Monthly Archives: December 2017

Christmas Jumper Day 2017

Thank you to all those who contributed to a very worthy cause on Friday December 15th in aid of Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin.  Here are some pictures of the day!

Report on ‘The Snowman’ Concert by Robin Sammon Wharton December 2017

The Cork Youth Orchestra

“The Snowman”

Pobalscoil Inbhear Scéine

Kenmare

November 18th 2017

Report by Robin Sammon Wharton

I was given the opportunity to play the piano at the Cork Youth Orchestra Concert on Saturday evening, the 18th November 2017.  I was delighted.  When Saturday came, I went in, in the early afternoon, with my mam and my big sister, Jane to the rehearsal in Pobalscoil.  

When we arrived, the orchestra were all ready.  The conductor, Tomás McCarthy greeted us.  He asked me if I would like to come up and sit with the musicians while they played.  I answered “Yes, please!”  There were violins, cellos, drums and many more instruments.  

After the rehearsal, I went home and had to get ready.  I put on my music and I got dressed in a black velvet dress, then we went to the concert.

When my name was called, I stood up and walked to the piano.  My music teacher, Fredrik sat beside me.  I played “Primavera” by Ludivico Einaudi.  Everyone clapped.  I loved watching the Snowman movie.  I had a photo taken with my friends.  

After the concert, we went home and my mom made tea and sandwiches for everyone.  I really enjoyed my day.

Robin

Germany Erasmus+ Trip December 2017

In December, we embarked on the next step of our two year Erasmus+ Programme.  We flew to Germany where we got to know our partner countries – Poland, Spain, Germany, England and Greece.  It was a brilliant experience.  Below are four reports from the children who went on the trip as well as a gallery of pictures from the week.  To read more about the Erasmus+ Project, please go to the Projects section of the website.

My Trip to Germany by Gerald O’Sullivan

On Sunday 26^th November, we set off for Berlin from Farranfore Airport.  We arrived at about 2pm.  We got a taxi to Doberlug-Kirchhain and met our host families.  Then Darragh and I had a barbeque at my house.  The house was normal size and modern.  It was in an estate out in the country but the houses were spread out.  The next day, we got up at half 6 and went to school for 8 o clock.  When we arrived at the school, we got a tour with the other Erasmus+ students and we went to a bakery and baked bread and biscuits.  We came back to school and I had an English lesson.  The school finished at half 1.  Then we went to swimming pool complex kind of like the Aquadome.  It had four slides.  That was the best part of my trip to Germany.  I went to Darragh’s house one night for pizza.  On Tuesday, we went to a Monastery.  We had to dress up as Monks and used the pens that they used with ink.  That night we sold our Erasmus+ cups at the Christmas Fair in the school.  We met the Mayor.  We sold most of our cups.  The Ireland colours were the most popular.  The next day, we taught the German 6^th class how to play Gaelic football.  In the evening, we had a nerf gun battle in Darragh’s house.  It was great fun.  During the week, we had a lot of pizza and pasta and the families knew we liked it.  My family were very good at speaking English.  They were also very accommodating and very nice to me.  I shared a room with Konrad.  We also had a history tour or Martin Luther King and that night we went bowling.  On the last night, we went to Berlin and stayed in the Mercure Hotel.  We went to the Christmas Market and a shopping centre.  We got up at 5 am on Sunday morning and flew back home to Ireland.  Overall, I really enjoyed my week.  I would highly recommend it to people and I will visit again in the future.  I will keep in touch with my host family. 

My Trip to Germany by Darragh O’Sullivan

On Sunday, I took off from Farranfore airport and we arrived in Berlin airport.  My host family collected me.  My family were very nice.  There was a 10 year old boy and a 7 year old girl in the family.  I shared a room with Lorenze.  Their house was big and they were well off.  At 4.30 we went to Gerald’s house for a barbeque as they lived nearby.  It was tantalizing.  On Monday, we got up at 6.30.  We went to school and got a tour of the place.  The school was bigger than our school but they had less pupils.  They only have 1^st to 6^th class in their school.  The school was near a wood.  At lunchtime, they played soccer and basketball or you could stay in the canteen if you wanted.  We went to a bakery that day.  We did PE for an hour and a half.  We went to a place like the Aquadome for 3 hours.  Gerald came to my house for dinner.  Luckily my family and Gerald’s family were good friends so we spent time at each other’s houses.  On Tuesday we went to the Monastery and we made Shadow Puppets at a workshop.  We went to the Christmas Fair and sold cups.  We watched plays and got gifts of chocolate and advent calendars and books.  On Wednesday we got a bus to a Garden Centre and decorated pine cones.  We went back to school and taught 6^th class students how to play Gaelic football.  We went to Gerald’s house for dinner.  We did Ding Dong Ditch on other people’s houses and the parents were ok with it.  On Thursday we got a bus to Wittenberg and got a history tour about Martin Luther.  We went to the Panorama which is an indoor 360 degrees picture that changed colours and showed the video of Martin Luther.  We went to the Christmas markets.  I got a PS4 game called the Crew for 15 euro!  We went bowling and I won 5 euro from Mr. Hussey because I was the best.  That was my favourite part of the trip.  On Friday we got a bus to Dresden and a man did a fire experiment with us.  We went to a Maths Adventure Centre.  We went home and I played the Wii with Lorenze.  My family gave my 6 boardgames in one box and a small lamp for my Mom.  On Saturday, we got a taxi to Berlin.  We checked into the hotel.  We went to a shopping centre.  We went on two rides.  We went back to the hotel and Gerald set an alarm for 5 o clock in the morning.  Myself and Gerald were in the same room and the girls were in the room next door.  The alarm was going off for half an hour and eventually we woke up.  Gerald had a snapchat from Sylvia saying to turn off the alarm.  I got out of bed at 5.45 when Mr. Courtney knocked at the door.  We got a taxi to the airport and flew back to Ireland. 

