Wir machen das so: Unterschiedlichkeit von betrieblichen Abläufen in verschiedenen Ländern Erasmus Project

Project Title

Wir machen das so: Unterschiedlichkeit von betrieblichen Abläufen in verschiedenen Ländern

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 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Teaching and learning of foreign languages; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation

Project Summary

Bad Urach’s Georg-Goldstein-Schule and the lycée Emiland Gauthey of Chalon-sur-Saone met last fall during a introductory meeting for the joint Franco-German cooperation “Azubi-BacPro”. In order to meet the specifications of “Azubi-BacPro”, our cooperation will enable students to meet in person so that they can interact and become culturally competent, also we will set up structures that give our students the opportunities for internships in businesses in Germany and in France.
Because this only works for the students of the French-learning class we have teamed up with SpesNostra in Kuurne who would also like to work with us, this time, however, the main language is English. While SpesNostra had also been looking for a French partner school the step towards an Erasmus+ project was an obvious one.
Our shared project ”That’s how we do it: Differences in internal business affairs in different countries“ wants to prepare our longterm cooperation and strengthen the ties between our schools.
The participants gain insights into cultural peculiarities of the host country and by interacting with their peers and personal reflection become aware of their own specific cultural traits. Visits at local businesses allow the participant’s insights to expand into business affairs. The physical goal of our project is a brochure that allows students interested in doing an internship abroad to get information about regional peculiarities and useful tips about how to apply for an internship. Also, the brochure will contain intercultural observations and thus tell the candidates how to interpret people’s behaviour and how they might act themselves in order to avoid cultural pitfalls.

Participants are 16-18 years old, SpesNostra’s fifth year, Emiland Gauthey’s professional classes and Georg-Goldstein-Schule’s two year course foreign languages. Before each activity there will be a preparatory stage at each school that introduces the wider topic to the participants within the context of normal school work. There are six students from each school involved in each activity so that we can form six groups at three participants each. The task will be to deal with the topic at hand. As the teams consist of one local student and two foreigners the local student will perform the link to the local way of life and will hopefully be able to answer the other two’s questions while they all work on the project together.
Firstly, each group will work at the topic and create a catalogue of questions and observations they think are important. Then, as a follow up, all groups will discuss their input and create a questionnaire that is an amalgam of all the group’s results. This generates a common basis for observations for the student’s visits with local businesses. There, each group answers the questions and also takes notice of observations that seem strange to the participants. The final phase of each activity will be a plenum, where the students discuss and compare their results. The group’s further task is to produce texts, graphics, images, etc. for our brochure.

Our final activity for this project will be the presentation of the brochure to the public.
Common work at the brochure with their peers, visits at local businesses in different regions permit deep insights into the local culture for our participants. Personal contact with young Europeans their own age, with teachers from different schools and with businesses in three countries permit the students to build up a personal network. They see that different traditions cause different ways of tackling challenges, all of which have their own merits and lead to positive results.
Using English and French outside the classroom context in real life is always an exhilarating experience for language learners and it will deepen their understanding of the language and at the same time motivate the students to study even more.
As the students will remain in contact with each other after each activity in order to finish their parts of the brochure they will have to practice and master the use modern communication devices and technologies.

All schools involved are agreed that they will retain long-term relations after the Erasmus+ project such as student exchanges and organising internships for foreign students. In fact, mutual visits of students and teachers have already taken place which shows how important it is for our schools to form international relationships.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 62557 Eur

Project Coordinator

Georg-Goldstein-Schule Kaufmännische Schule Bad Urach & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Lycée Emiland Gauthey Chalon sur Saône
• Spes Nostra Algemeen Secundair Onderwijs Kuurne