This is my last message...and the end end of my blog.

It's time to give thanks to all the Irish and French people who had make my irish project to be possible. So, thank you to Stephen ("the best cook in the world"), Celine (a real "mother" for me), Mrs Shannon and all the St Anne Primary school's team (especially Mrs Doherty and Mrs Wilders), all the girls of the class 7th (Don't cry ! Girls...), Mrs Linda McKee et Mr Guimbretière for giving precious advices and support (encouragement).

It was a very nice experience. And I hope to be back very soon.... Keep in touch...

bye bye      

Sorry for the one who usually read  my blog... I know it's a long time I have not sent a message but it's really hard to conciliate my work (reports) and social life. Indeed, it's the last time (hours...) in Northern Ireland and I always to have to go to restaurant (on thursday, on Friday...)... My life is too hard (I joke !!!). I will put more informations (about the roamer, about differenciation cause I met the differenciation coordinator... about football too...) on the blog when I will be back in France and when it would be more quiet...

Today, it was the last day with the children. We have done a game "Could you become the president of France?" (Thank you Christophe for your idea)... This game was made to see if the girls remembered the french lessons (evaluation for her and evaluation of my work too...) At the end, I gave them a present (a calendar with Asterix and a calendar with pictures of France...) as thy were very "good girls". When I said it was my last time with her, she were very sad (tears...). Wouaw, I was really sad too but I didn't cry (Ok!! Not too much and in the toilets)....

Here is the game "Serez vous capable de devenir président de la France"... It was an evaluation for the girls and for me too (a way to see if my work was O.K or not).

jeu_France

So Bye, Bye Northern Ireland. Tomorrow, I will be back in France.

This blog is not really finished. I will put more informations when I will at home.

Thank you for having following my irish adventures.............

Last evenings and nights in Strabane... Nothing is under control; it's going too fast for me...

Wednesday:  - restaurant "Floyds" with St Anne Primary school's teachers.

Thursday:      - football with the Grammar School's staff. 

  Strabane united

                     - Theatre pantomine "Oh Yes it is" with Stephen, Celine and irish friends (it was my   evaluation to see my improvments in English... Not too bad)

Friday:           - restaurant "Oisters" with Stephen, Celine and Friends.

Thank you for all these greats moments in Northern Ireland... Very good remembers... Nevermind for my clothes which are too smalls, now...

I'm very disappointed because I have planned to see a gaëlic football match.... But, it was not possible because the football gaelic season has not started for the moment (only the 2th february... Grr). But, this morning (Thursday), I have seen a P.E lesson about Gaëlic football (3th -4th class)

-1st game : 2 children has ball in their hands. They have to touch the other children with the ball. The child touch become the "wolf" (loup).

- 2nd game: 4 teams (red, yellox, blue, white). One per one, each player has to run and to pick up from floor the good block (the blue team take the blue blocks). The winners are the one who have bring back all the blocks.

- 3rd game: activities to imrove skills about the ball (pass with the hand, with feet...)

- 4rd game: 2 teams. The girls had to threw the ball: if the ball touches the floor, they win. If the opponent team catch the ball, they lose.

IMPORTANT !!! When the girls are tired, during the activity, they can decide to stop... Girls can drink sweety drinks too ...

Here is a little movie about this activities.... Good watch...

On Thursday, we went to see the "Ulster Orchestra".

First surprise : The bus... In Northern Ireland, they are all equiped of safe belt (ceintures de sécurité) and also of cameras:

- one show the first part of the bus   

                         - one show the back of the bus

                         - one show the road outside the bus.

They don't joke with security here...

Second surprise : The show... It was really wonderfull and ... relaxing. The musicians were brilliant and one of them explained to the children what to know about the composition of an orchestra (the wind, the wood, the name of the instruments).

They played famous music : Harry Potter (Jonh Williams)...

Here is some informations about the Ulster Orchestra done by a pupil of the classroom... Good job ! Thank you...

ulster_orchestra001

On Wednesday, I have sawn a special need lesson. Indeed, differenciation is very important in Northern Ireland and lot of people (class assistant/ A special teacher Mr Murray) take care about children who needs special helps (learning, physical helps). In the school, they are special equipments to help children who can't walk very well (2 lifts... see the photos about school).

   Even, in the classroom, children can find help from they teachers: they can speak if they are in troubles or sad.

On the afternoon, Mrs Wilders has spoken about the "Eleven plot" (it's an important test because the result is used for inscription in secondary schools) because the children were very stressed (the result are not this saturday but the next one). She said she was very proud of them because she was sure they had done their best. When she talked about the next year (children will go to secondary school), she said what is important is to choose a school where they would like to go in and not to choose a prestigious school.

It's important to say that in Northern Ireland what is essential is that the children have to be happy to come to school and to be happy in their life.

Tomorrow, I will meet Mr Murray to have more explanation about his work... But for the one who can't wait, here is a file about my special need lesson's observations. It will certainly be completed after the meeting with Mr Murray.

Special_need_lessons

On friday, I met Mr McLaughlin, the I.C.T (Information and communication Technologies): he explained me what to know about the uses of computer and of interactive whiteboard at school. It will be very usefull for my report. They are very in advanced compared to us (lot of equipments...). Here is my report (it is written in french).

ICT_at_School

At the end of the meeting, he explained me the functionning of this "strange machin". No !!! It's not an U.F.O (Unidentified flying = O.V.NI) or a cleanning machin: this object is named a "roamer".

