Students who follow bilingual education (TTO) at Mencia will take part in two exchange projects or study trips. One will be in the junior department and the other in the senior department. Each exchange project will work with a theme, which is an essential as well as compulsory part. At the moment we exchange relations with Spain, Finland, Germany, Bulgaria and Greece in the lower forms and Norway, Poland and Rumania in the upper forms. The outline of this particular project will take place in year 3 of TTO-Gymnasium.

32 students from Mencia de Mendoza Lyceum in Breda and 4th Gymnasium of Rhodes will cooperate in a joint project on climate change and water management carrying the title "Water: Friend or Foe?" The objectives are to create awareness (on water management and climate change priorities in The Netherlands as well as in Rhodes) and by working together and exploring and analysing Dutch as well as Greek (Rhodes) challenges in relation to water management and climate change on solutions on individual, national-European and global level. For example, students will be made aware that it should never be taken for granted that we live safely, without fear of flooding or drought. What are the student's individual views on climate change? Have they had any personal experience with flooding/water shortage/water pollution? How far can these issues be attributed to the changing climate? Do they think their region/Greece/The Netherlands/Europe/ International community does enough to help those adversely affected by flooding, drought and water pollution? What kind of precautions should be being taken to prevent water management problems in the future?

Planned activities in The Netherlands which are closely linked to the project are; Kinderdijk Unesco world heritage and museum Blokweer as well as Amsterdam with its famous canals both as part of visiting a Unesco heritage site which relates to the theme of water management on the old days, walking tour of Breda, Watersnoodramp museum Ouderkerk where pupils will see that water can become your worst enemy (foe).

Planned activities in Greece are: Educational Environmental Centre in Butterflies valley, Aquarium of Rhodes, Rodini Park, Public Water Service, Dam of Gadouras and Dam of Appolakia in south Rhodes, the wetland of “Gizani’s (species of freshwater fish) in Psinthos, Medieval city of Rhodes, (UNESCO World Heritage Centre), Archaeological Museum, Lindos village (UNESCO World Heritage Centre).

The final product will be setting up a mock European political party which, at the end of the project will create a manifesto in which joint observations and recommendations on we can best prepare for the future in light of water management and climate change. On the long term we seek to make students aware that climate change and water management issues have various implications and are in itself very diverse all over the planet and may differ greatly from what one has to deal with in the home country. We strongly believe that for dealing effectively with European or even global issues, our students should be mindful of the fact that there are more approaches to solving problems than the one which is culturally embedded in each individual. Therefore we seek cooperation with other countries and cultures to explore other ways of dealing with issues which may have a positive effect on our student's way of thinking and which will ultimately lead to a broader understanding of how other people, in this case, peers, think. By working together and find solutions for climate change and water management (quality and quantity) issues, we seek to make them aware of the role they play as a European/global citizen and what role the EU in this matter might play. In the view of our schools this project is part of a greater goal. Internationalisation is a key element for which we are known. Each individual project will help us to improve upcoming projects in order to take our international profile to the next level. The objectives are to create awareness (on water management and climate change priorities in The Netherlands as well in Rhodes) and by working together (Dutch and Greek mixed groups, language being English) and exploring and analysing Dutch as well as Greek (Rhodes) challenges in relation to water management and climate change on solutions on individual, national-European and global level.

We use eTwinning as a platform for the various stages of the project. For starters, the two groups will get acquainted by email, pupil information sheets, an introductory film by each group will be produced and placed on eTwinning, project documents, worksheets and evaluation forms. Since eTwinning serves a large community of schools, by placing our project onto the eTwinning platform, other schools might, should they be interested, learn and be inspired (EU-wide dissemination).