Long-term learning mobility of pupils

During the time of my mobility programme in Austria, I spent most of my time in school. Taking part actively in the everyday lessons proved to be a very interesting activity as I could not only get to know the Austrian curriculum and school system- and through it evaluate my own, but I could be exposed to new, interactive ways of learning as well and in several cases work in groups or pairs. Throughout the different board games we played and the sports matches we took part in I could further improve my ability of working in a team. The fact that I used German in school, combined with the daily exposure to it in the everyday communication, were the most influential in helping me deepen my language knowledge. Alongside these things that even helped me passively, I did what I could to achieve higher levels of understanding and expression. I often asked the receiving family and my classmates to engage in a conversation with me about topics that are essential in daily life thus are needed for the oral language exam. On top of that I completed several written exercises as well, these include letters and expressions of opinion as well as text analysis and translation of texts. These tests were corrected by my German language teacher at home, with her I kept in contact regularly throughout my journey. In addition one language teacher at my receiving school corrected one of my letters and gave me advice on how to write like a person whose mother tongue is German. As a long trip abroad usually does, this mobility programme managed to widen my horizon about the world and provide me with countless new perspectives. While getting to know a different culture, traditions and customs I became more accepting towards them and built up high respect for them. Seeing how different another family lives made me challenge our own habits and become eager to change some of them for the better. Spending a considerable amount of time both in the receiving family and in the receiving class my communication and cooperation skills as well as my pair and team work abilities have improved greatly. The exposure to a different school system and learning methods, I believe helped me to be able to learn more effectively in the future. Arguably, the main aim of this mobility programme was to help improve my German language skills. In my opinion, it was successful. I became more spontaneous and gathered more self-confidence when using the German language. I managed to learn some very interesting everyday- and slang expressions as well as dialect words that otherwise from books I would certainly would have not learned. I think, now, after this mobility programme I can express my thoughts and opinions on a B2 level in German and understand the majority of speech, even when my talking partner’s mother tongue is German.