Try to guess (deviner) what's his use at school. Good luck !!! I will explain it at the end of the week (I will ask some children to show me how "this strange machin" work).

The_roamer

I have also interviewed Mrs Shannon and she gave me more informations about the Northernirish Educative System: I uploaded the message "About education system".  Thank you for her precious informations... 

Saturday, I went to the Giant's Causeway. I took the Northernirish public transport (bus and train) to go and to come back: the travel lasted quite a long ltime (3 hours the single - journey from 7h to 21h45).

Amazing, wonderful, beautiful... : Giant's Causeway was really great. The morning (11h-12h), I went to the principal site and on the aftternoon, I tried to walk on the cliff path (marche sur les falaises) : I was really slippery (glissant)... You can see the photos and here are some explanations about the Giant's Causeway.

The Giant's Causeway is an Unesco world heritage site, a national nature reserve (birds...) and Northern Ireland's first tourist attraction. The Giant's Causeway is a natural pavement of huge (immenses) rocks going into the Atlantic Ocean. It's situated on NorthernIreland north coast. Local people probably knew the Giant's Causeway long before it attracted attention but Giant's Causeway was officially "discovered" in 1693.

The Giant's Causeway was formed about 60 million years ago by volcanic eruptions (the lava coolings formed a hard rock named basalt). This type of lava was able to cool slowly and evenly (très régulièrement) : that's why it formed column with regular sides (most have 5-6 sides but there are some who have 4,7 or 8 sides).

Basalt column          Zoom on the sizes of the rocks

Here are the scientific facts .... but me I prefer the legend helping to explain the strange landscape of the Giant's Causeway.

It's a causeway linking Ireland and Scotland created by an irish giant named Finn MacCool. To prove his superior strenght, Finn decided to fight against a rival Scottish giant named Benandonner. As there was no boat large enough to carry huge Finn across the sea to fight against Benandonner, he built his own way with enormous stepping stones.

But it's not finish yet .... The story take an humoristic twist (tour humoristique) when Finn, seing that Benandonner was bigger than him, flees (fuya) home in fears and asks, his wife Oonagh, to hide (cacher) him. Oonagh is said to have disguised Finn as a baby and put him in a huge cradle (berceau). When Benandonner saw the size (taille) of the "baby", he thought the father must be gigantic and fled home in terror, destroying the Causeway in case he was followed.

This is the reason why the Giant's Causeway exist in Northern Ireland and also on the scottish island of Staffa to the North: indeed, these are the two surviving ends of the causeway built by Finn Mac Cool.

What's is strange in the Giant's Causeway is that the legend is always on the air: Indeed, the shapes of the rocks reminds the story of the Giants. So let's play together ... Open the following document and try to find the names of the features associated with this mythological giant.

The_Giant_s_Causeway_game

  Today, I have done a speech to present France in front of all the school... Indeed, Mrs Shannon asked me if I could introduce myself and the country I come from after the Assembly.... 200 pupils in front of me : it was really impressive (impressionnant)...

   Fortunately, I have asked the 7th classes if they wanted to help me and they said O.K: one girl said the colors of the french flag in french ("bleu, blanc, rouge"), some girls said the name of french typical foods and drinks ("camembert, bouteille de vin..."), one girl explained what was la prise de la Bastille and why it became the nationnal fiest (Thank you for her, she was brilliant...). It was a nice way to evaluate my work with the girls because I can see what the girls have understood and retained of my lessons. We have also listenned "La Marseillaise".... At the end, The girls sang "Apprendre l'alphabet en chantant" (de Chantal Goya)... It was a nice end to finish by a song.

Here are some photos taken by an irish teacher...

                                                             Eric in action

Girls listenning for the song

Here is the "Présentation powerpoint" that help me to present France:

L_Union_europ_enne__la_France

Alone in the classroom today because lot of teachers had to leave the school to go to a meeting about Northernirish curiculum (I.O)... No panic ... No stress... I manage (je gère!) !!!

The first thing I did was to switch on the computer and the interactive whiteboard... And I "had fun" with it: I put the planning of the day . No need to write the planning on the board and you can put the emphasis (le zoom) on the work you are doing at the moment... And when the girls (who had finished their work) wanted me to put a picture of Joan of Arc on the WIB ... Easy and fast: you can put in a memory stick and insert in a word document...Brilliant.

The planning on the IWB      Zoom on the planning

Introduce a picture of Joan of Arc on the WIB (Easy)

In the morning, Mrs Wilders gave works to the girls: Spelling, Grammar, Mental maths... Here are some of the works the girls had to do. One of the girls had a different work to do : differenciation exist in Northern Ireland (I will explain it very soon cause next week I will meet Mr Murray, the differenciation coordinator).

Spelling pactice level 4                The exercises they had to do

a different book (for one pupil)  and different exercises too

There was a "french red link": it was to discover the name of french typical foods (camembert...) and drinks (vin rouge...).

In the afternoon, we have tried to act the "french revolution" and to do a table with the main informations about Northern Ireland (the third part of my project with my french people is to discover Northern Ireland...).

Here are the timetable of the day (in English because I have to give it to the teacher) and the different lessons I made (food and drink/ Why the French Revolution and the Bastille day?). These two lessons are written in "franglish"... For the lesson about the French Revolution, I have adapted a lesson I use to make when I teach .... in France.

St_Anne_s_Primary_school_Thursday_17th_january