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Kompetenzentwicklung fachlich, sprachlich, interkulturell - Praktikum mit Sprachkurs im Ausland
Start date: Jul 1, 2016, End date: Jun 30, 2018 PROJECT  FINISHED 

When you are studying at IFA to become a multilingual correspondent you have to get used to communicating with companies abroad. Even the most perfect training with native teachers cannot be as good as real life experience in a foreign country. Work experience is required in most job advertisements – and if this experience was even gained abroad future employers will appreciate it. One of our main targets is to expand our BFS students’ professional and intercultural horizon by living abroad for a certain time. Not only will they become more self-confident but also improve their professional prospects, both in Germany and internationally. In terms of language, the idea is to improve pronunciation, understanding, oral expression and expand the vocabulary they learned at IFA. Moreover, they have the opportunity to understand what word processing is used for in a real working environment. Basically the internship is about working as a secretary or team assistant in an international situation. The students meet people who might be useful in their future professional lives and get an idea what tasks are included in the profession of a multilingual secretary.For this purpose in the next two years 9 students each are to go to England, France and Spain for four weeks during their final IFA year, the country depending on the language they are most interested in. The stays in the spring of 2017 and 2018 will include the Bavarian Easter holidays so that the students miss as few lessons as possible.At the beginning of the school year, teachers tell students about this option and lots of questions are answered in individual conversations. In October, all interested students meet and are provided with any information required. The participants are selected according to their applications and their general suitability. Intercultural training is an essential part of our curriculum so all students are trained throughout their time at IFA. The participants, however, are granted an extra Saturday for their specific preparations. Travel and insurances are booked by IFA. Our partners inform us about the planned work placements.Upon arrival, the students are picked up by the host organization, and provided with any important information and taken to their host families.In the first week they attend a language and introductory course. After thorough consideration we decided to start the stay with this course because most of the students are quite young and not used to living abroad, let alone working. This week is provided for participants to adapt and to meet people, get to know the place and the language. At the end of the first week, the students are interviewed by their future employers, where they are going to work for three weeks according to the learning agreements agreed upon between the partners.As long as the students are abroad, our partners also take care of tutoring, some social activities and monitoring, always in alignment with IFA. As soon as the students are back we meet again and discuss their new experience. The participants’ reports, certificates and our feedback sheets are evaluated as well as our individual conversations. Once the evaluation is finished, we concentrate on the distribution of the acquired knowledge and information so that even more people get to know Erasmus+ and benefit from our experience.As this is already the third project we are applying for, a number of organizational problems have already been solved and we can put stronger emphasis on further optimizing our new Erasmus+ project.As a result, the participants will function as messengers for international cooperation by developing as a person, in their field, in terms of language and intercultural competence. They’ll build bridges between people they meet privately or at work. As a direct and immediate personal result we expect their oral marks in their final state exam to be better after being so used to talking in a foreign language.IFA teachers have faced new challenges by this absolutely new task of applying for EU funding and developing a project. At EU meetings they consult other teachers or educational experts as well as business people We have come into contact with foreign organisations giving us new impulses, thus supporting our international orientation and profile.This kind of projects helps our students to make their CV stand out by proving how proactive they have already been. Their newly acquired business contacts will be useful for their future professional lives. Studying at IFA becomes more attractive, meeting the requirements of our modern job market. Our whole institute benefits from the participants’ experience and it makes other students more open to applying as well. In our region, potential employers are grateful for our high quality education and training. By replacing prejudice with knowledge, Europe is hopefully turning all the more into a union and the participants become genuine Europeans.

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