Project+Information

Partners:

 * __Escuela Oficial de Idiomas de Jerez (Spain)__

Our school is an Official Language School, a group of public institutions spread all over the Spanish geography whose aim is the teaching of languages, mostly to adult students. Of the three languages taught in our school, English is the most demanded, comprising 62% of the total number of students. We also train primary and secondary school teachers involved in biligual education, a programme in Andalucia started in 2006 by our autonomous government. Andalucia has the highest unemployment rate in Spain. Our town has one of the highest unemployment rates in Andalucia. If we consider female unemployment the figures soar. This is why we consider our school, whose percentage of female students is 68,5%, and is in one of the most difficult places in Europe for a woman to find a qualified job, a key institution in giving them part of the training they need to be able to access the labour market. http://www.eoijerez.com/


 * __Sjoviks folkhogskola (Sweden)__

Sjoviks folkhogskola is mainly an institution for adult informal education (folkbildning), but it is also a place for cultural activities. It is situated in a beautiful area in the countryside 10 kilometer from the town Avesta in Dalarna. Around 135 students live on the Sjovik campus. Education in music and education in outdoor life are two very popular courses, but there are also courses in textile and in building timber houses. Every year we have three yearly courses for young people who are mentally handicapped. We work very close together with a muslim folkhogskola in an area with many immigrants in some suburbs of Stockholm. http://www.sjovik.eu/


 * __Özel Gebze Eğitim Kurumları (Turkey)__

Our school is located in Gebze Kocaeli, which is only 45 km. far from İstanbul with a populatıon of 500.000, Gebze is one of the largest industrial cities, besides its cultural and historical richness. Kindergarden, primary and secondary (lycee) school students are educated in our school. Our school's Parents' associatıons aim is to progress or teach English to both parents and the public (living in Gebze) in order to help them either to find a job or to get a better position at their work. For that reason we have a four hour course programme twice a week in our school. Although only one English teacher (Zeynep TOPTAŞ) is responsible for the whole course, there are five more English and one German teacher in the Foreign languages department and they coordinate with all the other studies. http://gebzekoleji.k12.tr/

Objectives:
We want to do activities in the classroom and outside the classroom related to some of the main working sectors in our towns which demand an extensive knowledge of foreign languages:food production (wine), breeding cattle and the environment (horses,the zoo and natural parks), tourism (art and museums) and teaching (bilingual schools).

Most of our students are already working for one of these sectors or looking for a job opportunity in them. We are going to focus on learner involvement and integrate the activities into the curriculum of the different levels we teach. These activities will be developed by the five partners in their towns, the product of our work will be shared and compared. The most successful actions will be used as models for future courses or activities whose aim will be to help our students enter the labour market.

As an added benefit there will be an intense exchange of ideas and information about teaching languages to adults, and the participants will gain first hand experience in finding out about some working institutions in other European countries.

Also, through exchanging experiences and materials with four other European countries, our students will experience a European dimension, and hopefully they will feel that the borders between the European countries are coming down a little. Even though it won't mean a proper work experience, this project will widen our students' expectations and will open doors for them in the labour market outside their countries.