PILOT PROJECT FOR ST PAUL’S GERMAN DEPARTMENT

St. Paul’s Transition Year German students were amongst those from 15 schools to participate this year in the Post-Primary Language Initiative’s pilot project to introduce Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in Irish secondary schools. This project explores the benefits of CLIL in order to support and reinforce language learning and to improve language proficiency by creating a more engaging learning environment. As part of this pilot, the students completed a Fair Trade module with classes being conducted only in German and students using only the target language as a means of communication throughout. We are very proud of their efforts and hope to see CLIL’s roll out in Irish Secondary schools in the future.

DEUTSCHKLUB SAY DANKE SCHÖN TO MS MEINECKE!

As the year comes to a close, we’d like to thank our fantastic language assistant Ms. Meinecke for all her hard work and efforts in the German Department this year. It has been a fantastic opportunity for us to bring the language and culture of Germany alive in German classes in St. Paul’s.

Nowhere was this more evident than in this year’s DEUTSCHKLUB where students enjoyed film, music, games, Christmas themed cookie decoration, Easter Egg painting as well as the opportunity to attend showings of Der Pfad and Klammer in the Irish Film Institute followed by a visit to the Goethe-Institut’s library. As we enter the summer, we encourage all students of German to visit their website meingoethe.de and avail of their free online library facilities where there are thousands of German language books, film, music and magazines available to borrow for free.

TRANSITION YEARS OUT AND ABOUT!

Our TYs have been very busy over the last few months. Here you can read about some of the various activities and trips the TY students have had the opportunity to do over the last term - you’ll see they definitely haven’t been idle - all while performing in the magnificent ‘Sound of Music’ photos of which you will have seen earlier.

Work Experience

Our wonderful TY got out into the world of work with our students experiencing a wide variety of careers and workplaces- from biochemistry in St James’ hospital to primary school teaching in the local schools and everything in between. The students were delighted to experience the world of work with many reporting that they had found their future career! The feedback received from employers was glowing and it was clear that the students of St Paul’s made quite an impression!

Lighthouse Cinema Trip

The whole TY group hightailed it to Smithfield for a day of popcorn, friendship and retro movies. The 00s classic 10 Things I hate About You was on the silver screen and the girls loved it! Showing us all that the classic stories remain powerful even to the new generation.

Badminton

Our Transition year students this year had the opportunity of a lifetime. The students travelled to Sports Ireland in Blanchardstown with Ms. Farrell and Mr. O’ Toole. The got to watch professional play badminton matches and got to play themselves with help from trained badminton coaches. The students were so impressive that Badminton Ireland gave the school the opportunity for those students to take part in a coaching course and receive coaching certificates. This not only benefitted the select students, but some of those students were on the active school flag team used their new skills to train other students at our new badminton club. It was set up as an action plan by the active school flag team after surveying the whole school. The badminton club was a huge success, many student’s attended and really enjoyed a new club in St. Paul’s.

RNLI - Water Safety

The RNLI popped into St Paul’s to educate our students on how to enjoy the water safely this summer. Complete with flags, buoys and tales of lives saved the team from RNLI passed on the importance of staying safe while enjoying Ireland’s beaches and waterways.

ReDiscovering Sustainable Fashion

The hectic scheduled continued with a trip to the rediscovery centre where the students learned about the move towards sustainable fashion and how they can make small changes for the better in their world. The girls really enjoyed this trip and they returned with a renewed awareness of how the fashion choices they make have a wider impact on the environment and those in countries that are less well off

Carlingford

This wasn’t the end of the fun as on Monday 15th May, Transition Year students travelled to Carlingford adventure centre for a 2-night stay - filled with lots of activities and memories!