The school

Dia Dhuit, 

My school is called "Coláiste na Sceilge". Their homepage is: http://colaistenasceilge.ie.
Kathleen, the German teacher, is my mentor and she is amazing! Very lively and open-minded. It is fun working with her (at least so far because I have only been there for a few days) and it seems like I'll be in class for some lessons and have an own small group for other lessons. We'll see about that. Actually, next to writing this post I am preparing a presentation about the months of the year.

This school is luckily an Englisch speaking school (compared to a few ones where Irish is the main language for teaching). Everyone has been so welcoming and helpful! By now (after 5 days of school) I know about one third of the teacher's names... Interestingly, there are many young teachers. The youngest is I think 23 and one of the teachers started teaching with 21 (he's 30 now). 

The students are lovely. It is an overall very respectful atmosphere and I am looking forward to getting to know them better and working with them. It is adorable that they call their teachers "Miss" and "Sir" :) 

In difference to Germany, secondary school is from 1st year up to 6th year. When students finish school they are around 18 years old. There is a Junior and a Senior Cycle. So after grade three they have a Junior Cert(ificate), like the ZP10 in Germany, grade four is an optional Transitions Year (TY), which is filled with tons of projects and class trips. If I am not mistaken the students have to pay around 800€ for the whole year which includes nearly all expenses. In general, they are out one day a week to see shows, visit museums and colleges, hear talks, go hiking, etc. Basically everything. When I think back to grade 11, which is supposed to give students a chance to go abroad without missing too much at school, we did not have that many activities unfortunately. After that there are two more years preparing for the Leaving Cert, which is like the Abitur in Germany. The German level however, is farely low though. It is mostly about learning by heart and reproducing sentences. The way to give grades are different as well but this is another story. The best news I got on my first day was that I am allowed to accompany the TYs on their class trip to Dublin!!! The trip was from Wednesday to Friday and it was amazing! Here are some impressions of Dublin and our touring around: 

Irish live music is awesome!!!

Colorful Dublin doors

Trinity Library

Croke Park has so much history to it and the tour guide was fabulous! 

Part of the advertisement section in the Guiness Storehouse! :D

Trip to the zoo

Amur Tigers are huge!

Amazing blue sea the day after we've returned!

It was also a great chance to get to know my colleagues better. Paul, 28, a history and Irish teacher who was born here, Jean, 23, a new teacher for English and German, although she ist not teaching any German this year and Shane, 30, year head of the TYs and teacher for computers, wood work and something else. And although there was the usual teenie trouble, the students were really good and it was nice to get to know them apart from school. Unfortunately none of them do German :( But at the end they asked me if I will be joining them on more trips and I am hoping to do so! So after three days of running around Dublin and little sleep the bus was very quiet for most if the drive back. In the last 40 minutes though, the students started singing and were going completely crazy singing "Shane O.'s on fire...." and different variations for the other teachers. I got "Germans on fire" and "Sweet Caroline" :) 

I know that the musical "Grease" performed by students in December and I might give the responsible teacher a hand. Maybe I'm allowed to use a school guitar after lessons to practice a bit or use the gym in the school. Apparently you can do different sports around here as well, but mostly GAA Football, Rugby, Hurling or Camogie. There is loads of things that I could do so I guess, that in a few weeks time, I'll have my free time filled a bit more.

That's it for now. Let me know if you have any questions :)