Language trip to Malta for our e-commerce trainees
04. Aug 2022
Our second-year e-commerce trainees spent a very special time in Malta in May this year. Together with other students from the Lichtenfels vocational school, they went on an English language trip. They tell you about the background in this interview.
Hello Esther, Anna-Lena, Tizia and Simon! Not so long ago, you visited Malta as part of a language study trip. Could you start by briefly explaining how this came about and when you were in Malta?
Esther : From May 8 to May 21, 2022, we were in Malta for two weeks together with other students from the Lichtenfels vocational school to refresh and improve our English skills at a language school.
Tizia : Exactly, we went through a relatively normal school day, so to speak: in the mornings we were at school until the early afternoon. The rest of the day was mostly free time and we were able to organize our evenings independently.
Anna-Lena : Ultimately, it was on the initiative of one of our teachers that this trip came about in the first place. Our school has been organizing and offering such programmes for various countries for a long time. However, this was the first time that a language trip to Malta had been organized. Teachers from our school had already been on professional language training courses there and this gave rise to the idea of organizing such a trip to Malta with us students.
Your language trip was part of an ERASMUS program. Can you explain how you were supported by the European funding program during your trip?
Simon: The support here was largely financial. Our costs for the hotel, the language school and the flights were completely covered by the ERASMUS program. In addition, the costs for breakfast and the optional dinner were already covered on site. In addition to the financial aspect, there were also additional program points away from the language school that were included in our program and were therefore free of charge for us. We went on two weekend excursions - one to the city of Mdina and the other to the capital Valletta. During the week, we also went on a day trip to the neighboring island of Gozo. Of course, our trip to Malta wasn't completely free - we had to pay a contribution in advance and we also had to pay for other meals and excursions out of our own pockets.
Esther : On the subject of support, I would also like to briefly mention BAUR. As we would only have been at the vocational school for one week during our 14-day trip, we would have had to take the second week off. However, our training managers Max & Elli decided to give us time off for this special language trip. Thank you very much for this.
You have already mentioned that your vocational school in Lichtenfels provided the impetus for this trip. Were students from different professions represented or was the offer only intended for e-commerce trainees?
Esther : In principle, all students at the vocational school had the opportunity to take part in this program. However, this language trip was directly advertised in the e-commerce trainee and industrial clerk classes during lessons, so many of the participants also came from these classes. However, warehouse specialists and IT specialists were also represented. All in all, we were a diverse group of 35 young trainees from various training professions.
Please describe your everyday life at the language school.
Anna-Lena : The language course itself was an English-only course. In order to determine everyone's language level, we had to take a short test at the beginning. Based on this test, we were then divided into different courses so that you only met participants in the group who were at roughly the same language level as you. The lessons in the individual groups were also very individual. For example, I personally was in a course with Esther. Our course was mainly about using the language, which is why we spoke almost exclusively in English. There were also small grammar exercises in between, but our focus was clearly on having conversations and using the language in everyday life
Tizia : I was on a course with Simon. The difference with us was that we based our lessons more on the English book that we were given on site. Our lessons were therefore very structured and also included more exercises, such as grammar. In the early afternoon, we were all divided into different speaking lessons, which were again primarily about using the English language.
Simon: Another thing to emphasize about the language school is the internationality of the participants. There were South Koreans, Japanese, Italians and French on our course, to name just a few examples. Of course, this also encouraged communication in English, as we could only communicate with each other in this language. This always led to very interesting conversations about the different cultural customs, which was another highlight of this language course for me personally.
How did you spend your free time away from the language school and the support program?
Esther: After school, we usually spent our afternoons by or in the water. We could choose between the hotel pool or the sea, which we reached after a ten-minute walk. In the evenings, we regularly met up with the rest of the people from our vocational school to go out for dinner together in a larger group
Anna-Lena : Together with other students, we also went on a self-organized excursion that we booked privately. We went on a hop-on hop-off boat tour to a really beautiful stretch of beach - the Blue Lagoon
Tizia : Otherwise, most of our free time was spent in St. Julian's - the town where our hotel was located. With the hotel pool, beach & sea as well as many restaurants and some very good bars, we never got bored and were able to enjoy some lovely summer days away from the language school
I hope we were able to give you an exciting insight into the language journey of our e-commerce merchants. Thank you four for the exciting interview! Are you also interested in an apprenticeship in e-commerce? Then take a look at our current vacancies.
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