POINT's e-Learning Platform

A cook's profession

In order to be able to achieve a cook?s profession it is necessary - after having finished the basic education - to pass a three years? apprenticeship in a restaurant or catering and accommodation business which is connected  with the attendance of a vocational school  and the following final examination of apprenticeship.

A cook's  profession means various possibilities of working fields. It requires abilities and skills such as occupational mobility, creativity and flexibility which have become very important in present working situations. These attitudes are necessary requirements for working in a cook's profession. Making an occupational career as cook it is very important to connect tradition with innovation (i.e. old, well-known recipes are going to be changed regarding to healthy food preparation and also used according to them). Further personal abilities and skills as a distinctive sense of taste, creativity, imagination as well as a talent for organization and conception are required from a cook.

A cook's profession includes different activities which are quite important for the preparation of dishes.

The preparatory work is essential and means:

- preparing the menu under consideration of seasonal offers 
- calculating the necessary quantity of food which is required 
- purchasing the foodstuff which is  missing 
- providing the kitchen equipment which is needed for several dishes.

Regarding the preparation of the dishes the kitchen equipment which is necessary for the various dishes is being used. The cook has to know which kind of kitchen equipment and when it can be used and how much time you can save by using it. After having prepared the dishes they are served on plates.

Hereby the cook's creativity can be shown through a great visual impact. This profession also offers a lot of opportunities for specialization. It is not the task of a single cook to be responsible for all things such as preparatory work or the preparation of various dishes.

The following specializations are possible:

- Preparing the respective menu 
- Providing the foodstuff which is required 
- Supervising and organizing the entire kitchen staff 
- Potager (soup cook and vegetable cook) specialized in soups and vegetable 
- Saucier (sauce cook) specialized in sauces 
- Rotisseur (roast cook) specialized in egg-, pasta- and pastry-dishes 
- Poissionier (fish cook) specialized in fish-dishes 
- Patissier (pastry cook) specialized in sweets

The opportunities of occupation as well as the possibilities for making a career in this profession are also very varied. As cook you might find employment in different fields of occupation:

In factory canteens, hospital canteens, restaurants, hotels, medical institutions, on ships, trains with a dining-car etc.

The possibility for making a career is totally focused on the location of the function.

After having finished the apprenticeship the young cook is able to become  Chef de cuisine (head chef) and Exekutivchef (kitchen director), manager, hotel manager or even owner of a restaurant.

The award of the so called Hauben as decoration for special capability can also be seen and regarded as occupational advancement and as a jump in one?s career. 

Aims:

The main aim of this e-learning programme is to acquire basic knowledge of regional cuisines. After finishing this programme participants are able to create professionally and independently seasonal menus containing attractive and typical dishes, in order to show customers a part of the local culture. 

Basic knowledge and requirements:

Experience in cooking is necessary, either a finished apprenticeship or three years experience as kitchen assistant. 

The course regional cooking contains:

- Preparation techniques 
- Purchasing and storage 
- Food conservation 
- Hygiene standards 
- Seasonal products 
- Sources of supply 
- Historical sources of food, recipies and about the adaptation of recipies to current nutrition standards

Chamber maid is a person, whose task is to take care about the order and to provide everything necessary for guests in hotel rooms, rest rooms, bathrooms and other hotel premises. The profession of chamber maid is very important for succesfull hotel business because keeping cleanliness and hygiene is the basic condition for satisfaction of guests.

Main duties of the profession Chamber maid are:

- to keep order and cleanliness in rooms and other premises according to hotel standards of the hotel class 
- cleaning and fumigation  bathrooms and toalets 
- bed?s clothes changing 
- hygiene needs completing 
- keep and complete content of minibars and room fridges 
- complete various inforamtion leaflets in rooms 
- and other.

Except handiness and willingness this career requires such personal features like reliability, decensy, dynamic, responsibility, because chamber maid is in direct contact with hotel guests and work in the place where personal possession of guests is placed.

This career is provided mainly by women. Men are unique in this profession. Maybe that?s why women provide this work everyday at home and are enough experienced and patient.

- The profession of chamber maid belongs among the most important careers which provide the satisfaction of hotel guests in tourism. 
- The necessary condition to become the ?professional chamber maid? is to be  well prepared. 
- Educational module  with training for the career chamber maid would help you to reach this professional level without any stress and give you big advantage at looking for the job.

Soft Skills development

This course is aimed at women, who would like to learn how to behave correctly in different demanding situations, which can influence the interpersonal relations. They might also learn how to use their natural qualities and how to develop them, how to act to be perceived as a nice person and how to retain women?s character.

This course guides ladies through real-life situations and their various aspects. Moreover, ladies will find there tips how to enjoy life and how to be satisfied with themselves. The second part of this course is focused on Etiquette, dealing with rules of decorum.

This course explains why it is worthy to learn entrepreneur skills and the way of doing it. It is not created for experienced entrepreneurs. It focuses on beginners, especially on those who want to establish a successful business within tourism activities. Course  consists of three sections, which cover the most important parts for an entrepreneur. Each section consists of an introduction, objectives, units, a test, questions, some helpful links and a conclusion.

The First section describes basic steps. This section will help you decide whether you have what takes you to set up a new business. It also provides information about starting a business and outlines the skills and qualities that you will need.

The Second section is about how to make a business plan. This section will show you how to prepare a high-quality plan using a number of easy-to-follow steps. It describes a business, its objectives, its strategies, the market it is in and its financial forecasts.

In the Third section, cash flow is described. This section characterizes cash flow in general, explains what it is and provides with the most common used formula for calculating.

Who is an entrepreneur?

The term is used to refer to anyone who undertakes the organization and management of an enterprise involving independence and risk as well as the opportunity for profit.Often the entrepreneur is not the person or persons who actually create the new good or service. Rather, he or she is the one who has the vision of how that idea can be turned into reality for the benefit of everyone.

There are many reasons why people decide to work for themselves. Many believe they will earn more money, while others seek to meet a social need. Some are motivated by an idea they have or a gap in the market they have spotted, while some want to turn their hobby into cash. Many people simply grow tired of working for someone else and seek the satisfaction of calling the shots and overcoming new challenges. Starting own business and managing its development can be exciting, liberating and challenging experience.

Each project beneficiary who has completed the module entitled "Basic English in Tourism" will acquire knowledge and attitudes related to grammar, word and sentence structures, dialogue, understanding, and translation for English at a beginner level depending on the themes of basic English determined in advance.

A learner who has successfully completed learning - teaching activities of the module;

- May respond to telephone calls,

- Provide guests with information about the region, accommodation, and meals,

- Respond to questions regarding accommodation, meals, and showing directions,

- Be polite and do apologize when necessary

- Show directions inside buildings,

- Show directions outside of buildings,

- Provide information about roads, travel agents, trains, bus stations;

- Reading skills for required documents