PPLI Annual Report (2019) - Flipbook - Page 24
Next Steps
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Prepare CPD for New Leaving Certificate Languages for delivery in June 2020
Mobility Opportunities (1.D.1)
Funding for School Exchanges Scheme
Action Progress
The Funding for School Exchanges Scheme is part of an awareness raising campaign that focusses on the
importance and advantages of undertaking a school exchange. In the context of mobility, exchange
experiences will provide excellent opportunities for students to acquire more confidence in their language
skills, thereby increasing the possibility of more openness to the idea of doing an Erasmus placement if they
progress to Higher Education. Funding was to incentivise schools to either introduce exchanges and/or
increase the numbers of students going on existing school exchanges, and to use the experiences of the
schools and students in receipt of funding to raise awareness of the value and importance of language
exchanges.
Ten schools were awarded funding for 3 years from 2018/2019. 152 students went from Wicklow to Rouen,
Kilkenny to Madrid, Cork to Castilla y León, Cork to Frankfurt, Donegal to Madrid, Carlow to Reims, Cork to
Munich, Louth to Madrid, Louth to Berlin, and Wicklow to Marseille. A further ten schools were awarded
funding for 3 years from 2019/2020 and students will be going from Donegal to Madrid, Kildare to Barcelona,
Offaly to Bavaria, Dublin to Barcelona, Kildare to Lyon, Donegal to Stuttgart, Dublin to Honshu (Japan), Cork to
Brittany, Dublin to Tokyo, and Leitrim to Lyon.
Impact
Teachers and students reported significant
benefits for their students having taken
part in school exchanges e.g. an
“When you see the way
they’re engaged in class and enthusiastic
improvement in language skills, students’
eyes opened to a new way of thinking,
students’ confidence increasing, making
and it has a ripple effect throughout the
new friends, and learning to appreciate
school also. They tell their friends about what
better what they have.
Three video clips were created of one of
the new exchanges, highlighting the
different perspectives of parents, students
and teachers. and these are all available at
https://languagesconnect.ie/exchanges/
Other videos are also available to view at
this link.
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about the language, all the work is worthwhile
it’s like going away and it encourages
them to look at learning a language
in a very different way”
Cora McDonnell, Teacher, St Oliver’s
Community College Drogheda