The present European Leonardo project, of a duration of two years, will allow 24 boys and girls (12 per school year) in their second-year training for the Vocational High-school Diploma, in Sales, Business Administration or Personal Care and Service, to do a 4-week internship in another European country. This internship will enable them to get more independent, strengthen their language skills and arouse their curiosity and interest for other European countries., Also a way to make them aware of their strengths and weaknesses and of the way to remedy them. Thanks to this experience, their attitude towards school will change : they will understand the sense and objectives of their training more easily. By putting forward the skills and practices learnt during their course, they will learn to value their Vocational Section, and feel more valuable themselves. This way, they will feel more on an equal footing with General Sections, leaving the consideration aside of being in a “second-choice education”, to become aware of the differences and operational strength of their more practical training. As they reconcile with school, their relation to teachers will also change : they realise the contribution of school to construct their personal project, and start to fight themselves, together with teachers, against failing in their education. In setting pupils at the core of their training, by involving them in the research for work placements, in a recruitment process as well as in the organisation of their travel and stay abroad, they get implicated and naturally willing to do something and meet requests. Furthermore, having to compete to be able to do their work placement abroad, creates a stimulation in the 2nd year Vocational Sections, so that pupils look for information to be selected, by themselves. Their approach to foreign languages becomes also different, some admitting watching series in English to improve their accent. Others will take advantage of " short holiday periods " to train their language skills. Knowledge and information are easily available nowadays, but the desire to progress and improve skills is ours ! The enthusiasm of the teachers supervising the project gives these young people getting involved a positive boost, as they feel recognised and different. Last but not least, the activities carried out during the internship period allow pupils to validate professional skills needed for their final diploma. In addition they will be requested to present their experience in another European country (company/ organisation - market/social conditions - consumers / people’s habits and needs - purchasing behaviours - life in the city) on various occasions, also to allow comparisons. This contributes to make those pupils more active in class and to make them feel more confident and capable. This placement validated by a Europass will have opened them the gate to the European job market. This first experience will give them confidence and extra skills, which will enable them to open up to further experiences abroad, with less fear and more enthusiasm.