Our first aim was to make students aware of the importance of developing linguistic skills in German and as a result our desire was to encourage them to choose German as their first option at school. Studying in a foreign country for a teenager would imply to use a language different from the mother tongue, which means to get out of their comfort zone and live inside a different educational system. The students who participate in this project not only would acquire new knowledge through different teaching methodologies but also would improve their linguistic skills in German as well as their cultural knowledge. The second goal was to strengthen the relationship between the two high schools with the developing, organisation, implementation and spreading of the project in both schools as a close bond between different international educational communities. The last goal to consider was to provide the students the opportunities to check the advantages of belonging to the European Union.
Our high school situated in Cordoba is the heir of the former institution called “Real Colegio de la Asunción”, which was created in 1959 as a reference of the Public Education in the city. Our pupils can study the Compulsory Secondary Education, Bachillerato and two different Vocational Trainings. We are a German Bilingual High School and the students who study German are the main focus in this project. Those students who do not choose German as a first language to learn can choose English or French and all of them study one of these three foreign languages as a second language at school. Most of the students who decide to study German as the first language come from the only German bilingual school in the city. However, not all the families and students have German as their first option and consequently they study another foreign language. It is probably due to the fact that the non-bilingual option could be easier for them or they do not want any more to continue learning German, as it requires a bigger effort. In addition, we have exchanges with France and Germany and linguistic immersions with England. We have been developing Erasmus professional projects since 2016. We are an official examination centre to obtein DELF.