Okay, Irish vocab lesson for this week: bits. Everything is a bit, or bits for plural. I got the ironing board from my host mom's room the other morning, to find her watch and some other accessories on there. She came out and as she picked them up she said "Excuse my bits." At school, the children know a 'bit' about this an that, will trade you 'this bit for that,' and see 'all those bits on the floor.' They do have pieces, things, or parts, whatever we in America would use those words for, they simply replace with 'bit' or 'bits.' Also, a 'bobbin' is anything that goes in your hair. They do not call things hair clips, claws, scrunchies, barrettes, or anything else. Anything and everything that goes into your hair is simply called a 'bobbin.'
At the school everything is going very well. Flexibility is the name of the game right now and I am enjoying every minute of it. On any given day I go from teaching one subject to the next, from one class to the next and somehow manage not to skip a beat. For example: on Tuesday I went from assisting in 6th class to teaching maths and English/creative writing in 4th class while the teacher was in a meeting, followed by an art lesson and project with Jr. Infants (pre-K) on Kandinsky (see images below), the on to the parish to work on the Christmas play with 6th class. I then ended the day, still with 6th class working on their WW II art project: propaganda posters.
Wherever there is a teaching missing, an aide absent, or an art project needed, there I am. When none of the above is necessary, I assist in 6th class. Being here has definitely furthered my ability to think on my feet, as well as be able and willing to jump in where needed.
In Jr. infants (pre-K), we have been talking about primary colors and line. How you only need three colors to make all the other colors, and the different types of lines there are, how everything is made of of lines, and how you draw different lines. This week we did a project based on Kandinsky's work. They used the primary colors to paint a background of color, not objects, then painted different types of lines on top in black paint. The results were incredible.
Outside of school, last weekend I went on a tour of South Ireland. It was beautiful. We went to Galway, saw the Cliff of Mohr, visited Killarney, and saw the remains a few ancient castles, churches and burial sites. Below are the images of one ancient church site at sunset. I thought these best summed up the beauty of Ireland's landscape.
