Hello from Ireland!
I am now in my fourth week here at Rathdown Junior School! It is getting colder and colder each and every day so it has become slightly more challenging to walk to school and back each day! Today is actually Thanksgiving, but Thanksgiving is not celebrated here in Ireland. People at school have said Happy Thanksgiving and I have gotten some questions about what my family and I usually do on Thanksgiving so it has made me miss being in North Carolina on this special day! However, I am still enjoying myself oh so much here in Ireland!
This past weekend was my busiest weekend yet! Ericka and I went on a three day paddywagon tour to Southern Ireland, which including Killarney and Galway. Some amazing sights that we got to visit included the Cliffs of Moher, Blarney Castle, Phoenix Park, Lahinch(surfing capital), Killarney National Park, Hill of Tara, Trim Castle, the beautiful town of Galway, famous Galway Bay, Cork and Kerry Mountains and Clonmacnoise(symbol of early Christianity).
So I felt like I had done so much at the end of the weekend, that I really had to think hard to remember all that we did. My favorite site that we visited were the Cliffs of Moher. They were absolutely beautiful and the weather was perfect for us upon our arrival. The Cliffs of Moher are 214 meters out of the Atlantic Ocean and provide a beautiful view of County Clare in all directions. I also really enjoyed visiting Clonmacnoise, which was a site symbolizing the beginning of Christianity in Ireland. The ornate crosses and the beautiful landscape added to the peaceful experience I received at Clonmacnoise. I thoroughly enjoyed my three day tour and it will be one that I will always remember due to the amazing places we visited, the wonderful people I met, and the scary flooding experience we encountered on Friday.
I was able to meet people from Australia, New Zealand, China, Taiwan, Canada, and America. I had never met people from Australia or New Zealand and I actually met some good friends through the tour so when I go visit those places one day, I will have a place to stay during my visit! We had many good laughs throughout our time together!
On Friday, the scary flooding experience involved our bus driver attempting to drive on a road that had been recently flooded the night before. Well, our bus ended up getting stuck and turned completely off when we were stuck in the water. We ended up being stuck for three hours until finally a tractor came and pulled us out. It was a good bonding experience for all of us, but definitely could have done without it! All in All, I would recommend a paddywagon tour for anyone due to the amount of fun I had and the amazing people I met!
This week at Rathdown School, I have been teaching some classes and observing others. I am glad that I get to visit several classes in one day, but I do miss just teaching one class every day. It is challenging to connect to the students on a personal level when I am unable to spend much time with them each day! However, I had a neat experience at the beginning of this week in the P6 class. The class, as well as the teacher, was having a hard time figuring out how to find the interior angles of certain geometric shapes. I was able to check my understanding on the Internet and then teach them the correct way to understand how to find the measures of the interior angles. The students and teacher seemed to understand the confusing concepts after I explained them in a thorough manner. I found much joy in that experience!
Also, I have continued working with my two Peru students whose English continues to improve each and every day! The four year old and I now are able to have a short conversation before we start reading a book or reviewing alphabet flash cards. It is so encouraging to see her progress that she has made over the past few weeks! The nine year old has also made so much progress in English and math. She was recently able to write her own story during our time together with very little help!
Throughout my time here at Rathdown, I have gotten to know the faculty and staff more and more each day! I have really enjoyed making some close friends who I feel that I can truly lean on during my time here in Ireland! It is also so nice to ask questions regarding Ireland and Rathdown School. The teachers seem to really enjoy working here and seem to have that real passion for teaching children and making differences which is what every teacher should strive to achieve.
I am continuing to learn new words each day and I keep noticing how some words in English are spelled differently here in Ireland! For example, airplane would be spelled aerplane here in Ireland. I also think it is so interesting how the same popular music bands and groups in America are also popular here. For example, the kids that I worked with in America were obsessed with Hannah Montana and the kids here are likewise very impressed by Hannah Montana!
Well I can't believe I only have two weeks left in Ireland! It is hard to believe, but I am so thankful to be here each and every day! It has been a great learning, challenging, and exciting experience for me! I hope to continue to gain more insight here at Rathdown School so that I may apply some great teaching strategies back home in America!
The three pictures above are all from my three day Paddywagon Tour! The pictures represent the bus I traveled on, Clonmacnoise, and the Cliffs of Moher!
Ta Ta for now!
Heather