During this period I attended different classes in order to improve my level of English. I have been in Ireland, where English and Irish are the official languages. However only ten per cent of the population speak Irish in their normal day as their first language.
They are proud of their History and they have a lot of monuments and promote them. At the supermarket you can see the flag in every local product (very interesting for my economic lessons). Legends are also very well known for the population: the claddagh ring, leprechauns, wool and the shamrock are a few of them.
People are very friendly and music is part of their lives, we can listening to music in pubs and in the streets. They play very intriguing instruments like the concertina and the banjo and their dance is incredible.
The republic of Ireland is in the European Union since 1973 and they are in the economic and monetary union which means they have euro as the official currency. They have struggled with the financial crisis and now they have problems with the unaffordable price of houses in the main cities, like Dublin.
I arrived on Sunday, 15th of July- I travelled from Malaga to Dublin and I have been visiting Ireland and knowing Irish culture for five days with an Irish agency. Besides, I have known people from different countries and I had to communicate with them in English, one of the best experiences ever not only to enjoy but also to learn English.
Saturday, 21st. I arrived at Dorset Point Residence.
I had some problems due to the fact that the window or my apartment was broken and they repaired it after five days. The other main problem is that the apartment wasn´t clean and I had to complaint to the academy, that had a talk with the residence.
Sunday, 22nd. I went out for a walk around Dublin and discover the city. The city is crossed by Liffey river with a lot of bridges and there is a famine memorial and the replica of the boat that during the great famine help people to emigrate to United States.
First week at the academy: from 23st of July to 29th of July
Monday, 23rd. Meeting with the teacher and speaking test at eight. I started classes at nine o´clock.
I had intensive classes from 9 a.m. to 15:00 p.m. of general English and I was very happy with the classes although the next week I changed my afternoon classes to business English.
Each week we start a new unit, this week is about crime and punishment. The teacher was really good.
The academy is very well organized, after classes new students met for a explanation of the organization and a tour to visit main monuments in Dublin the first day.
I made some friends from Spain, Japan, Italy and Brazil, really nice people.
On Tuesday I started to have lunch at the school with some of the class mates to speak English before the afternoon lessons.
Tuesday was the first day of afternoon lessons and I enjoyed a lot because is only for speaking and this week we were practicing job interviews, how to answer the phone and how to sell different items. They were really interesting although the next week I changed to business lessons because I am economics teacher and I wanted to learn more specific vocabulary.
During this week I had been visiting O´Connell street and the spire, which is the Dublin city center, St. Christ church and the old market, St. Patrick Cathedral, Grafton Street and St. Stephen Park, James Joyce statue and St. Stephen Green Shopping centre.
Saturday, 28th. Cultural visits: I went to visit the National library and the National museum of Archaeology in the morning and in the afternoon I went to Trinity College to see the book of Kells and the old library, really impressive.
Sunday, 29th. Visit in English organized by the academy in collaboration with the agencies: visit Northern Ireland to Know more about the recent conflicts and visit the catholic and protestant areas.
There are several areas still today divided by a wall where children go to different schools, although they do some works together.
This visit was really impressive for me and make me think about the importance of knowing another cultures and respect them for maintain peace.
During the afternoon we visited an incredible Unesco site: Giant´s Causeway .
Second week: from 30th of July to 4th of August
Monday,30th. Classes.
This week the topic is health and science.
I was very satisfied with the business classes in the afternoon, they were useful for me and for my student´s, a new way of analyze the news and some new games to learn idioms and economics vocabulary, fantastic! Or the way Irish will say: great craic!
I have known two more teachers this week in my class, an English teacher and an Economics teacher like me, really interesting to share resources and talk about educational system in their countries. This was a rewarding experience.
This week I had been visiting Dublin castle, George´s Street Arcade Market, Powers Court house that now is a shopping center, Chester library, The four courts and Phoenix Park.
Friday, 27th. Classes.
I visited Howth with some partners of the academy to see The eye of Ireland, a little island where used to be the church of Howth. Howth is a little village near Dublin where is typical to eat fish and chips.
Saturday, 4th of August- Travel from Dublin to Malaga in the afternoon. In the morning I visited the city Hall and the Science Gallery.
Really nice experience and not enough English, I need more the next year!