Edublogs Competition

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tienies.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F11%2Fneven-heaven.html&h=4AQG6vZK1AQEYaiW7Wz1x9ALv0XGaTvHVyJLFQtoK0uNSYQ
Here is a link to Caitriona Eve's blog. It is a really wonderful blog an so I would like to nominate her for the best student blog in the Edublogs competition ! 

Opera Trip - Don Giovanni

Last week Tys went to the Swan centre in Dublin to see the movie version of the Opera "Don Giovanni" played in the Met theatre. It went on for 3 1/2 to 4 hours with a 15 minute interval, a bit too long for most people but I managed to watch the full Opera ha ha. I did think that it dragged out a lot as is common in an Opera but it was a good experience and I enjoyed the highly dramatic characters.  
The attached link tells you the story of Don Giovanni for anyone who is interested in seeing :) 

https://www.lismoremusicfestival.com/home/don-giovanni-the-opera.html

English Review - The Book Thief.

I have read "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak. I really enjoyed this book and I honestly found it difficult to put the book down. In my opinion it was a fantastic read.
The way Zusak wrote the book kept me interested from the very start and made me want to keep reading to find out what happens next. Zusak has a very interesting style of writing. The story of the Book Thief is told by Death. Death visits the book thief three times. The book Thief, a young girl called Liesel Meminger living in Nazi Germany has a difficult life and death finds an interest in her and follows her throughout it.  
Zusak also tells a big part of the story before it actually happens by telling you a brief part of the future. This I found, was a clever way of keeping interest in the novel as I found that I immediately wanted to know the full details and how this particular event happened and so kept reading on in order to find out.
The novel is presented in chapters and parts. It also has small sections or notes further explaining a word or what is happening in the novel. It is written in an almost poetic style.
Zusak has a very descriptive and poetic style of writing.


Zusak has a great style of describing characters and I instantly fell in love with them. Liesel is the main character in the story and she is described as "a young German girl with blonde hair and dangerous eyes." She is poor and is illiterate. We first meet her on the train with her younger brother and her mother on the way to her new foster parents home. Sadly her brother passes away on the train and when he is buried, the gravedigger drops his handbook. It is here that Liesel steals her first book. Liesel arrives at the Hubermanns, her new foster parents home and grudgingly enters leaving her mother. Liesel soon fits in with the family. 
Liesel is taunted by the death of her brother and she begins to have regular  nightmares but Hans Hubermann proves to be a calming, loving foster father and with his help she learns to read and write. Hans becomes her papa and Liesel trusts and loves him the most and by reading with her and playing the accordion to her comforts her. He is described as a "kind man with silver eyes". He is a brave, unbiased man who knows wrong from right and always does what he believes is the right thing to do, even if it will get him into serious trouble. He is a great, positive role model to Liesel. 
Hans and Rosa Hubermann take Max Vanderburg, a twenty three year old Jewish fist fighter, into their home and hide him in the basement in order for him to survive. Liesel and Max bond over their nightmares and their friendship grows very deep.  Liesel gives Max love and friendship and he returns the favour by writing her a book called "The Standover Man".They begin to love each other in a Brotherly Sisterly way and Liesel looks up to Max.
While living on Himmel street, Liesel soon befriends her neighbour Rudy Steiner. A cheeky but innocent character with hair the colour of lemons. When Rudy is not asking Liesel for a kiss, Rudy and Liesel are spending their lives together playing football on the street or stealing from the neighbours particularly Ilsa Hermann, the mayors wife of whom owns a library of books and of which Liesel steals her books from. Slowly, Rudy and Liesel fall in love.


