TITLE: Bilingualism as a social investment PROJECT CONTEXT The IES Pedro Ibarra is a public secondary school where we have students of Compulsory Secondary Education, Bachillerato and Basic Vocational Studies. There are 51 teachers and around 500 students. Therefore it is quite a small school. In relation to the social context, it is situated in the neighbourhood called Los Palmerales. Most people in this area have very low incomes and are gipsies (they do not regularly come to school). In our high school we also have students coming from other areas of the town, mainly, from working class neighbourhoods. The number of students coming from other countries is also important. Therefore, our students are very heterogeneous, they come from a very diverse social and economical background. Another remarkable fact is the number of students who drop out before even finishing the Compulsory Secondary Education. This means that around 20% of our students are at risk of suffering from social exclusion because of social, economical or cultural reasons. OBJECTIVES Within the Learning Improvement Plan of our school and following the strategic targets of Europe 2020 Plan from European Commision, the main objectives of this project are: - To achieve a higher student´s integration in current world reality, where fluency in a foreign language is a key factor for employment - To reduce early drop out by increasing student´s motivation towards learning - To provide a better attention to diversity in terms of student´s abilities inside a disfavoured context, thus reducing social exclusion - To facilitate continuous learning and mobility, both for teachers and students - To improve the quality of the education in our school by introducing new methodologies - To start an intercultural style of learning NUMBER AND PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS - Age: 30 - 55 - English: MCER B1 level - Teaching experience: 2 years minimum - Included in the school permanent workforce - Teachers showing interest to improve their communicative competence in English and CLIL methodology DESCRIPTION OF UNDERTAKEN ACTIVITIES Prior to mobility: - The headmaster will propose to participate in a ka1 project. - Preparation of the project - Selection of candidates - Regular meetings with selected teachers and school staff to develop the project. - Selection of structured courses - Preparation of the participants After the mobility: - Diffusion of project outcomes at all levels: didactic departments, cloister, School Council, etc. - Diffusion by social networking, school webpage, etc. - Project implementation by specific didactic units - Dossier covering all project contents from CLIL stuctured course RESULTS AND IMPACT ATTAINED - Two mobilities performed with good results - Both participants have attended a CLIL course thus increasing their knowledge about this methodology - The school has now teaching material about CLIL available - English language level for both participants has been increased - The school is now open to new Erasmus+ projects: new procedures have been set - CLIL didactic units are being prepared. This project will provide our school with new teaching strategies thus improving the learning practice It will also bring the opportunity of collaboration with other schools, thus internationalizing it. A better educative offer as well an increased training for our staff will be available All this will mean a direct result in our students, allowing a better attention to diversity, as we will have another tool to motivate them which will help to stop the early drop out. Knowing a second language is basic in the current society to improve the possibilities of future of our student both in the working and academic world and to integrate successfully in a global world.