We, the students from 3AK, went together with our two teachers Ms Stark and Ms Bernhard
on a language week to Ireland from the 25th of April until the 2nd of May.
On arrival on a typically Irish rainy Friday, we were put into pairs or groups of four and placed with our host families in Shankill, a suburb of Dublin City.
On Saturday, we went on a coach tour to Glendalough, where we were exploring the Monastic Sites and hiking along the two scenic lakes, enjoying the awesome views and the sunny weather. On Sunday, we did the Howth Cliff Walk, following a trail along Dublin’s most impressive coastal scenery. Though it was windy, chilly and pretty exhausting, it was also one of our favourite activities of the week!
Having recovered from the strenuous weekend, we did a street quiz in Dublin city on Monday morning, where we had to answer questions about the sights and monuments in the streets of Dublin and had to take pictures with people in the streets. The winning team got a keychain as a small prize. After that, we embarked on a guided city walking tour, during which we were able to see many interesting sights, for example, St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
In the afternoon, we had our first classes in a language school called Babel. In those four lessons per day, we got to learn about Irish “slang”, language and culture. The lessons provided us with plenty of opportunities to actively improve our English speaking skills, for example, in games. One of our favourite activities was the Murder Mystery we did in our first lessons.
On Tuesday morning, we visited the Viking Museum Dublinia. The following day, we had morning classes for the first time, and in the afternoon, we met up with Ms Thaler-Röck to explore the Docklands together, which is where most big international tech companies like Google are located. With temperatures above 20 degrees Celsius, this day was officially the “first day of summer” in Dublin City! After that, we got our free afternoon, which most of us used to go shopping.
Lastly, on Thursday afternoon, students and teachers met at the Ha’penny Bridge Inn to do a Pub Singalong. Supported by two Irish music students, we did a lot of singing and laughing and even some dancing – what a jolly final highlight that was!
In summary, one can say that we have all appreciated our trip and not only enjoyed it, but also benefited from it in a school context. Talking to natives was a very good exercise, because we now feel way more confident speaking English and have widened our range of vocabulary. We all unanimously can recommend going on a language week, especially to Ireland, to the lower classes, as it gives you a new perspective and is an important and fun experience you can tick off your bucket list.
Jasmin Bartosch, 3AK
