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MOBILITE EN LYCEE PROFESSIONNEL : ACQUISITION LINGUISTIQUE PAR LA PRATIQUE PROFESSIONNELLE
Start date: Jun 1, 2015, End date: May 31, 2016 PROJECT  FINISHED 

Our high-school is located in Versailles and has been providing different levels of trainings open to the international for many years (before and after the Baccalauréat). This is the reason why we have decided to open a European section in English in each of the pre-bac curriculum (general, technological and vocational) in order to create a synergy of skills and means (especially by the recruitment of an English speaking assistant). As far as the European section in the “management and administrative work” vocational classes is concerned, the Non Linguistic Discipline (DNL) is based on secretarial work and seventeen students in their last year have to carry out a work placement abroad. Actually this training is an integral and compulsory part of their curriculum. This four-week internship takes place in Dublin in November. The students have to work in an Irish company and therefore improve their professional skills in English, especially in the fields of customer or client reception, order processing, phoning, management and theuse of specialized software. Moreover, this work experience abroad will also help them to be more adaptable and autonomous and will enable them to discover a new culture and transfer their skills. A characteristic of vocational classes is that the students are placed in a practical environment which, we think, is the best way for them to acquire the knowledge and the know how in the field they are studying. Thus, thanks to their professional skills they will be able to improve their language level and live a very enriching experience. We think that it is essential for us to have a contact over there to organize the transfer of our students from the airport to the host families and to supervise them during their stay and help them if necessary. This contact will also be in charge of finding companies for the work placements. We have been working with the CEI for 6 years and we now have enough experience to act for the best in order to answer the needs of our students. We also have local contacts in Dublin especially with Maldron Hotel in Dublin where our students worked. It takes time to develop such a connection network. That’s why we very regularly keep in touch with the CEI on a formal basis. These contacts are described in the partnership convention which links us and in which each part undertakes to play the role they are responsible for. In addition to the benefits we have seen above, these work placements abroad give us the opportunity to work with the students on the host country (History, geography, sociological and cultural aspects). This is one of the reasons why we have chosen Dublin which is a very lively and dynamic capital city. Moreover, Ireland is a destination our students don’t know very well and which has numerous cultural assets. This is a real good point for us as it enables us to share our training in a complementary way between the DNL and the English teachers. We also take advantage of this to study the European citizenship and the EU history. The carrying out of this project is managed by the person in charge of the European section together with the DNL and English teachers, the account department and the head of the vocational high-school in close relationship with the local education authority (The DAREIC and the European Resource Centre) and our partner in Dublin (The CEI). Project carrying out tools are designed (planning, statistics, satisfaction questionnaires, budget) in order to anticipate the different stages. Insurance contracts ( Civil responsibility, repatriation ) are also taken in case anything unforeseen may happen. Our experience in the European section in the vocational high-school has allowed us to see the benefits drawn by our students. Each year, at least one of them repeats the experience. Besides, such an experience makes the access to higher education easier. Moreover, the European section represents a major asset to attract new students in the vocational classes which are generally not highly valued by families. Personally, we do our best to let this section know by publishing articles in the local newspapers, presenting it in the different schools we are working with and inviting former students on the “open door days” to talk about their own experience and the benefits they have drawn from it.
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