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We love the changes: our apprentices are ready for Europe
Start date: Jun 1, 2016, End date: May 31, 2018 PROJECT  FINISHED 

Within the scope of our internationalization strategy The Staatliche Berufsschule Herzogenaurach (State Vocational School) would like to give motivated students the opportunity to gain experience abroad through mobility. With this application we aim to prepare our trainees for the globalization and the resulting changes on the European job market. Part of this preparation is to gain competency in foreign languages and also the ability to express oneself in a professional, situation appropriate manner. Additionally the participation in a project abroad will enhance the development of individual, social and intercultural skills.Based on their own stays abroad, the teachers who are involved in this application have become aware of how important these experiences are for the career opportunities and development of young people, and would therefore like to support them. Our participants are future industrial sales assistants, the majority of whom are completing a further qualification program for foreign language correspondents.The students involved all have completed at least a Mittleren Schulabschluss (GCSEs), are very motivated and hardworking and see the necessity to improve their language and vocational abilities abroad. These needs and learning objectives have been verbalized within the framework of their participation agreement and have been signed by all participating partners. The students will be prepared by their teachers for their stay abroad in a six-month course of workshops and special lessons, not only in the foreign language. The trip will begin in Nuremberg or Munich and the students will fly to London or Dublin. The participation in a one-week language course will continue the linguistic preparation as well as meet the learning objective “foreign language acquisition/ improvement”. The subsequent three-week traineeship in a company is intended to improve linguistic, social and professional competencies. We are supported by our partner organizations ADC College and SWAN, which will be organizing, evaluating and monitoring the language course, the host families with whom the participants will stay during the four weeks, as well as the traineeships. The participants will independently plan free time activities to get to know the country and its people. In order to develop a sense of European community, meetings with participants from other European countries are also planned. Supervision on site will be carried out by the accompanying teacher as well as by the mentors provided by the organizations. Numerous feedback and reflection methods are used to measure and assure progress in learning and the achievement of learning objectives. The Europass Curriculum Vitae, the Language Passport and Europass Mobility will all be completed together.Our expectations concerning participation in the project include, among other things, that participants will learn to enjoy the English language and that their language abilities will improve. Professionally, the students will get to know new ways of working and be encouraged to see processes from another perspective. As an intercultural aspect, the students will live with a host family for four weeks. This will allow them to integrate and adjust to the new culture, which will train both their social and individual competencies.The students and participating teachers will communicate the results of the project in a number of ways, for example through a daily blog, which will be written abroad and shared on Facebook, Twitter, through articles published in the regional daily newspaper, as well as through the annual school report and personal contacts to the companies training our students, representatives of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce or other teachers.In the long term we, as teachers at a vocational school in the metropolitan region of Nuremberg, would like to give many students the opportunity to gain vocational experience abroad. This application is another step in this direction. The experiences provided by a stay abroad cannot be had in a classroom. Abroad, contacts are made and friendships develop which last a lifetime and can be useful for building an international network. This strengthens not only our students but also the teachers, who are encouraged by motivated students to carry out projects abroad. Sending our graduates as well-trained professionals with an international orientation to the job market is an important competitive advantage, enhances our image and will benefit our region and its resident companies.
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