The field of tourism is of significance for the world of work in the regions of the three participating schools. Toledo’s old town is a Unesco World Heritage site; Soest is of quite a regional importance for day trippers and holidaymakers; and Rypin has a barely developed tourism industry, but is in the vicinity of Toruń, a historic landmark and vibrating university town. However, tourism involves a lot more jobs than most people are aware of and it is our objective to make students aware of this. We want to evaluate the situation in the three different regions in general and in some detail. Each school will send six students aged 15 to 18 years and two teachers to each of the three meetings, but the teams working in the background will be bigger. Students will explore the current situation of the tourism industry in their hometowns and regions by preparing questionnaires, both online and on paper, and by interviewing economic actors. Participants will find out about job and study opportunities in the tourism sector at home and abroad as well as about similarities and differences in vocational training in the respective countries. Finally, students get some insight into one specific job in the field of tourism: a city guide. This job is tangible for students and evokes some student activities. They can compare the legal backgrounds in different European countries, analyse the language skills needed and present a city guide by interviewing them and making a video of a guided city tour. The study opportunities and different vocational trainings in the three partner countries will be published in form of a leaflet or brochure to be handed out by guidance counsellors. Furthermore, the participating schools will pass on all information on the job market in the tourism sector to their local area networks. Language in itself is a means and an end during the project meetings. English should be used as the main project language, but experience has shown that sometimes it just is not sufficient in all situations. Moreover, most jobs in tourism require some language skill. Thus, there will be linguistic animation in all three meetings to make participants aware of the different mother tongues involved and to provide them with some very basic language skills to “survive” a meeting.
The tourism industry, as mentioned in the application, is, to varying degrees, of some importance to the world of work in the regions of the three participating schools. As schools with a focus on vocational preparation and a European orientation, this is relevant for the project partners. The pupils got to know the regions of the other project partners regarding tourism and made presentations on this. They worked together on questionnaires about the economic situation and conducted interviews with tradespeople and, for example, the tourist information office. Students presented apprenticeships in the field of tourism/hospitality, compared them country-specifically, and highlighted some study opportunities. The participants portrayed the profession of a city guide and highlighted similarities and differences between the partner countries. The students made detailed comparisons of different training professions and study opportunities. Through this, the European dimension of the world of work and the industry became clear. Also, through the interview with the tourist guide, the participants in the project have realised the necessity of lifelong learning. In addition, pupils who were not involved in the project can also benefit from the results of the project through discussions with the guidance counsellors at the partner schools. The participating schools have opened up to the outside world through the discussions and interviews, have established contacts with the local economy and have gained insight into different job profiles. English was the predominant project language, but the respective national languages were used as well. Speaking competence and foreign language skills were actively promoted by creating speaking opportunities in the form of group work, interviews and e.g. role plays.