On December 18-23, 2023, the head of the Department of Foreign Languages and Linguodidactics, Nataliia Tatsenko, and senior teacher of the department, guarantor of the Study Program "English and German Languages and Literatures", Yuliia Korobova, successfully completed their internship at the European Academy "Europass Teacher Academy" in Spain (Barcelona). The travel and training grant was received as part of the Professional Development and Exchange for Educators of Preservice English Language Teachers Project from the international organization "Childhood Education International" and with the support of the US Embassy in Ukraine.

As part of the professional development program, Ukrainian educators, together with teachers from Italy and Spain, studied the intensive Erasmus course "Discovery of the best educational systems from Europe and the world", which was developed by "Europass Teacher Academy" and conducted by a highly qualified teacher trainer Yanella E. Ojeda. The following topics were thoroughly studied: - Key elements of effective educational systems: standards, evaluation, professional development of teachers, autonomy of schools, involvement of parents, use of ICT, etc.; - Educational systems of Great Britain, the Netherlands, Finland, Norway, Canada, Singapore and Japan; - Values of the European Union; - Use of AI resources in the educational process. The classes on Artful Thinking were held in the halls of the National Art Museum of Catalonia.

The teachers of the department took part in lectures, workshops and professional discussions dedicated to the key characteristics of the effective educational process in secondary education institutions and strategies for high-quality foreign language teaching; shared their own experience and important information comparing the educational systems of Ukraine, Italy and Spain, exchanged ideas and methods of teaching foreign languages. The course also included participation in cultural activities: excursions to Gaudi's house-museums and Pablo Picasso's museum, familiarization with the history, architecture, culture and sights of the capital of Catalonia, Park Güell, etc.

The participants received a certificate confirming successful completion of the course “Discovery of the best educational systems from Europe and the world”, Barcelona, for 30 hours, issued by the European academy "Europass Teacher Academy". As the result of the advanced training, a developed course of selective discipline "World Innovative Educational Systems: the Best Practices" has been proposed to students of specialty 014 Secondary education for 2024-2025. In addition, it is planned to update some current courses by introducing the best strategies of FL teaching and technologies for developing soft skills and critical thinking skills in the educational process at Sumy State University.