Erasmus+ internship: Kim Michel – The island teacher

Working where others go on vacation. This saying becomes reality for very few people. Leuphana alumna Kim Michel is living this dream: the aspiring social worker is completing part of her professional training on Gran Canaria. 

“I didn't want to just complete my mandatory professional training anywhere, I wanted to benefit from it both professionally and personally,” says Kim Michel. Since she had not completed any training before studying to become a teacher, a longer practical phase is mandatory. Through the network of German schools abroad, she finally found the German School Gran Canaria. This step was made possible by an Erasmus+-funded internship abroad, which she is completing as a graduate of Leuphana University Lüneburg. “I was nervous at first. Working abroad is different from studying. But I received a lot of support from the very beginning and was warmly welcomed.” 

After graduating from high school, Kim Michel was drawn to distant lands: during a “multilingual semester,” she lived in Italy, Spain, and France for two months each. “That's when I realized how much I was interested in learning, language acquisition, and teaching,” she reports. Back in Germany, she looked for teacher training programs that weren't solely focused on teaching in schools and came across the teacher training program for vocational schools with a specialization in social pedagogy: "It's important to me to have both options: vocational school teacher and social worker. Leuphana offers exciting options for students with a broad range of interests." 

Kim Michel was also interested in the international opportunities at Leuphana: she took language courses, spent a semester abroad in Bilbao, and later worked as a student assistant at the International Center. “I learned a lot about how exchange programs work and what opportunities Erasmus+ offers,” she recalls.

This knowledge helped her organize her own internship. “The International Center was very supportive. I was able to have documents checked, clarify questions, and always had someone to talk to. This is very important, especially for internships abroad,” says Kim Michel. The scholarship covers her rent and living expenses.

A central component of the funding is the learning agreement, which sets out the tasks, learning objectives, and added value of the internship. “I had to explain exactly why this internship was relevant to my field of study—and that was an important reflection for me,” she explains. The focus is on multilingualism, early childhood education, and intercultural competence. 

For seven months, she is working at the German School of Gran Canaria in the kindergarten and preschool area. The children come from very different backgrounds: Spanish families, German expats, international parents from all over Europe and beyond. Many children grow up multilingual, some learn German for the first time at the school. “I am learning methods here that I can later apply in my work with adults.” 

Kim Michel reports: “Here, I experience every day what it means when language is not a given. How do I explain something when a child doesn't understand me? How do I provide support without overwhelming them?” She sees these experiences as a great asset—also with a view to her future work in vocational training and the training of educators. Once Kim Michel has completed her state certification as a social worker, she will begin her teaching internship.

In addition to her work in the groups, she also takes on conceptual tasks: she mentors other interns, holds internal training sessions, and is writing a training concept for the facility. "The fact that I am trusted to do this here also has to do with my studies at Leuphana. The combination of theory, reflection, and practice helps me enormously."

On weekends and after work, Kim Michel explores the island, enjoying the sea, mountains, and the openness of the people: “There are no long evenings in front of the TV here; life takes place outside.” However, her internship does have one disadvantage: “I can no longer go on vacation to Gran Canaria. I will always come home.”

The Erasmus+ mobility project MIX IT offers students and graduates the opportunity to receive individual financial and organizational support for their European internship abroad. The program's goal is to strengthen international cooperation between universities and companies and to enhance the professional and life experience of students and graduates through internships abroad. Leuphana is one of the partner universities of Leibniz University Hannover, which has been coordinating the Europe-wide internship exchange for universities in Lower Saxony since 1995.