Thanks to the elaboration of Erasmus + project, we were able to provide our students with a four week internship in Malta and Valencia as a first work experience out of our borders. This experience was a genuine booster for them. Such a process offers the students another vision of their training, a special status that places them in a dynamic approach in their access to the European citizenship. The internship, utmost part of the project, was the climax of a preparation meant to make them realize how adaptable they are in a new environment. Therefore, the impact on the participants has been priceless regarding the acquisition of skills and openness. They are ready to face their personal and professional future with a lot of confidence. With our students, we were able to build an ambitious project which proved them that opening up to Europe was not restricted to an elite or much educated persons . They could live a very constructive experience even before graduating from high school.
Louis Armand vocational school is located in Eaubonne, Val d'Oise, near Paris. It welcomes 350 students who are offered to study in business and industrial maintenance. Since 2012 our school has proposed a European section (ES) in English and has recently opened a second language scheme in Spanish for those who study retail and sales. This project aims at giving them a European dimension in their curriculum and develop their language proficiency. The various trainings of the European classes allow them to live a different way of studying. Erasmus+ gives our future graduates the opportunity to experiment Europe through added courses in English and in Spanish where they are exposed to a variety of topics like the European institutions, its cultures, its professional practises. The goal is to enhance their sense of European citizenship, to acquire new skills and to carry out a four weeks internship in an English or Spanish speaking country. Mostly aged 17, they are often restricted in their opportunity of travelling in or out of France, mainly for financial or cultural reasons.That is why the ES becomes an open door on the world through the upgraded but also demanding training that they receive. It also helps them get an open mind.