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REUSSIR EN EUROPE DANS LES METIERS DE L'HOTELLERIE ET DE L'ESTHETIQUE
Start date: Jun 1, 2014, End date: May 31, 2016 PROJECT  FINISHED 

Our high school has established a primary objective of improving our students’ spoken foreign language level significantly in order to increase their potential on the labour market. Languages have become the main focus of our School’s project and the Poitou-Charentes region supports this objective by systematically co-funding our european travels. « Mobility » programs have become key points in our strategy. The concerned classes are the 3 final year (senior/A level) classes, pursuing a Professional Baccalaurate in « Restaurant service and sales » or « Cosmetology and Beauty » , or a Technological Baccalaureate in « Hotel Business ». Their curriculums all include a mandatory training period (of 5 to 8 weeks) and the requirements are specified in their respective programs. This training period is a chance learn the most essential work skills before entering the labour market and students are particularly grateful for the opportunity they have to get this hands on experience abroad during their studies. A number of the students studying for the hotel industry go on to pursue a tertiary diploma in the field (BTS,) a diploma requiring the language level of someone having spent a least several weeks practising one of the dominant languages abroad. The specific skills needed and evaluated during the training period are specified in the curriculum for the classes involved and detailed in an assessment grid which is given to mentors at the work site hosting the trainee. They are translated in the country’s language and explained to the person in charge of monitoring the student during his/her training at the work site. The grid gives central importance to social skills which are particularly important in positions of communication (service in hotels) or in positions involving body care, which require trainees to deal with clients on a more intimate level. The mobility projects are run according to a pre-established agenda which ensures the smooth administration of each step of the program. At the end of the school year, trainees must present their experience abroad to the next eligible students with the help of powerpoint presentations created during their training periods. A « wish list » is then submitted by students who wish to apply and who classify each destination in order of preference. A primary council of teachers (professional and language departments) meet in order to review the list of applicants, in accordance with selection criteria which vary depending on attributed funding. Our avowed wish is to allow all candidates who apply to have access to this opportunity which has proved so beneficial on a pedagogical, professional and linguistic level. But if the number of grants is inferior to the number of candidates, motivation, autonomy and involvement in the program prevail as selection criteria. The students who apply are systematically informed of the number of grants available and, accordingly, of the criteria used for the decision. During the summer, contracts with intermediate partners and local partners (abroad) are established in order to evaluate the potential of each destination to host our students in the best conditions and the availability of staff depending on respective holiday calendars and training periods pre-booked by our partners’ students on site. Starting September, interviews are carried out by the teachers’ council with each student in order to the identify his/her needs, motivation and level in the language of the chosen country. The PPLC (Cultural and Linguistic training) sessions start immediately after the final selection process. The steering committee, composed of 2 people can then launch the administrative phase with internship agreements, certificates and evaluations, and enter data on Mobility Tool. The project coordinator schedules all of the required meetings, and is in charge of communicating important information through reports which are duly distributed. Each destination is managed by a pair of referent teachers who manage the PPLC (linguistic and cultural training) sessions, the logistics for transportation, and communication with partners on site, and who transfer the information to the project coordinator. The project coordinator works closely and constantly with the accounts department in order to adapt to the demands of each destination and to the specific requirements of each. The impact is very positive for the image of our high school and the possibility of proposing training periods abroad is today one of the primary concerns shared by students during Open House meetings, training and orientation fairs, and school presentation dates. In a longer term basis, our school has set the objective of developing a « European Section », thereby reinforcing its foreign language offer.

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