travelers |
Nov 27, 2006 Maya Ruins Excursion to Progreso/Cozumel A day at sea Maya Studies - Dzibilchaltun Nov 2006 |
| Notes for future Maya ruins excursions: Bring sustenance! Real food and plenty of water to drink. The site is long and the walk can seem grueling after a few hours. Remember to help the guides focus toward the kids! Some of the information received may be above the kids' heads. The guides are from academic backgrounds. Help them bring their information down to kids' levels. Encourage the kids to ask questions. The guides will be grateful, because frankly, they are simply eager to please (it's a cultural disposition). Take time to "feel" the site as well as see it. Stand a moment to hear the wind…as a child sitting in the grass would have heard it a thousand years ago. I like a little quiet for reflection. I think we can help the guides speak more directly to the children by asking them to…. Perhaps asking for a description of what Maya life for a child might have been like. For instance, Maya children would certainly have known a good deal about the sky, the stars, the sun and moon. Early cultures had no television or lamps with which to pass the evening, so the night sky would certainly have been a familiar presence, as recognizable to them as our local neighborhoods are to us. They knew the significance of the sun's motions in a very personal way, as it marked passages of seasons such as the time to plant. And they seemed to attach significance to the movements of the stars, just as most early cultures did. The heavens were a constant companion to pre-modern man and woman, and guided human beings for thousands of years, up until the advent of the printing press and whale-oil lanterns (which eventually gave way to kerosene lamps and finally to the glowing filament of electric globes). The night sky has become all but forgotten. Parents (as teachers) can very likely reap a grand educational reservoir from the Maya ruins excursion. Scores of subjects append to the experience. When teaching kids who've been to a Yucatan ruin, you can pull various academic subjects in through that direct experience, such as history, geography, archaeology, astronomy, mathematics, sociology, culture, biology, navigation and language, to name a few. All hearken back in some way to the Yucatan Maya experience (just as they would to the ancient Greeks). Finding that connection may be part of the lesson. The cruise leg of our trips can be either an Entertainment or an Education. (Although, it's actually both, simultaneously). Carnival Cruise Lines wants you to be entertained. So, it's up to each of you to find the educational focus within our voyage. Carnival wants you to focus your attention inwardly (upon their products, their shows, their shopping, their many other diversions). But an educational focus will be mostly directed OUTWARD, ...walking the deck in open air and under night sky, watching the seas and skies for occurrences of natural phenomena, ....migrating birds, dolphin, jellyfish, whales, flying fish..., and noting the "mysteries" encountered, such as lights seen approaching from the north that turn out to be migrating birds overtaking the ship when the morning sun paints them golden flecks; or a small single boat riding out the rollers in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico where a lone man sits onboard with his back to our passing ship (what was going on with that??); or the Sargasso Weed that appears at certain seasons atop the long seas stretching to distant horizons and forming floating patterns among the swells; or the jellyfish that appear at other times like translucent milk jugs just below the surface; or the ever-surprising color of the sea on that first morning out, and the way the sun sets with slanting rays, and how distant clouds drop rain over the ocean. These are things you can't tell about, and kids can't be made to know them. But they can at times see them and record them and remember them later when their future brings surprising new contexts to old memories. Sure, kids will want to play and be entertained aboard ship. For education, however, they should probably be required to spend a certain time each day observing the nature of the experience and making notes, learning something new and reporting it, teaching it to the rest of the family. How interesting that would be. Studies aboard ship (and afterwardsp) can focus on many themes (some already mentioned), such as whales in the Gulf, the Great Gulf Stream, how to read a navigational chart, the stars that guide us and keep us from being lost, how ancient cultures crossed oceans, what the European explorers encountered in these latitudes (...did Columbus REALLY pull that eclipse trick to influence natives?), the living nature of coral reefs, and why is the Caribbean Sea so clear(?), etc. I will post some excellent links for studying these subjects in the very near future. At that time I will also introduce the concept of our future trips that will be "self-directed" excursions. That means that someone in your group will volunteer to take the "lead" in coordinating for the group while at sea in exchange for FREE cruise passage. The role will be simple: what the group agrees upon doing, such as classes for teaching the kids, or shore excursions together, or other planned activities. The group may be smaller. Oh, I will still handle the cruise payments as usual, coordinating with the cruise groups department, and will continue to strategically plan groups. It's just that I won't be traveling aboard with a self-directed excursion. Your group leader will take over at that point. It's as simple as that. Or two people can share the activity and split the free passage. More on all this later. --James |
| Tel: (713) 305-8232 |
| Tel: (713) 305-8232 |
Jan 27, 2007 Cruise
| Interior Staterooms (category 4A): $324 pp, double-occupancy $225 pp. for 3rd, 4th, & 5th occ. |
| Teacher Educational Cruises |
| Oceanview (cat 6A): $384 pp, double-occ $245 3rd, 4th, & 5th |
2007 - 2008
| TRAVEL INSURANCE Please consider travel insurance for your protection. One place to find independent quotes is HERE. |
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