Last spring, the Italy Mobility team (that manages students’ mobility programs in Pistoia, Italy) had the pleasure of welcoming two new groups from Fundacion Benefico Docente Ciudad de los Muchachos (Spain).
For the fifth year in a row, Jaime González, the Erasmus+ project coordinator at Ciudad de los Muchachos, has chosen Pistoia as the destination for his students’ internships. This year, two groups arrived: four students stayed in Pistoia for three months and a smaller group of six students did a month internship. They all had a very successful experience, and Jaime was so kind to agree to a small interview, in which he shared his opinion about the mobility experience he and his students had in Pistoia.
Jaime is so keen on taking his students to Pistoia for mobility for a number of reasons:
First of all, he has always received positive feedback from the students and their parents about the skills and competencies in IT technologies and administration that they have acquired during the internships. According to them, the host companies have always been very welcoming, professional in their work behaviors, and supportive in teaching students; for these reasons, students are very satisfied with their internship posts.
Moreover, Jaime states that the IMY team offered a lot of support during the whole internship process, especially this year with the COVID-19 pandemic, by sharing safety recommendations, providing 24/7 assistance to the incoming learners, constantly monitoring the local health regulations system, and promptly informing them of any relevant updates.
Overall, the Spanish coordinator is very satisfied with the mobility experience in Pistoia and has consequently recommended the IMY program to other Salesian schools around him in Spain.
On the other hand, the local companies that hosted students also shared positive feedback on the experience: Competenza Aps Association that deals with education and inclusion through the “Pistoia family pedagogical center” and with multilingualism through the CLISCI Spanish language and Ibero-American culture center has welcomed a student named Carlotta from the Spanish group for an internship experience and cultural exchange in Italy through the Erasmus Plus project.
The student says that she cherished this opportunity to learn the Italian culture and “leave a grain of sand” of Spanish culture in Pistoia. In the association, she supported administrative activities, such as archiving documents, and helped manage members’ registrations and social events.
This year the APS Competence Association will welcome other international students. Its president, Sabrina Visconti, has shown that in times of COVID-19, these activities also bring a great deal of responsibility, but also a great satisfaction to be able to allow students from other European countries to participate and learn from these programmes.
Find out more:
Original Italian article about CLISCI experience: http://www.valdinievoleoggi.it/a90979-un-granello-della-cultura-spagnola-a-pistoia-la-studentessa-carlotta-con-l-associazione-competenza-aps.html