CONTEXT IES Albarregas, which has been in existence for over 23 years now, is a public educational institution maintained by the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Government of Extremadura. 86 teachers are currently teaching around 1,500 students at different levels: Compulsory Secondary Education (ESO), Higher Secondary Education (Bachillerato) and Vocational Training Cycles. We are committed to our culturally and economically diverse student population, providing them with high standard non-discriminatory education, open to everyone, no matter their spending power, and caring for the needs of those learning-disabled members of our educational community. Our institution´s future prospect will imply focusing on foreign language acquisition, a process in which the whole school community will be involved. As a result, this will be the key strategy for the school management team, teachers and other members of the school, including parents. We need teachers with a good knowledge of foreign languages, skilled at working with key competencies. Our students need both to develop citizenship consciousness and get familiar with the European Reality while they are also improving their knowledge of foreign languages. Our school management team needs to get to know the structure and management procedures of the rest of the institutions taking part in the project in order to improve its own management. Finally, our teachers want to improve their performance through further training and experience interchange. Gymnasium Lilienthal in Germany, Lycée Choiseul in Tours (France) and Real Colégio de Portugal in Lisbon (Portugal) are three institutions which have previously built a solid work relationship with IES Albarregas, working together in school exchange programs and sharing an eTwinning blog. There is a bilingual section in our school, and their students can enjoy a short language immersion at the end of the four-year-stage. All these actions are intended to set an institutional framework within which to obtain funding .As a result, considering the great number of families with limited resources in our educational institution, it will be essential to count on financial help to carry out the exchange program which has been designed. OBJECTIVES Offering high quality education by improving our curriculum design; encouraging the use of new technologies, the study of foreign languages and work on key competencies ;carrying out structural changes, introducing good practices and new methodologies; creating synergies with other educational institutions; developing teamwork capabilities and , at European level, incorporating the project members ‘social, cultural and language diversity. NUMBER AND PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS 31 teachers: -4 coordinators (Juana Molano Brías, Andreas Münzer, María Helena Pereira Diogo and Ana Figueiredo). -12 members of the management teams: 4 head teachers, 4 deputy head teachers and 4 secretaries. -12 teachers in charge of the exchanges: 6 from IES Albarregas, 2 from Gimnasium Lilienthal, 2 from Lycée Choiseul and 2 from Real Colégio de Portugal. -3 teachers from IES Albarregas in charge of the language immersion program at fourth level of ESO. 330 students: 2014-15 165 students.IES Albarregas: 25 at 2nd level (ESO), 25 at 3rd level (ESO), 24 at 4th level (ESO), 20 at 1st level (Bachillerato); Real Colégio de Portugal: 25; Gimnasium Lilienthal: 25; Lycée Choiseul: 20. 2015-16 165 students. IES Albarregas: 25 at 2nd level (ESO), 25 at 3rd level (ESO), 24 at 4th level (ESO), 20 at 1st level (Bachillerato); Real Colégio de Portugal: 25; Gimnasium Lilienthal: 25; Lycée Choiseul: 20. ACTIVITIES -For two years, IES Albarregas will play host to the other schools in the program and will visit them as well. We will work on the topic “Heroes in European History”, and we will design suitable didactic resources and materials. -There will be a short language immersion for those students at 4th level (ESO) belonging to the bilingual section. -Periodic project assessments and activity reports. METHODOLOGY -School exchanges as a way to encourage team work on key competencies by designing and sharing didactic materials for an eTwinning blog and /or new platforms. -Giving a boost to foreign language learning by promoting mutual collaboration among institutions. EXPECTED RESULTS AND IMPACT -Improvement in foreign language competence and social skills of all participants in the project. -Raising awareness about EU citizenship. -Design of useful foreign language didactic materials to be shared by the participants. -A better understanding of every city´s history, literature and Historical - artistic heritage in the project. LONG TERM BENEFITS This project´s motto, “Heroes of Europe”, will lead every institution taking part in it to higher foreign language competence and academic excellence.