Irish Exchange

ST. CIARANS

ERASMUS PROGRAMME

16th October – 22nd October

St. Ciaran’s Community School hosted an Erasmus programme in October 2016 whereby students from Poland and Italy came over to stay in Kells, Co. Meath. They stayed with host families from our Transition Year programme. I was delighted to be part of the programme and I gained a lot of knowledge into the culture of Polish and Italian life.

Our school organized various trips and sporting events to show the students visiting our way of life and our cultural difference between their countries. Here are only some of the events organized and I attended:

Irish Night in the school – the students were able to taste Irish food and enjoy an Irish meal. Afterwards we all attended a Céili and had traditional Irish music night. The students really enjoyed the night and had great fun trying to Irish Dance. We played the tin whistle and they enjoyed the Irish music.

Our School organized a trip to Dublin. We went to visit Trinity College, Guinness Storehouse and then walked around Dublin showing them different sites. They enjoyed that experience and I was very proud to show them Trinity College. I had never been to the Guinness store so I was just as interested in the history of Guinness as they were.

The Polish and Italian students also went to Dublin on their own and visited various other museums and shopping.

We also organized a Sports day at our School. We demonstrated how to play GAA – Gaelic football, hurling and we also played soccer and volley ball. I really enjoyed this day and had great fun with the students.

The students also went on a tour around County Meath. They were very interested in learning about Newgrange and the Hill of Tara.

Some of our students here already visited Poland early in the year and our school had organized a trip to Italy in Spring 2017. I am very lucky to be picked to go and I cannot wait to visit Italy and learn about their culture and language and also to taste Italian food. I am eager to learn about all the different types of sport and see some of the museums.

Colin Cunning

T.Y