Pre-Departure Orientation
From AFSWiki
This article describes the orientation given to outbound students. For the orientation given to hosted students prior to their departure from the US, please see Pre-Return Orientation.
Pre-departure Orientation Overview
Attending a pre-departure orientation, also called a PDO, is absolutely essential for every outbound student and at least one of his/her parents. These should be held preferably before the earliest departure of the students, which usually translate to somewhere from May-June for Summer participants and December - January for Winter students. Since every student is required to attend a PDO, including winter departure students, you will sometimes have to construct a one-on-one PDO. The Leader's Guide for the One on One PDO are available in the Resources section below. These may be a bit shorter as there is no opportunity for group interaction, and it is possible to conduct them remotely by sending the material to the student in advance and then just having a phone call review session. But whenever possible, doing it in person is preferred.
Pre-departure Orientation Objectives
Pre-departure Orientation Quality Standards and Criteria
This page is under development
Pre-departure Orientation Resources
- Activity Module Training for PDO Coordinators
- PDO Leader's Guide
- Dates for Pre-Departure Orientations
- Icebreakers and Energizers
- PDO Orientation Sign-in Sheet
- Basic PDO Agenda Template
- Overnight PDO Agenda Template
- Finding and Assigning Students to PDOs or Other Activities
- PDO Participant Evaluation
- PDO Volunteer Evaluation
- PDO Sample Invitation
- Sending travel
- Culture Trek
- PDO Planning Template
- PDO Country Quotes
- Student country calls by program
- AFS Guide for Participants
- AFS Guide for Families of AFS Participants
- Culture/Country Specific Information
- YES Abroad & NSLI Additional Information
- CS 18+ Orientation Materials
- Panama VScs PDO & Gateway Orientation materials
- How To Handle Challenging PDO Participants
Best Practices for Pre-departure Orientations
Orientation Expertise
If you are an experienced PDO volunteer and would be willing to answer questions from other volunteers, please insert your name here.
- Sending Pre-departure Orientation Coordinator
- Sending Pre-departure Orientation Group Leader
- Sending Pre-departure Orientation Volunteer
Next Steps
See Also
Return to Orientation
