Hard to believe, but today is the last class day of #ILE15. It’s amazing how time flies when you’re having fun and no one could quite believe that yet another section of this year’s ILE is coming to a close.
Angie was first up with Literature and treated the kids to the joys of WB Yeats, one of our best lauded Literature figures who also won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1923. The kids have presentations to do tonight on well known Irish figures and Yeats is the subject of one of the groups, so Angie is waiting in anticipation to see what delights the kids come up with for this one.
Taryn finished her game of Irish Jeopardy and the students were surprised by how much they have actually learned over the course of the Irish Life Experience.
For History, Angie did a workshop with the kids on the history of the North of Ireland and told stories of what it was like to grow up in Belfast and how the peace process, with great thanks to America, had changed the lives of so many people living throughout the North. It was good for the kids to get to know some of the history of that part of our wonderful country, especially after the visit to the Giant’s Causeway last week.
Miles had the kids for his last class and as he is one of the teachers in charge of the drama presentations, so he decided to cheat-he does that when playing Twister too! He devoted his class to letting the kids practice for their presentations. There was lots of activity in and out of the office as they came looking for paper, pens, and any other resource they could get their hands on to make their props. It was so exciting as the tension grew all day as we waited in anticipation to see what delights would be produced.
After class we were treated to our last lunch in King’s Hospital, before the kids had free time to go to the mall and finish off their bits and pieces of shopping-Topshop has done a roaring trade in the last week and they report a high % rise in profits!
Some students decided to do a Celtic Frame Workshop and some of the masterpieces were incredible. Cate painted a gorgeous picture of the Irish countryside. Spectacular!
Dinner tonight was a little later and the gorgeous Patrick in King’s Hospital organized a BBQ for our last supper. The kids were treated to hotdogs, beef, and chicken burgers and said it was the best meal of the program-you can’t beat good traditional Irish food!
And then the moment we had been waiting for all day-it was time for the drama presentations to begin. The kids put such great effort in and it was a brilliant night. They performed on the lives of de Valera, WB Yeats, Michael Collins and Oscar Wilde, with that group dressing up as the Staff, borrowing clothes and doing some very strange accents! Ben was a particularly convincing Angie and from then on they will be known collectively as Bengie. Taryn and Angie judged on historical accuracy, teamwork, and creativity and the winning group were… Wait for it… Drum roll. Michael Collins (Kelly, Mike, Rebecca, Johanna, Owen, Amelia, and Josey.) There is a great treat in store for them when we get to Killarney, but we won’t tell you about that yet. Well done to everyone-every kid without fail did a brilliant job.
And then it was time to pack up and get ready for our next adventure. Killarney watch out-we are arriving tomorrow!
