Project Neighbours get acquainted Internationalisation has become one of our main issues at CSW van de Perre due to the introduction of the bilingual program TTO initiated by the European Platform. Our purpose is to get our students’ focus on getting acquainted with our neighbour European countries and raise awareness for the European Union and the cultural differences and similarities between the members of the EU. Therefore we have tried to find partner schools, which have the same interests, focus and similar background as our school. Another criteria in this search was the fact that these partner schools had to be situated within 4 hours drive by coach so that it would be easy to establish direct contact between the exchange students. We have found the following trustworthy partner schools: Friedrich Wilhelm Gymnasium in Cologne, Germany, SJKS Gymnasium in St. Niklaas, Belgium. We have similar ideas about an exchange visit based on the same didactic approach and the values we share for languages. The overall idea is to get to know our fellow exchange students from Belgium and Germany and to learn from each other’s cultural differences but also each other’s similarities. We have decided to introduce exchange visits gradually. Our first formers are offered a one-day exchange visit with students in Sint Niklaas, Belgium. Before they actually meet each other they present themselves through a friendship booklet. On Monday they go to Sint Niklaas and on Thursday their Belgian exchange partner pays a return visit. In Middelburg they are introduced to the Plastic soup Save the Sea project. They get information about plastic soup and they search the beach for litter. If there is enough time left they make a work of art with the found litter. In year two they pick up the same theme with two other groups and the exchange visit is expand to a two days visit with overnight stay in a foster family. This time the main theme is about water in our Province Zeeland. Students will experience and learn more about the big flood in 1953 and will focus on sea life in Zeeland. Two groups from our partner schools in Sint Niklaas and Cologne and 4 groups from our school will participate. During the exchange visit with our German school and our Bilingual (TTO) groups the main language will be English. The students will present their region before they actually meet and will publish their results online. They’ll experience a videoconference before the exchange visit takes place.
Project Neighbours get acquainted Internationalisation has become one of our main issues at CSW van de Perre due to the introduction of the bilingual program TTO initiated by the European Platform. Our purpose is to get our students’ focus on getting acquainted with our neighbour European countries and raise awareness for the European Union and the cultural differences and similarities between the members of the EU. Therefore we have tried to find partner schools, which have the same interests, focus and similar background as our school. Another criteria in this search was the fact that these partner schools had to be situated within 4 hours drive by coach so that it would be easy to establish direct contact between the exchange students. We have found the following trustworthy partner schools: Friedrich Wilhelm Gymnasium in Cologne, Germany, SJKS Gymnasium in St. Niklaas, Belgium. We have similar ideas about an exchange visit based on the same didactic approach and the values we share for languages. The overall idea is to get to know our fellow exchange students from Belgium and Germany and to learn from each other’s cultural differences but also each other’s similarities. We have decided to introduce exchange visits gradually. Our first formers are offered a one-day exchange visit with students in Sint Niklaas, Belgium. Before they actually meet each other they present themselves through a friendship booklet. On Monday they go to Sint Niklaas and on Thursday their Belgian exchange partner pays a return visit. In Middelburg they are introduced to the Plastic soup Save the Sea project. They get information about plastic soup and they search the beach for litter. If there is enough time left they make a work of art with the found litter. In year two they pick up the same theme with two other groups and the exchange visit is expand to a two days visit with overnight stay in a foster family. This time the main theme is about water in our Province Zeeland. Students will experience and learn more about the big flood in 1953 and will focus on sea life in Zeeland. Two groups from our partner schools in Sint Niklaas and Cologne and 4 groups from our school will participate. During the exchange visit with our German school and our Bilingual (TTO) groups the main language will be English. The students will present their region before they actually meet and will publish their results online. They’ll experience a videoconference before the exchange visit takes place.