Alternatives to EF Tours and WorldStrides for School Groups

Looking for an alternative to EF Tours or WorldStrides? Global Works plans private school trips around your curriculum, with options for community service, cultural exchange, and language immersion.

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A More Personal Approach to School Travel

EF Tours and WorldStrides offer hundreds of destinations and a polished, teacher-focused experience. Global Works takes a different approach. Our programs are built around the student experience: immersive, hands-on, and rooted in real connections with the communities you visit. For teachers, that comes with a smaller team that pays close attention to the details of your trip.

A school trip built around what you want students to experience

You might want students to use Spanish outside the classroom, spend time with a host family, or work alongside a community on a service project. You may already lead a school trip and want a different approach. Start with what you want students to experience, then compare how each proposed trip would make that happen.

At Global Works, we work with educators to plan school trips around their curriculum, dates, group size, and budget. Your school travels as its own private group, with Global Works leaders accompanying you throughout the program.

The Global Works approach

Your students
at the center.

Start with your students. We build everything else around what you want them to learn.

01

Your group, your dates

A private trip for your school, on the dates you choose.

02

Service guided by community

Projects planned with local partners around priorities they’ve set.

03

Real immersion

Homestays, daily language practice, and time with local residents.

04

Support that stays with you

Plan directly with our school group travel director. Leaders stay with your group day and night.

Your
students.

Why teachers switch to Global Works

If you’ve traveled with a large tour company for years, here’s what will feel different with Global Works.

What’s different for your students

Students learn by doing: working alongside local partners, practicing language in daily life, and taking part in the community rather than watching from a tour bus.

We plan service with local partners, around priorities the community has set. Students work alongside residents and learn as much from the people they meet as from the project itself.

A group of people wearing hard hats working together to mix and carry wet cement.

Selected programs include homestays and daily language practice, giving students relationships and conversations they can’t get from sightseeing alone.

An older woman with short gray hair teaches a young man how to crochet with dark purple yarn.

What’s different for you

A trip built with your school.

We plan with you, not for you. Together we shape the itinerary around your learning goals, curriculum, pacing, and the kind of service that fits your students.

Your group travels on its own.

Every Global Works school trip is private. We don’t combine your group with other schools.

You choose your travel dates.

We build the trip around your school calendar, not a set departure schedule.

All meals are included.

Three meals a day are part of ground tuition, so families aren’t budgeting for extra meals during the trip.

Leaders stay with your group, day and night.

Our trip leaders travel with your group throughout the program, including overnight, so teachers and chaperones have support the whole time.

You plan directly with our director.

You’ll work with Eric Tasi, our Director of School Group Travel, from the first conversation through departure. One person who knows your trip from start to finish.

A long track record.

Global Works has run student programs since 1989 and is a Public Benefit Corporation and a certified B Corp.

When to consider Global Works

Global Works is a good fit if you want community connections to shape your students’ experience: conversations with local residents, service tied to local priorities, and language practice during everyday activities.

Bring us the questions you’re working through. How much time should go to service? Would a homestay support your learning goals? What balance of learning, culture, and adventure fits your class? We’ll turn that conversation into an itinerary you can review with your school.

What to look for in a proposal

Know Who’s Traveling With Your Group

Global Works doesn’t combine school groups, and we typically require at least 10 full-paying participants. With any provider, ask whether the price assumes private travel and what changes if enrollment changes.

A diverse group of people, many wearing yellow hard hats, standing together at a construction site in front of an earthen wall.

See Where the Time Goes

Look at where the time goes: travel, activities, service, language practice, and reflection. If a sustained community experience matters to your class, raise it at the start.

A group of people board a yellow Freightliner charter bus parked on the side of a road.

Community Driven Projects

Ask how the project connects to local priorities, what students will actually do, and how they’ll reflect on it.

A man in a graphic t-shirt gestures toward a plywood concrete form braced with metal rebar, while two construction workers in yellow hard hats look on.

Language Practice Beyond the Classroom

Ask when students will actually use the language. On selected Costa Rica programs, homestays and community activities give students daily Spanish practice.

A group of eleven diverse people stand in a line on a paved path in front of a grassy field.

Compare the actual trip you would take

EF Tours and WorldStrides also offer community-focused programs, so compare specific itineraries, not brochures. Ask every company the same questions about group arrangements, daily pace, service, supervision, and full cost. Our guide to choosing a service-learning travel provider lists the questions worth asking.

Support for the teacher leading the trip

Global Works is led by co-owners and directors Fritz and Polly, and Fritz has taught Spanish and ESL and led Global Works trips himself. From your first conversation, you plan directly with Eric Tasi, our Director of School Group Travel. Meet Fritz and the team.

We also handle the work around the itinerary, with school trip planning support that includes promotional materials, a program webpage, enrollment and forms, and group airfare through a travel partner. Before departure, your trip leader connects with you to go over the program. During the trip, Global Works leaders support your group on the ground, and a director is available through our 24-hour home-office support line. Afterward, students receive certificates documenting their service hours.

Safety deserves its own conversation. Global Works staffs programs at an eight-to-one student-to-leader ratio. Leaders are background checked and certified in First Aid and CPR, and each destination has an emergency plan and risk assessment. Review our approach to student travel safety and discuss your school’s requirements with us early in the planning process.

Understand the cost before families enroll

Global Works ground tuition covers three meals a day, lodging, ground transportation, trip leaders, and the activities specified in your itinerary. Airfare is separate. Review your quote and our terms and conditions for exclusions, payment dates, cancellation terms, and insurance options. Ask what happens financially if enrollment changes or travel is disrupted, so families can make an informed decision.

Three places to start exploring


Costa Rica offers options that bring together language practice, community service, and exploration of the natural environment. Programs include Homestay & Language Immersion and Conservation & Ecology, giving teachers different ways to connect the trip to their classroom.

Explore Costa Rica Programs

A group of students and teachers smiling and posing together on a grassy field.

For schools interested in community development or environmental action, Puerto Rico offers programs combining service with opportunities to explore local culture. Discuss which projects suit your students and how the service experience fits into the wider itinerary.

Explore Puerto Rico Programs

Spain programs give students opportunities to practice Spanish through conversation and cultural activities. The Andalusia Cultural Crossroads itineraries offer a starting point for teachers connecting language learning with the region’s history and communities.

Explore Spain Programs

Two chefs in branded aprons cooking chicken and artichokes in a large paella pan over a gas burner.

Use these destinations as starting points for a conversation about your students’ goals. Activities and arrangements will depend on your chosen program.

Questions about choosing Global Works

Yes. Tell us what worked well on your previous trip and what you’d like to do differently. If you have a destination in mind, we can discuss how a Global Works program could serve your goals. Review any existing booking commitments separately before making a change.

That depends on the proposals you’re comparing. Global Works prices each school trip according to the destination, program length, and group size. Compare the full cost, inclusions, and written terms alongside the experience you want students to have.

Homestays are available on selected programs, including options in Costa Rica. Tell us whether a homestay is a priority so we can discuss availability, the experience you’re seeking, and your school’s requirements.

Tell us what you want this trip to accomplish

You don’t need a finished itinerary to start. Share your students’ grade level, approximate group size, preferred dates, budget, and two or three learning goals. We’ll help you explore a Global Works school trip and prepare a proposal you can discuss with colleagues and families.

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