We wanted to give opportunity to as many of our students as possible to gain experience of how to work and live outside the borders of our country, how foreign companies and institutions work, and what are the responsibilities of employees. We wanted these findings to be transfered to other students in our school and thus influence the students' thinking and the climate of the entire school and related organizations. The project contributed through experience of individuals to greater opening of the whole school to the whole society and its connection with the surrounding Europe and the wider world. However, the important goal was, of course, increasing the professional competences of the students, adapting the teaching to the requirements of the European labor market, increasing the personal, linguistic, civic and intercultural competences of the students and teachers of our school.
Our school has a long-term, up to decades, very good experience with international projects, mostly eTwinning or Erasmus. There was always a great interest from the students in these projects,there was bigger demand than offer. The feedback from the students is then very positive. For example, in the annual questionnaire survey of our educational advisor for the graduating classes, participation in projects is always ranked top, and the question about projects is also a frequent question of applicants at our school's Open Day. We think that the opportunity of professional internship abroad is often a strong and motivating experience for most of the participants. During our interviews with them, during and after the internship, we find that in addition to a significant increase in language and communication skills, the students gain invaluable experience directly in working for a foreign company and while staying with a foreign family. They are alone in an unfamiliar environment, they have to find their way around, learn to perform work tasks that are often new to them, communicate effectively with the employer and accommodation provider, and move around in a foreign big city. During the entire stay, they meet other ethnicities, other cultural traditions and learn to understand and tolerate them, establish international friendships. They often find that they can manage all this without any problems, and this in turn increases their self-confidence and motivates them to have the courage to gain other similar experiences, at school, when looking for a job and when travelling. Based on the students' feedback, we think that these few weeks on an internship abroad usually give them more for life than a few months of teaching at school.