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Two perspectives of tourism in England
Start date: Aug 1, 2016, End date: Jul 31, 2018 PROJECT  FINISHED 

The vocational school Mindelheim with its branch in Bad Wörishofen acts as the sending institution. The full-time vocational school for “Assistants for Hotel- and Tourism Management” (BFS) is part of it.Furthermore, the BFS Grafenau, the teachers and instructors of both schools as well as the staff of our project partner, the South Chesire College in Crewe, are participating in this project. The partner organization is responsible for providing room and board as well as organizing the work placements.The need for a work placement arises from the fact that the students have to complete several work placements during their education and at least one of it is supposed to take place in a foreign country. Among other things, this foreign work placement should be covered by this project which includes a 3-week stay at the College in Crewe for about 25 participants from the BFS Bad Wörishofen and BFS Grafenau. The planned period is between May/June 2017 and 2018.In the course of their future careers in the hospitality and tourism business, our students will have to deal with international guests and clients. Therefore it is essential for them to improve their English language skills as well as to gain intercultural competence and experience in international communication.Furthermore, staying in another country will enable the students to increase their cultural awareness and ability to work in a profession which is largely influenced by English terms and working methods.To meet these needs, the students will take part in a language course at the college in the first week of their stay. Their English knowledge will be determined by an entry-level test to make sure that every participant receives the best possible support.The contents of this course are based on important professional aspects which the students need during their future career. Topics will be general communication and presentation rules, phoning and correspondence, dealing with complaints, personnel management and target group analysis. Additionally, the students will be provided with information about intercultural behavior and will practice it with exercises afterwards.Secondly, the students will visit places of interest in the surrounding area and will have the opportunity to discuss the respective marketing strategies with the tourism specialists there. Afterwards, the students will work out presentations about the places they visited, present them to an audience in the college and compare the results to those in Germany.The third part of this project is that the students gain work experience in local companies of the hospitality and tourism business, e.g. hotels, restaurants or travel agencies. Working there, they will gain insight in working structures and are supposed to evaluate them together with suggestions for improvements in a learning report.The spoken language at the college, in the host families and at the work placements is English. This will help to improve their language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), additionally to the gain in professional expertise. During their 3-week stay, the students have the chance to experience how the English structure of society, with its high percentage of migrants, deals with different cultures and mentalities and they are encouraged to practice tolerance.The project is divided in three stages:The preparatory phase is planned intensely and in detail. I starts about 6 weeks before the stay abroad. The data of the compulsory preparatory meeting will be given after the participants have been selected on account of their application and interviews.At the meeting, the participants will be provided with up-to-date information, e.g. newspaper articles, of the College in Crewe. The students will then sign the ECVET learning agreements, which include information about the contents, data, appointments and duration of the project.After the preparatory phase (March 2017), the first Flow takes part in May / June 2017. As specified above, the language course, the excursions and presentations will be carried out there.In the reflecting and evaluation phase, the participating students and the involved teachers meet to discuss their experiences. Moreover, the students fill in a questionnaire which will be evaluated and the results will flow in the planning of the next Flow.The certificates and europasses will be handed over to the students in a ceremony in July 2017.

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