The recent Xperitas special event with Rick Steves "Why We Travel," inspired participant educators to reflect on why they travel with students.

The focus of the conference is on program planning and preparation. Teachers and Leaders meet individually with their Program Manager and international partners to review program details and finalize plans. Both teachers and Xperitas staff benefitted from having one-on-one face time, and the opportunity to discuss their itineraries and activities in detail.

Xperitas is dedicated to providing cultural and language immersion experiences that advance our mission, and for that reason we believe it is vital to show support for language programs and language teachers while advocating for study abroad programs. On February 19 and 20, Xperitas Executive Director Leslie Gale and Director of Language programs Jenny Behrens traveled to Washington, D.C., to join the Minnesota delegation at Language Advocacy Day, sponsored by the Joint National Committee for Language.

Xperitas was honored with the Pro Lingua Award, “in recognition of outstanding service to and support of education in world languages and cultures. It is bestowed “in recognition of outstanding service to and support of education in world languages and cultures." 

On this Teacher’s Day, 2018, Xperitas salutes ALL teachers for the crucial role they are playing in developing the young people who will be the decision-makers in our communities for decades to come.  But we especially applaud those teachers that have had the courage and commitment to travel with their students to foreign countries and cultures, each doing their small but vitally important part in creating a generation of young global citizens.

Xperitas held our annual Global Leaders Conference in Bloomington from January 26-28. We were joined by about a hundred language teachers from across the United States, all of whom are leading immersion programs abroad in 2018. Many of our international vendors and partners also sent representatives to meet with us and share ideas about traveling abroad with students.

At this year's Global Leaders Conference in January, Xperitas launched the Educator Advisory Council (EAC) to discuss items that will help Xperitas enhance its existing programs and processes. The long-term goal of the council is to partner with teachers on an ongoing basis to get a pulse on current issues and challenges facing the field of education.