RCOE International Student Teaching Spring 08

I have made it to Ireland after a long plane ride. The weather is very cold here! The country is beautiful. The people here are very helpful and very nice everywhere you go. I went to Paris for six days. It was beautiful and an exciting trip, I learned a lot about the history of Paris which I loved. After coming back to Ireland on Sunday before school started it was good to be back in Ireland where you speak the same language as they do!

Kill O the Grange school was wonderful. I love it and all the children already! I am in a first grade class. With twenty-seven children in it. Which is a lot bigger than our classrooms in America. They speak proper English and have a very wide range of vocabulary for first grade. The students even seem to have higher reading level than students in an American first grade class.

The teachers are not as strict in Ireland about talking in class. The students are given more activities that allow them to talk and interact with each other. The teachers get to have a lunch break plus an extra tea and coffee break. The children get to go outside twice a day after snack and after lunch. This gives the children more time to get out the energy that they have built up sitting in class. I have not seen any discipline problems so far in the classroom like we have in America.

The family that I am staying with are very nice people. They have helped me tremendously. The culture of Ireland as a whole I would say is much more relaxed than American culture. They go with the flow more and don't worry about things as much as we do. Therefore, you can see this also in the classroom with the teachers and the students. Ireland is great and I cant wait to learn more about the culture and their curriculum and teaching in the school.

After a very exciting and busy week in Paris, I am now back in Ireland. Our travels were safe and Paris was unforgettable.

My host family is fabulous. I missed them when I was in Paris. I was very happy to see them when I arrived yesterday morning.

TEACHING: Today was my first day at Kill O' the Grange School and it was absolutely lovely. I made a list of all the differences I noticed. The differences follow.

-The students are allowed talk and wiggle much more here than in America.
-The English language is taught the way it is spoken; therefore, it's very different from American English.
-Teachers get an additional break for coffee and tea (essential of course).
-The average number of students in a classroom is thirty-seven. I have thirty-one in my class.
-Because of the Irish spoken English, every subject has its subtle differences. For example, they use the term "bundle" for an amount of ten. I've used the word bundle before but did not know it was an official word given to a specific amount. These are just subtleties that I noticed today.
-They also teach the traditional Irish Language. I found this particularly interesting because I've never heard it spoken or seen it in writing. With my background in English I hope to learn as much as I can in five weeks about their language.

Things are off to a brilliant start. I am so happy to be here and to have been given this opportunity. It is a truly mind opening experience and I know I will bring these influences into my own classroom. I have uploaded just a few pictured I took in Paris, but I have not taken any in Ireland. I will upload those soon.