A stimulating example of how secondary schools motivate pupils to learn and practice languages is the Miniemeninstituut (MI), a technical and vocational school in Leuven, Belgium.
MOLAN interviewed Kris Florquin, the school’s Headmaster and Dirk Staf, European Coordinator.

Q: Kris, when exactly did your school decide to move into internationalisation? And what was the underlying policy?
A: 2005 was the year in which two of my teachers Diederik Roelandts and Dirk Staf took part in the European Classes Project in Alden Biesen, organized by the Flemish ministry of education and supported by the Flemish Community. The project idea is to communicate in at least two foreign languages on a broad EU-linked topic elaborated by the pupils. For us it was a good opportunity to broaden our network of contacts with other schools in order to get new ideas regarding teaching methods, school organization and above all to achieve our final attainment levels among the pupils, i.e. the educational goals not linked to a specific course we strive for, e.g. European citizenship, democratic consciousness as well as independent decision making, the development of social skills and the eagerness to learn and use foreign languages outside the classroom.

Q: Dirk, how is this policy being translated into concrete initiatives?

A: The European Classes Project turned out to be a steppingstone to our own Euroclass project we have been organizing since 2004. Each year at the end of March we meet our partner schools from Cologne (Germany) and Bulle (Switzerland) in the youth hostel in Tilff, a little village near the city of Liège. There we live together for a whole week. “We” includes three groups of pupils, approximately 10 from each country and 6 teachers. At the beginning of this language week each delegation presents its political issue regarding the EU, followed by a one-hour discussion in smaller discussion groups and an oral report given by the group members. This year (2010) Leuven elaborated the topic of a EU-wide smoking ban, Cologne talked about stem cell investigation and the rights of unborn life and Bulle focussed on security measures related to violence and terrorism. The rest of the week is dedicated to other activities: pupils present themselves, their schools, cities and local specialities, they cook, do sports and party together. The main idea is to practise the use of foreign languages, since no-one is allowed to speak his or her native language during official presentations and discussions. For informal and friendly contacts any language can be used.

Q: Your school website, dedicated to internationalisation, also mentions other European projects like Comenius and e-Twinning. Why does a technical and vocational school with only 500 pupils need so many international projects?
A: Well, each international project has its specific goal and aims at different study fields within the school. For the last two years we have taken part in a Turkish-Italian-Belgian school partnership. The ultimate goal there was to introduce school management, educational staff and teachers to the possibilities European cooperation has to offer. We noticed a lot of differences and similarities and have learned a lot about ourselves too. For instance, the Turkish and Italians envy us for our achievements in our language classes. On the other hand we learned that there is nothing wrong with trying to push yourself to your limits, to be proud of what you’re capable of. From next school year onwards we will involve more pupils in our next partnership with schools in France, Germany and Hungary. Next to this partnership we also support e-Twinning. This is a more low-profile international cooperation, not aiming at travelling with teachers and pupils, although the contacts with our Dutch partner school in The Netherlands lead to a mutual visit last year. In September we are starting up a new e-Twinning project for beginners’ English with a Turkish class.

(Rest of the interview on 1 July)