Choc-a-bloc with Workshops!

Wednesday was our final class day of the trip. After this, it's all holidays! But we had work to do and prizes to win before the real fun could begin. Angie started the morning out with her Northern Ireland Workshop. The students were greatly impressed by her use of the interactive whiteboard as she gave her run through of the "Troubles" up North. The students would find this information invaluable on Thursday for their trip up to the Giant's Causeway and Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge. Sallie said that Angie explained the "Troubles" from both sides and that it was very interesting. A few said that they never really heard much about what had happened in Northern Ireland, so this helped them gain a better perspective-from someone who grew up in Belfast during this time. For the final Irish class, Dan organized a very complicated came called Bingo in Gaelic. They first learned the numbers 1-10 in Gaelic-a haon, a dó, a trí, a ceathair, a cúig, a sé, a seacht, a hocht, a naoi, a deich. After a tense battle and despite Sallie's accusations of a conspiracy, Kelly won the competition and with it a collection of Oscar Wilde's plays. Congrats Kel! In Taryn's Irish Studies class, the students gave speeches about anything that had surprised them since they came to Ireland. Evo's imitation of Angie's Belfast accent got some laughs and Fiona's dissertation on Irish style (or lack thereof:) proved a great hit. Kelly gave instructions on how to make the perfect cup or cuppa tea, while MC demonstrated how to draw the perfect leprechaun. It was a lot of fun and the students really enjoyed it! The presentations continued in Dan's Irish American History class. Tom gave a great presentation and on Gene Tunney and Evan surprised nobody by chossing John McEnroe as his Irish-American hero. Ultimately, Jenny won the prize-a collection of Yeats' poems-for her eloquent speech on Annie Sullivan, Helen Keller's tutor. The rest of the day was choc-a-bloc with workshops. Taryn gave two seperate workshops on Celtic Crafts where Olivia painted a lovely picture frame. Royal blue for the national color of Ireland, with the ILE logo, and all of the 2011 students names painted on it. MC also painted the Irish flag with ILE 2011. The creativity continued with the painting of pots. Kelsey painted a gorgeous pot that she is looking forward to planting shamrocks in when she returns home. Shortly after, the group was honored by the presence of former ILE teacher and champion Irish tin whistle player and dancer, Corinna O'Donoghue. Corinna misses the program so much, that every year she comes back for more. Dunners, Prunes, Sasha Fierce, and Zoe-inator took Corinna's amazing Tin Whistle Workshop. The girls learned how to play a scale, Óró Sé do Bheatha 'Bhaile, and the Kerry Polka on a Tin Whistle in D. Sasha picked it up very quickly with her musical background, while Kelsey loved it and said she can't wait to learn some more songs. Our two ILE dancers, Kel and Prunes, were particularly keen to try out the moves they had seen last night at Riverdance. Corinna taught them a very fast reel and they both enjoyed the Advanced Irish Dancing Workshop. We are looking forward to them showing off their new moves after they practice a few more times. After dinner had digested, Dan ran his world famous Rugby Workshop. There was great disappointment from the boys and Jenny when he informed everyone that it would be a non-contact version they would be playing. Dan went over the rules and techniques, then they practiced with some warm-up exercises, before having a short scrimmage against each other. Sallie and Tom, once again proved to me the athletic champs for their team, while he said that Kelsey and Prunes had the most heart and showed the most improvement. At the end, Dan showed the students how to form a scrum in rugby, which most thought was hilarious. Despite the physical exertions of the rugby, students still had enough energy for a talent show. More to come on that in the next post.

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