Hiyyaa,

I’m making a quick extra blog about recommendations  because I realized that I didn’t make many on my last post.

1. Get a student leap card- You can add money to it as you go at any local convenient store. The student leap card is cheaper and caps off at 25 $ per week & 5$ a day so you will never spend more of that, even if you take unlimited bus rides. You can get this by applying online then visiting the Dublin Bus location right on O’Connel Street. Show them a Bridgewater Calendar from the website and an ID.
2. If you like hiking: Visit Howth and do the Cliff walk. It’s a beautiful coastal walk/hike. Howth is a super beachy and adorable town. Lots of good seafood & they have a nice market. Also, do the Cliff walk from Brey to Greystones. The views are bananas. It takes about 1.5 hours. You would get off at the Brey stop and the Cliff walk takes you to Greystones. For both of these, you can use your student leap card and take the Dart (Train) from the Clontarf station (about a 20 minute walk from Marino). For the Dart, remember to tap when you get on AND when you get off or else you will be charged for the whole ride, rather than just the time that you are on.
3. Housing: From hearing previous experiences, apartment situations have been iffy. Some of the previous girls had tight and uncomfortable living quarters with little to no heat etc. I believe they just added it as an option to have a host family. I took this option & it was amazing. Saved me tons of money. It was 150 euro per week if I was gone on the weekends, 200 if I was home. The fam provided me with breakfast, lunch, and dinner plus anything else I needed. For example, I’m going on a trip after this and they are letting me keep my heavy luggage here, and lending me a backpack/towel etc to bring with me. They’ve also  been a huge help with basic info, directions, and recommendations. They’ve helped me feel right at home!
4. Travel Ireland all you can. The place is tiny and it’s pretty easy to get around by bus. We got bus tickets for 20 euro round trip to Cork and Galway. Hostels are about 20 euro a night. Galway is a really hip little town with a great nightlife. Cork is super authentic, very country, great for sightseeing, but not so great for nightlife (quite interesting though). Also, Belfast, in Northern Ireland is also worth checking out.

Sarah

Hey all,

Sad to say it is my last week at St. Brigid’s National Girls School but super excited for the adventures ahead!

My time here literally flew by. It feels like just yesterday I arrived and already I’m leaving. It’s bizarre. St. Brigid’s was an absolute pleasure to work in. I stayed so busy and got so much experience working with different age groups and classrooms. The staff was incredibly kind and welcoming (they even cooked us a full on Thanksgiving dinner the day before Thanksgiving!!!).

The girls was so sweet and adorable. They’re happiness and enthusiasm never failed to make my day. And they gave me tons of homemade cards and artwork. Tomorrow be my last day at the school but they said I only have to stay until 10:30 so I will go in the morning and say my goodbyes.

I loved so many things about the school system as a whole here. At first, I was a little apprehensive because I learned that basically the whole Irish school system is run by the Catholic church. I associated Catholic schools with an environment that was rigid and authoritative but St. Brigid’s was far from that. It was extremely lax. Teachers had a lot of freedom and kids were encouraged to do art work. Teaching about global warming was also had a substantial place in the curriculum.  Religion was taught, but only for about 30 minutes a week. Teachers were treated very well. There was a noticeable community bond between all staff members (principle, teachers, and caretakers) that was much different than the states. During breaks, the school provided coffee, tea, fruit, and snacks as well. Teachers all met in the break room, and no teacher would be doing work during this time. After school was out, teachers left promptly at 2:15 so the school day was less than 6 hours including one 15 minute break and one 30 minute break!

Anyways, I’m going to miss this place and all the students dearly!! I highly recommend student teaching abroad in Ireland! It has been an incredible experience.

Sarah

Hey all!

I have had a solid few days at St. Brigid’s in Ireland with Kathryn. The Irish School system has differences and similarities to the US school system. As for differences, first off, pretty much all public schools here are run by the Catholic Church, split into girls or boys, and children are expected to wear uniforms. So basically, if you picture a private Catholic school back home, you get a public school in Ireland. St. Brigid’s is all girls and one thing I noticed right off the bat is they are all very focused. The early ed teachers are expected to teach all core subjects PLUS Irish, P.E., art, music, library etc. All teachers here are required to teach Irish because they want to keep the language alive (due to high immigration rates in the past there is little to none first generation Irish speakers in the country anymore). Teachers here, unlike back home, are considered to be of the highest profession (along side of doctors, lawyers, etc) but the pay is relatively similar to back home. The schools seem to have pretty decent funding. There is brand new smart boards in every room. The hallways and the classrooms are beautifully decorated with student art work and it’s a very safe and inviting climate.

Throughout the day there is a two breaks: one for coffee/tea, and the other for lunch. During these breaks, the kids have snacks and have recess. The teachers all go to the staff room for these–snacks, coffee, utensils, mugs, plates provided.

My duties in the school are all over the map. My base class is in 6th class but I am only there for about 1.5 hours per day. In the morning, I go to play-time with the Junior Infants (4-5 year old’s). After, I go back to my base class and pull two lower level students (one is autistic and the other is dyslexic), out to work with them specifically on math/vocab. When I am done with that, I go to the 3rd class and pull another student out for individualized help who the teacher suspects has a form of dyslexia that has not been officially diagnosed. With her, I practice reading words and phrases. She is absolutely adorable. Shortly after, I go into another 3rd class to do literacy groups. In this class, I sit with a group and have them use the white boards to think of words that begin/end/or contain a certain sound. The teacher puts the timer on and after the timer goes off the groups switch and I work with another group on a different task. We do this until each teacher has spent time with each group once. Later, I leave that class and do guided reading with 4th grade, in which I lead a group in reading and asking guiding reading questions. Lastly, I go back to my 6th grade class and work on whatever my teacher is doing. Right now we are working on guided reading. It is in this class that I will be teaching the majority of my lessons. Although I did tell a 3rd class teacher I would also do a lesson on Thanksgiving with them.

So to sum it all up, I am ALL over the map, and it’s pretty great! I am so many different area’s of experience. Plus, the fact that they day is broken up, it actually flies by pretty quickly. The kids are absolutely adorable and they want to know everything about me. They have tons of questions about the US. My base class teacher is really nice and organized. All the staff so far has been incredibly welcoming and inviting. Kathryn and I even got offered a daily lift home which is great because of all the rain we’ve been get here!!

Anyways, I’ll post again soon. Bye (Slán) for now.