Context and origin of this project: - Our school is the biggest educational facility in the Highland region. It specializes in education of young technicians who have good specialized knowledge and skills but they lack good English language skills because English is not a main subject at our technical school. Aims of the project: - The main aim is to support professional development of selected English teachers and to raise their qualification in accordance with the European language framework. Number and profile of participants: - 7 selected English teachers will be involved in this project. They include qualified English teachers and practising English teachers with long experience with teaching English. - These participants contribute actively to an increase in students´ English level at our school by organizing a conversation competition, creating English materials focused on grammar, general and specialized topics and organizing language courses in England for students. - As result of this, it is in the school´s interest to support their professional development abroad. Description of activities: - The teachers will take part in 6 language-methodological courses as well as 1 methodological course in different parts of Great Britain, Ireland and Malta. - They will improve their language skills, become familiar with modern methods and approaches to teaching English and ways to put them into practice. They will learn to teach classes of mixed compositions in terms of different abilities and class sizes. - At the same time the teachers will exchange their experience with other foreign teachers and will get to know cultural differences. Ways of project organization: - The selected project manager, with the support of the project team, will organize, manage, and record the details about the courses including their benefits. - Agreements will be signed with the participants of courses and other activities. Expected results and impacts of the project: - The impact on the students will include the teachers using more modern approaches to teaching. It will draw students´ attention, support their creativity and enrich them with information about cultural differences in other countries. This way the teachers open Europe for the students - for their travel, study and work. - on other colleagues-teachers - the participants of courses will share and spread aquired knowledge about new methods and approaches to teaching. - on the school - the school will try to establish and develop partnerships with foreign schools on the basis of contacts which the teachers will make during the courses. Long-term benefits: - benefits for our students - our more motivated students - young technicians with better language skills will be able to prove more successful not only in the local job market, but also in the rest of Europe. - benefits for companies - companies will appreciate better language skills of our students because they will help them to raise their competitiveness in foreign markets. - benefits for national economy - a combination of expertise with better language skills in our students-young technicians will gradually contribute to a greater diversification of the economy - away from purely manufacturing into research and development. This change will be beneficial for the national economy.