The theme of War emerged in the novel. The novel is set in Nazi Germany and Hitler is in full control. Discrimination and racism is everywhere and anybody who is not German, not of catholic religion or not the right race is punished. Jewish people are victimised the most by being sent to concentration camps and sometimes slaughtered there. 
Zusak outlines the dangers of not living up to Hitlers expectations by showing the difficulties of hiding a Jew from the world in your basement. He shows how difficult life was for everyone at that time, how if you were poor you were constantly hungry and how if you did not join the Nazis you were in serious trouble. He also shows the distress that families had to go through at that time. Bombs could be set off at any time and if you did not find proper shelter soon enough, your life was at a high risk. 
He showed how people lived in fear and intimidation from the Nazis and Hitler, nobody dared question them as it would immediately put their lives at risk. By the character of Hans, he showed that doing the right thing will only get you in trouble that even the honest people in Nazi Germany were victimised. 
From this Novel I learned that life was tough at this time, Racism was huge, money was short and people lived their lives in constant fear. The men had to join the Nazi Party and women had to Join the League of German Girls. People valued friends and family at this time as they brought them happiness and a sense of togetherness in that difficult time. 


Markus Zusak's outlook on Nazi Germany is pessimistic. He points out how war and Hitler has destroyed familys and brought great sorrow to the people at that time. Although he shows some brightness in Liesel's childhood, behind all of it there is great darkness. In his novel he has outlined the difficult struggle of people's lives in Nazi Germany. 


The Book Thief was a great educational novel and I would highly recommend it to young adults. It would be a great book to study but also it is a great read for your own pleasure. A story of sorrow but with a slightly positive ending, a book I will always remember.  

Work Experience Day 5

My final Day of work experience was great. I finally got an idea of what it is like to teach a class when the teacher left to do something for a few minutes and put me in charge of helping the class correct their maths homework :)
I also had great fun doing art with the other second class, My little cousin Lily is in this class and she was delighted when her big cousin Alex came in to do art with the class :) 
I was on my own for a good part of the day because I had work to do and the classes were out doing something with another class but I got the work done quick and got to finish my day by watching 2nd classes rehearse for their mass on Sunday. 
On our break we (myself and the other 3 girls on work experience in Scoil Naomh Bríd) went out to the shops across from the school and bought a lovely bunch of flowers for the school's Principal Mrs. Pierce to say thank you for having us.
She was very pleased with our help around the school and said that the teachers did not want us to leave ! 
All in all I really enjoyed working in Scoil Naomh Bríd but I dont think primary teaching is first on my career list anymore ! Its a lot of hard work and Im not sure if I will have the patience but it has showed me that I would like to teach and so Im still thinking of teaching of some sort in the future :) 
Right now, I am really thinking of going to Art college and pursuing the career of a Secondary School Art Teacher :)

Work Experience Day 4

This is what I did today :


> Laminated pictures.
> Stapled pages together to make booklets (about 60 of these)
> Took down pictures from the walls and replaced them with others.
> Watched the 2nd classes practice for one of their communion masses.
> Cut out some pictures for senior infants.


I enjoyed today and I'm feeling kinda sad cos tomorrow is my last day and I'm gunna miss running around my old school :( 

Work Experience Day 3

Didn't get to do much today..I was kinda bored...




>Helped set up the Hall for the 6th classes science fair.


>Made two trips to the shop and got vinegar and kitchen Rolls.


>Got material and paper for the kids Art.


>Cut up the Material.


>Helped the Class with their Art.




There wasn't much for me to do but I enjoyed helping the kids with their Art at the end of the day :) 

Work Experience Day 2

Today is Tuesday.
It is Cloudy.
It is my Birthday.
Today I : 


Was put into 2nd class :) I went between the two 2nd classes doing little jobs for the teachers such as : 


Taking down art work and sorting it then putting up new art work.


Crossing out a wrong name and number and replacing it with the right one on each letter to be sent home to each student in second class..A lot of letters..


Writing out maths homework in the copies of students who were out. 


Taking down projects in the hall and giving them back to the classes they belonged to.


Helping the 6th class with they're science projects.




