Die 4HLWb in Irland
„Tóg go bog é“ is Irish and means “Take it easy”. This is just one of the things the students of 4 HLWb and their teachers Ms Scheiber and Ms Fallent learned during their one week language trip to Dublin, Ireland in October.
The students stayed with hostfamilies and attended a language school in the morning where, apart from typical Irish expressions and new vocabulary, they learned how to give a TED talk – a short and powerful presentation which should spark the audience’s interst.
In the afternoon the students went on different excursions. They visited Kilmainham Gaol, a historic prison, where they learned about Ireland’s political history. They went for a hike along the coast of the breathtaking peninsula Howth, and they were taken on an orientation tour through the City of Dublin, where they got to see the most important sights such as Trinity College and the Spire.
This orientation walk was rounded off by a fun scavenger hunt, where students had to prove their ability to work in teams solving tasks such as “Find someone who looks like Ed Sheeran and take a group picture with him”. The class spirit was further enhanced during a competitive bowling evening and challenging Irish Dance lessons, which led to some spectacular dance moves, sweaty shirts and lots of laughter. One of the highlights, however, was the day trip to the picturesque coastal city of Galway and the impressive Cliffs of Moher.
Besides improving their language skills, living with host families also helped the students to become more flexible and open-minded towards people of different cultural backgrounds. Additionally, they proved and enhanced personal qualities like reliability, independence and self-confidence in every day tasks such as asking for bus times, making phone calls in the foreign language and solving problems with their host families. Most importantly, however, the language trip brought the students closer together as a class.