Costa Rica Explorations

Teacher Resources

As a host teacher, you will have specific responsibilities within the planning process to make sure your group's trip to Costa Rica becomes a reality.   Below we have outlined your responsibilities and the planning process.  We will also send you customized marketing materials and a Teacher's Binder to help you organize all your documentation. 

Teacher's Responsibilities

As a host teacher you will act as the liaison between your student group and Costa Rica Explorations.  You will be the main contact for students and parents at your school and/or organization.  Some of the responsibilties you will have are as follows:  

• Choosing dates for your group's trip
• Defining the length of the trip
• Advertising for your student trip to Costa Rica
• Planning and running informational meetings
• Collecting, organizing, and mailing applications, paperwork, and payments
• Fielding parent and student questions
• Chaperoning the students to Costa Rica

For your hard work and support during the student program to Costa Rica, Costa Rica Explorations will reward the host teacher full payment of his/her program tuition when you organize just 4 students to come on a trip with you.  If 8 students are signed up for a trip, then CRE will cover for your flight as well.  Student groups are a minumum of 4 students and a maximum of 16 students. 

Planning Process

Costa Rica Explorations will send you a Teacher's Binder that will help you stay organzed as you plan your student trip to Costa Rica. 

The Teacher's Binder will contain: 

• An informational DVD
• Promotional flyers to advertise for your upcoming Costa Rica
• Copies of Student Applications
• An itinerary
• List of Inclusions for the trip
• Frequenty Asked Questions & their answers
• Clothing and Equipment List
• Organizational grids and tabs for paperwork

Costa Rica Explorations administrative staff will work with you every step of the way to support the planning, organization and implementation of your trip to Costa Rica. Contact Us to learn more!

Application Process

Step One: Student Application -- Part One & Initial Deposit

Once you have committed to joining a Costa Rica Explorations program, you need to fill out Part One of the Student Application and mail a $500 deposit to Costa Rica Explorations.  If you are a part of a school group, hand in all paperwork to your host teacher, who will mail all the applications in together.  

This will include: 

• General Contact Page
• Student Goals
• Parent Goals (depends on age of participant) 
• Letter of Recommendation

Step Two (Optional) : Airline Application and Payment 

If your group would like Costa Rica Explorations to book your group travel, you will need to fill out two documents, Airline Passenger Information & Airline Contract, and send in an airline payment. 

Step Three: Student Application -- Part Two & Remaining Tuition Balance

Thirty days before the trip, students will submit Student Application -- Part Two and a check for the remaining balance of their tuition payment.  The Student Application -- Part Two includes: 

• Participants Acknowledgement of Non-negotiable Rules
• Parent/Guardian Contract
• Consent for Treatment of a Minor & Power of Attorney (Needs to be notarized)
• General Assessment (Filled out and signed by a physician)
• Copy of valid passport

FAQs

Q: Is there extra insurance parents can take out on their child?

CRE provides a travel insurance policy for each student which is included in their program tuition.  Details on this policy’s coverage are provided once it has been purchased.  There is always more insurance one can buy.  If you would like further coverage please ask your local insurance agent for more information.

Q: How can parents reach their child in the event of a family emergency?

Parents will be given the contact information to the Costa Rica Explorations headquarters.  Someone will be available at this number 24 hours a day, 7 days a week while the students are abroad.  If there is an emergency on either end, the contact at the CRE Headquarters will act as the liaison between the group in Costa Rica and the United States.  Your child will be contacted as soon as possible through this chain of communication.  We have found this process to be the most effective and efficient for everyone because Costa Rica Explorations headquarters will know where the group is at all times.  

In the event of a student group, we strongly suggest organizing a phone tree for the parents back in the United States.  This can be done at one of the informational meetings and should be tested at least twice before the students leave on their trip. This is useful in letting parents know the students arrived in country safely and keeping them updated on the events of the trip. 

Q: How does the payment schedule work with Costa Rica Explorations Student Programs?

The payment schedule for a Costa Rica Explorations program is as follows: 

• A deposit of $500.00 is due with the submission of the First Part of the Student Application (The deposit secures you a spot on the trip. Three hundred dollars is refundable up until 60 days before the trip.)
• The tuition balance of the program must be paid anytime before 30 days from the program start date along with Part 2 of the Student Applicaiton.  
• If applicable, the payment for plane tickets are handled soon after the initial deposit has been received.  CRE will handle plane reservations and will provide paperwork and instructions for purchasing these tickets when the time comes.  

Q: How do you select your homestays, and can you guarantee they are safe?

The Costa Rican homestay families are chosen by close personal contacts to the Costa Rica Explorations founders and some are actual family members that are native to Turrialba, Costa Rica.  We have been working with our homestay neighborhoods for years and know all of the families, parents and children very well.  For example, a mother of one of the homestay families is the director of the local kindergarten.  

CRE always makes pre-program visits to each homestay famiy's home to inspect and discuss the upcoming program’s necessities and expectations.  Each adult family member within the homestays completes a background check and a contract is signed with CRE to ensure he/she understands they are assuming a parential role to the Costa Rica Explorations students and are in charge of their physical, social and emotional well being.  Families that are picked typically have school-aged children, so that the students will have peers.

Costa Rica Explorations guides and the students' host teachers will also stay with homestay families in the same neighborhood. Guides are on call 24-hours a day, and there is telephone access in each of the homestay family's houses. Many families have internet access as well.