ReForE – Ready For Europe?! Erasmus Project

Project Title

ReForE – Ready For Europe?!

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Labour market issues incl. career guidance / youth unemployment; Teaching and learning of foreign languages; International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation

Project Summary

International mobility has become more and more important in the last two decades and will continue to be so in the future. Also smaller enterprises aim at becoming more international due to the attraciveness of cheap labour abroad and great export opportunities of European countries. Therefore interculturarl experiences and language skills are no more additional qualifications but have become a necessity. Young professionals are expected to have experience in international working/ studying environments and a profound foreigen language repertoire. These experiences combined with a solid professional knowledge will furthermore broaden their horizons and give them self-confidence when entering the professional market.

Since a lot of our students face exactly this situation in the near future we regard it as our duty to prepare them accordingly. All participating schools have students aged between 15-19, they all have junior enterprises as a practical approach to businsess studies and economics and they all focus on languages. Furthermore internationalisation is part of each school’s quality programme.

The objectives of the project support students and teacher alike and enable them to feel comfortable and act accordingly in international environments. One of the practical outcomes of the project is going to be a printed Handbook of European culture and business conduct. eTWinning will serve as a means of communication and sharing and storing of project material.

In order to understand other cultures and become aware of cultural differnces we first have to come to terms with our own peception- the perception of our own culture and how we perceive others. In this context stereotypes are issues to be addressed as well. While a “typical image” (sterotype) of a country is easy to remember, nevertheless you have to approach stereotypes with some scepticism, otherwise you risk to keep an idea of a country which could be misleading.
In our project, we regard stereotypes as a way of learning about ourselves as well. At the end of the first part of the project we will have given an overview of facts and figures of each country involved, have presented the stereotypes we have and in how far they acutally apply. We will also have produced practical information on what foreigners have to expect when coming to live, study or work in our countries. However, this first part deals with cultural peculiarities that we can be faced with on a private basis.

The second part of the project is concerned mainly with working in and with the partner countries and their respective cultures. Learning about business etiquette, rather than reading information from a tourist point of view, will prepare our studens to deal effectively with cultural differences in their professional lives. In our guide “Handbook of European culture and business etiquette”, we show how to make telephone calls, host a meeting, enjoy a meal or visit offices abroad. The knowledge of cultural differences is also important when meeting foreign guests in our home countries and when working with individuals from different nationalities in a national company.

In our practical approach section we ask our students (those who have their own “Junior” enterprises) to make a job description and have students from abroad write CVs and letters of motivation in English to apply for the jobs offered. This is language practice and useful practical exercise at the same time: they get a feedback on the applications handed in and can use the revised ones when they acutally need to apply for their internships abroad. The once chosen because of their applications will be part of the travelling company and have their job interviews abroad. In the very last part we will reflect on the topic of culture shock which often comes when we least expect it: after several months abroad. We will deal with the phases of culture shock making sure that our students will not be discouraged by setbacks when confronted with the harsh reality of living, studying and working in a different country for a longer period.

Project Website

https://twinspace.etwinning.net/76810/home

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 140279,81 Eur

Project Coordinator

Berufsbildende Schule Wirtschaft Bad Kreuznach & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Aula de Comércio – Estudos Técnicos e Profissionais, Lda
• The Oak Trust
• COLEGIUL ECONOMIC ION GHICA
• Istituto Tecnico Commerciale Statale e per Geometri “Enrico Fermi”
• Istituto Istruzione Superiore “Quinto Orazio Flacco”