Select a day
Representation of foreign cultures in the Irish schools - education and the creation of the identity
Yesterday,
Dot and the students from her workshop made a visit to a local school
in order to get acquainted with the Irish culture and identity promoted
in schools and in return to raise children's interest for discovering
new cultures as well.
The school is called Dookinella National School and it has a long tradition
in the region. It actually celebrated its centenary in 1998. At the moment,
there are 20 pupils with ages from 4 to 12 attending classes at this school.
We were very nicely welcomed by the head of the school, Mrs. Kathleen
Smyth. After showing us around, she brought in the kids and Dot actually
started explaining to them what the purpose of our visit was: teach the
kids about our countries and cultures and at the same time borrow something
from their Irish identity.
Then,
the kids where asked to take a guess about the countries we are coming
from. To everybody's surprise it turned out that children believed that
our English Michelle came from Poland. Later on, the school principal
explained to us that there is a Polish minority on the island and that
might be why children associate each new face to Poland. This proved that
they are quite receptive to what goes on around the island and that they
take a special interest in other cultures as well.
After the little guessing game we actually showed a map to the kids with
the exact places where we were from and the distances in kilometres just
to make them aware of the fact that we made a long trip to Ireland.
As
the main purpose of our visit was not only to learn more about the Irish
identity developed through education, but also to share with them something
from our different cultures, therefore we created a system of stations
representing the countries we were coming from (England, Germany, Hungary,
Sweden, Romania). Every country was represented by its flag and by small
objects on which we got to tell the kids a little story in order to get
them interested in our cultures, but also to see if we might have some
common traditions or very different customs.
The first part of our visit was ended by Johan in a very cheerful way
because all the kids got to dance the Swedish "Little frog"
dance. We started the first part of our visit with a quiz on the facts
and stories mentioned at the stations. We are very proud to say that the
quiz was very successful and fulfilled our expectations because the kids
showed great interest in our countries and were eager to find out more
about our cultures.
The school principal, Mrs. Smyth was kind enough to give us an interview
in which we tried to find out more about education, the creation of the
Irish identity and learning about other cultures in Irish schools. What
we got out of the questions from the principal as well as from the children
was 
that
the kids are influenced very much by the media because they often choose
sport people or famous singers as role models; this is also the case for
German, Hungarian or English kids. Furthermore, we learned that many of
the kids have a relative abroad which allows them to travel a little bit
and get acquainted with other cultures. On the other hand, concerning
the Irish identity almost everyone said that they feel Irish because of
being born and raised in Ireland. But one of the boys gave a very special
answer. He said he didn't feel like he was Irish because he couldn't speak
the language and he didn't like it. Thus, Irish language is not very popular
among pupils.
The entire experience with the Irish kids at school was very enriching and surprising for us because the kids were curious and asking us all sort of questions so at the end of the day the most important thing is that we manage to make them a little more interested in our cultures and hopefully make them also want to borrow something from our identities.
Andrea Willems (German group) & Raluca Alina Smadu (Hungarian group)
"too sociable", a lunch-time-lecture of national stereotypes
Like
every day at 13:00 a huge group of students found their way to the Achill
Cliff House to fight for a seat in the lunch time lecture. Today the topic
was "National Stereotypes". The room was very crowded when students
of six different nationalities (Swedish, British, German, French, Hungarian,
Spanish) rushed into the room. Karsten Kneese welcomed us to his lecture
and asked us to form national groups. Every group got big pens and little
prepared cards. We listened to Karstens short introductions and advices.
The goal of this lecture was to discuss the stereotypes which come to
our mind when we think of the other countries. So we started to write
keywords on our cards and laid them out in a grid on the floor. A lively
discussion started about the "blond and blue-eyed Swedish girls",
"shy and goulash-loving Hungarians" and "always tea drinking
Brits". Of course some common stereotypes appeared but also some
interesting new ideas were written down. So we were all surprised that
the Spanish students thought that the Swedes are "too sociable".
I think this little lunch-workshop reminded us that we all have our own
stereotypes and that this mustn't be something bad. It can actually be
an ice breaker to start a conversation. You only have to keep an open
mind for new cultures.
Julia Maas
(German Group)
Travel Management
Travel Management! That's sounds big. I mean everyone
organized themselves a small or even bigger holiday, but not for a group
of 40 people. Even so there is someone you can ask if you need some help.
I
knew that we have five stations (Umeå in Sweden, Leon in Spain,
Budapest in Hungarian, Brighton in the United Kingdom and Remagen in Germany)
and one destination Achill Island in Ireland. After having the first facts
the research starts. This time it was easier to start at the end: How
to go to Achill Island? That was a relatively easy question with a train
from Dublin close to Achill and the last meters with a bus. But how to
come to Dublin? Easy answer: By airplane. To find the best way is much
more difficult, especially if you're not living there. Fortunately there
is something called 'travel agency'. They can be very good in helping
you with that kind of question.
The next big step is the participants. You have to get the numbers and
because we were flying the names of the participants. One of the problems
is the spelling in particularly with foreign names. The other thing is
the coordination to have everything in time, because you have to sat deadlines
for somethings.
The time during the travel was still a bit stressing. But as soon as everything
worked out and we arrived at our cottages I felt very relaxed. But it
is a great experience. You can learn so much and the environment is more
relaxed than in a real company.
Berit Wiebe
(German Group)
Karaoke poem
I got to the karaoke about half past
nine
The party had already started by that time
After a reminition of take that "I want you back"
Johan and "Right here waiting" was good crack!!
Some people were enthusiastic, many sang two
Matthias and Angel "just called to say I love you"
Aerosmith was sung well y the Irish local man
After hearing Matthias's voice we were all a fan
At first I was determined not to sing
Michelle, Raluca, Alex and myself "hit maybe one more time"
"La Bamba" had many people singing on stage
Laura and Zaida, Alerto and many more
Has everyone doing salsa on the dance floor.
All in all, the karaoke night was a very good laugh
The bar staff and Blues Brothers hosting were class
To end the night Kate sang us an Irish song
The whole pub stopped to listen and sing along
The perfect end to a night when time flew us by
As the Irish melody says "let the free bird fly"
Casey Townsend
(English group)