I was very busy today and but I enjoyed it even more than yesterday and I am really looking forward to tomorrow :D 

Work Experience In Scoil Naomh Bríd Day 1:

I was really Nervous and Excited for my first day of work experience and I couldn't wait to go back to my old school again. Oh how it has changed ! There's a completely new part of the building where the office has moved to, most of the teachers I had are gone and there are NO BLACKBOARDS ! Everything is very modern and most classes have electronic boards. The memorys are still there however and I was surprised how easy it was for me to find my way around the place.
I was put into Ms. Boyd's 1st class. Although I would have liked to have more interaction with the children during class time I really enjoyed my first day, This is what I did : 


>Took down some old art work and replaced it with new art work. 
>Sorted the art work into the different childrens art folders.
>Attended the book fair and helped the children read.
>Went for a walk in the village with the two senior infants classes.
>Cut out work sheets.
>Supervised the class for 5 minutes while the teacher was gone.


I ate in the staff room and wandered around the yard for lunch.


It was very easy work and the day went fast but I was tired by the end of the day. 

Juno and The Paycock-Seán O Casey Review.

On Wednesday 19th of October, Transition Year Students from St.Wolstans went to see "Juno and The Paycock" by Seán O Casey in The Abbey Theater Dublin. This is my review of the Play:


The curtains first opened with the sounds of powerful Irish music and the lights going down. 
The first thing I noticed was the striking set. It was very simple yet realistic and looking at it i felt as though I was in an Old Dublin Tenement myself. The props were very simple; a table and chairs, a bed in the corner with a curtain around it, a small kitchen space where a stove lay, a small mirror on the wall, a window and several pieces of rough wooden boards to separate two rooms from the rest of the full room.
The walls and floor were very old looking and all of the furniture looked very worn. By looking at the set you could tell straight away that the people who lived here were very poor. 
During the play the light on stage changed to suit the time of the day, the light coming through the window was very natural looking and done very well. 
Sausages were cooked and a cigar was smoked on stage and this added to the realistic effect of the set.
When the scene changed there was also a change of set. Expensive looking furniture had filled the stage and this showed how the Boyle family had impulsively spent the money they had come into.
Overall I thought the set was excellent and this caught my interest the most.


The Actors played each character very well and the appearance and clothing of each character was done very well also.  
Mrs. Boyle was played brilliantly, exactly how I had pictured her to act only, of her appearance I would have thought she would be a bit of a bigger women, however it still worked very well. In the tragic scene of Johnny's death, Mrs.Boyle's character faced the audience on her own and said a very dramatic speech on the death of her son. I found that this was very effective and emotional and it was acted out so brilliantly. This in my opinion was the best piece of acting in the play. 
Mr. Boyle and Joxer brought humour and lightheartedness to the play and had the whole theater laughing. Mr. Boyle's laziness  and sudden pains in his legs anytime a job came up was very entertaining also.
Johnny's moody character was played very well also, the scene where he was taken away was very dramatic and caught the audiences attention.
Mary was very pretty and dressed very nicely. She came across as how I had pictured her, a young and independant woman. The actress who played her was excellent and her accent was brilliant also.
All actors played their characters brilliantly and their performances were outstanding.
The Dublin accents that each character had, helped set the scene. I found it was a lot easier to understand what they were saying watching on stage than reading. 

The Play gave a me great insight into 1920s Dublin, how it looked, family life and the troubles people went through at that time. It showed how money can affect a family and start great troubles. 


From viewing and studying this play, I believe Seán O Casey's overall outlook of the world is quite dark, he shows the affects of cultural context, conflict, money loss and deaths in a family. On a lighter side however, O'Casey shows the importance of the role of women in society through Mrs.Boyle and Mary and brings humor into the play through Mr.Boyle and Joxer. 


In my opinion, Seán O Casey's Juno and the Paycock could not have been done any better. The play was really brought to life on stage. I would highly recommend seeing this play as I believe it was an outstanding performance and I greatly enjoyed it.