Monthly progress of our Erasmus project

September 2017:
Teacher Meeting in Backnang, Germany

The coordinating teachers of all 4 countries
met and agreed on a common strategy for the next 2 exciting years.

October 2017:
Getting to know each other

The participating students of all countries introduced themselves and the different schools with the help of videos. Here you can find the German versions.

We are a cool group of students! And our schools are so different! We cannot wait to meet each other in person!

November/December 2017:
Applications

It can be really challenging working in intercultural teams – but we made it!

We are now familiar with the different cultural characteristics of each country regarding a CV, a letter of application, job interviews and assessment centers. In addition, we learned what the European guideline tells us.

If you are interested you can contact us!

January 2018:
Writing our own Applications

After finding out how to write an application we had to write our own. The teachers helped us and at the end we all had a European accepted application portfolio, so that we were perfectly prepared for the job interview at Kärcher in February.
After that we started to prepare the visit of the exchange students. We worked out a tour through the school building, a cultural evening and some other parts of the weekly programme.

February 2018:
One week in Germany
Our week in which the 18 pupils and 7 teachers from Poland, Spain and Italy visited us in Backnang began with an introduction round in which we had to introduce each other. In addition, we talked about our expectations regarding the project. After that we went on a city tour in Backnang and even representatives of the City of Backnang welcomed our special guests. Monday ended with a cultural lesson, a German language course and a buffet with typical German Food. On Tuesday, Kärcher gave us the opportunity to take a tour of their company and we learned how to do a job interview and an assessment center in English. The simulations and the feedback afterwards were very valuable.
We spent Wednesday with the preparations of our job fair and went to the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart. On Thursday, we had our Erasmus+ Ceremony followed by the job fair. Many local companies took part and gave us the unique chance to introduce ourselves and to talk about job and internship opportunities. On the last day, we had a review of the week and summarized everything. We prepared games and role plays for the students who could not come to Germany and for all the other students at our school who want to learn something about applications in English. In the evening, we had dinner and a closing party at the Merlin all together. It was a great week we will never forget! 

Here, you find further information about the meeting in Germany.

March 2018:
Share knowledge

In the last few months we learned a lot about the general application procedure. Our mission was to share our knowledge with the rest of our school, so our team went into other classes to teach and give tips to other students for the perfect application.

April 2018:
Work on individual topics

The dual system (apprenticeship) is very typical for the German economy. To inform the other schools about this system, we made researches about the pros and cons, the procedure and general facts and put it all together into a presentation. In addition, we interviewed several people who are part of the dual system such as apprentices, trainers and Mr. Bauer, who is the department head of our vocational commercial school.

May 2018:
One week in Poland

In May we had our second meeting in Wejherowo/Poland. We first met on Monday in the assembly hall at school and we started with some ice breakers and a language course. After this, some Polish students presented Polish quirks and the most difficult Polish words. Later, we did a sightseeing tour through the school and visited the city centre. On Tuesday morning we had a workshop about how to record a video CV and after lunch we had a meeting at the local council office in Wejherowo where we saw a movie about the region. Another activity was that we went to the cultural centre and did some photography and dance workshops. The next day we made a trip to Hel by a waterbus and there we visited the lighthouse, the seal nursery and walked along the beach. In the afternoon we had time to work on our individual video CVs. On Thursday we took the train to Gdańsk and got a guide through the Shakespeare theatre. We visited the old town in some free time and then we went to the European Solidarity Centre which was really interesting, especially for the non-Polish students. After that we again had some free time to work on our CVs. On the last day we made a trip to the Gdynia Maritime University where we learned about the work of the captain on a ship and basic navigation knowledge on a ship. In the evening we concluded the exchange with a farewell dinner where we enjoyed the last time together. The week has been such a great experience for all of us and we are really glad to have this opportunity to meet the other cultures.

July 2018: Application videos

To complement our application, we made our own application video. This isn’t as easy as it sounds and needs a lot of time and a creative mind to plan and produce it.  

September 2018:

We are starting the school year with a new team as some have graduated. So welcome our new team members! We are  excited to work with you and share our experiences!

October 2018:

Finally, the descriptions for our internship positions are online on eTwinning and we can start to apply. Hopefully, everyone will get a position. At the same time, we are working on company descriptions of all the German companies that offer positions. We are very thankful that Alfred Kärcher SE & Co. KG, Brillux GmbH & Co. KG, E. Breuninger GmbH & Co., H.P. Kaysser GmbH + Co. KG, Harro Höfliger Verpackungsmaschinen GmbH, Kreissparkasse, TALBAU-Haus GmbH and Techtronic Industries ELC GmbH support us and offer internship positions to our Erasmus+ students.

Yet, there was another highlight in October! We were invited to the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Frau Dr. Ingeborg Gräßle, member of the European Parliament since 2004, spent some time with us and answered all our questions. It was really interesting! As we had a complete bus taking us to Strasbourg, we had organized a competition beforehand. All the classes that wanted to join us had to create posters dealing with "Europe". And the best one won – congrats WG 12.1.

Click here for further information about this event.

November / December 2018:

The title of our current project is: "Labor market in different EU countries". Every national team has to find out information about the specific national conditions: how many days of holiday are granted by law, is there a minimum wage etc. We have to prepare material so that we are able to teach other students.

January 2019:

Everyone who wants to do an internship will get the chance! We are really excited and looking forward to it. Our internships will take place in April!

In addition, we are getting ready for our next project meeting in Spain!

February 2019:

In February we had our third project meeting in Móstoles, close to Madrid in Spain. We already knew the topic this project meeting was about in advance, so we had time to prepare. Since the project was about “Working in Europe – Current Problems for young people”, we learned a lot about the different working conditions and individual challenges, but also about the dreams and hopes of the other students from the countries of Poland, Italy and Spain. We worked together on ideas for a better Europe in the future and had some great workshops about entrepreneurship and the process of starting a business. Besides all the work we did, we also had time to explore the beautiful city of Madrid, made new friends and brought great memories back home.

March 2019:

One surprising highlight was certainly the visit of Guido Wolf (Minister der Justiz und für Europa des Landes Baden-Württemberg). He visited us during his journey through the Rems-Murr-Kreis in March 2019. Arrived at our school, we presented our Erasmus+ Project to him and had a discussion with him and Mr. Höfliger. Topics were the future of the European job market and how we as students can prepare for our future.

A few weeks later, the well-known futurologist Dr. Eike Wenzel from the ITZ, the Institut für Trend- und Zukunftsforschung GmbH, came to our school. He delivered a speech about megatrends in the future and how the labor market will change in the next centuries.

April 2019

Finally! From April 7 until April 12 we did our internships in Spain, Italy, Poland and Germany! Every student came back with valuable experiences! We got insights into different working departments and conditions and learned more about the different companies and their products.

May 2019

Our last project meeting took place in Rome! Of course, we got to know Rome and its unique history, buildungs and just wonderful streets. But above all, we have worked on our last part of the project: The “Future of the European Job Market“.  With the help of very interesting presentations we have gained more knowledge about the probable changes and have a better idea of which skills will be required by us in our professional future.  This was our last project meeting. Yet, we have made new friends and will certainly meet again.