My Trip to Germany by Sylwia Grebowiec

On Sunday, I woke up at 6.45 and got ready for the airport.  At the airport, we set off for Berlin and we got a taxi to the hotel and met our host families.  The family was very nice and the house was very big.  Then, we went on a walk and they showed me the town.  When we came back I had potatoes with cottage cheese.  It was actually quite nice.  Then I watched the Voice of Germany and went to bed.  On Monday, we went to school and we got a tour of the school.  The school was big and the classrooms were colourful and they had Christmas decorations up.  Then we went to a bakery.  We baked cookies and bread.  When we got back I went to P.E. We played dodgeball.  The school was big.  The only bad thing was they didn’t have interactive whiteboards.  They only had blackboards.  The class was about the same size as our class at home.  On Tuesday, I went to school and soon after that, we went to a Monastery.  We made shadow puppets and we dressed up as monks to see how they lived.  We wrote with feather and ink which was easy but messy.  Then we went to a church and it was really beautiful.  Later on, we went selling our cups.  Lots of people liked the cups and we sold over half of them.  The other countries sold things like keyrings, cards and Christmas decorations.  They were really nice.  I thought the English teachers were really nice.  The German children in the classes were very friendly and included us in lessons and games.  Then on Wednesday, we got a bus and drove to a garden centre.  We made Christmas decorations with pine cones.  When we came back, we had a German class but I wrote in my diary.  After lunch, we went to the hall to set up equipment for our football training session.  The German children were good at it but we were better.  On Thursday, we went to Luther Stad Wittenburg.  It’s the town of Martin Luther King.  We got a guided tour and after we went to see a Panorama.  We went shopping and then we went to the Christmas market.  Gemma and I went on a ferris wheel.  It was really funny because when we stopped at the top, Gemma thought we were stuck.  We went bowling and I was winning but Darragh beat me in the last two rounds.  On Friday, we went to Dresden.  We watched a man show us tricks with fire.  Then we went to a Maths Adventure Centre.  I really enjoyed that because there was a lot of cool stuff like a spiral that you went in and came out the other side.  Later, we got Starbucks and we went back.  Leonie’s aunt picked me up.  Then we went back home and I started packing.  On Saturday, we said our goodbyes and got a taxi to Berlin.  We put our stuff in the hotel and went to a shopping centre.  When we came back, we went to our rooms.  About an hour later, Gerald and Darragh bought a board game in so we played it.  We went down to eat.  Then we took a tram to the Christmas market.  We had a look around and we went on a huge ferris wheel.  The views of Berlin were amazing.  We went on airplane chairs.  We took a tram back to the hotel and I went to bed.  On Sunday, we took off for the airport at 6.  When we got to the airport we got on the plane and went home.  My favourite part of the week was probably Berlin because it was great fun.  I really enjoyed the trip and it was a great experience.    

My Trip to Germany by Gemma Meyer

On Sunday 26^th November, we woke up early and everyone met at Farranfore airport.  We boarded the plane and set off for Germany.  The flight was about 2 and a half hours.  When we landed in Berlin it was cold enough.  It was about 6 degrees Celsius.  We collected our baggage and met with the person who was taking us in the taxi.  From Berlin to Doberlug-Kirchhain it was about an hour and a half.  Germany is quite like Ireland.  In the countryside there is a lot of green fields.  When we arrived in Doberlug-Kirchhain, we met with our host families in the teacher’s hotel.  When I first met them they were very nice and welcoming.  They had their dog Charlie with them.  There was one girl Ella and her mother and father.  We went to their house and it was an apartment.  They owned about 3 floors.  It was right next to the town centre.  Her grandparents lived at the bottom of the apartment and she lived in the other two.  They had lovely interior in their home.  They had two chinchillas and a cat named Rocko.  She taught me a few of the basic German words and I taught her a few English words as well.  We were just talking for a while until we had dinner and we had German pasta with sausage.  About half an hour later, we went to bed and had a good nights sleep.  I was sharing a room with Ella.  The next morning, I woke up at 6a.m. which was very unusual for me because I normally wake up at half 7.  We got ready and walked to the bus stop and waited for 15 minutes.  We went to school and waited for half an hour for the school to open.  I played tag with their friends and before I knew it we had to go in for school.  The teacher was very nice and actually not strict at all.  We had a lot of breaks during the day.  We went to the bakery and baked cookies and pastries.  We got back just before the end of school and we did woodwork.  It was only the girls.  The boys were upstairs doing English.  We went home.  We went to a dancing class.  On Tuesday, we went to the town’s Monastery.  We had a tour.  We went to an abbey and then we went to a very decorative church.  We did a workshop on making shadow puppets and calligraphy with ink and feathers.  Her grandma dropped us back home and we sold our Erasmus+ cups at the school Christmas fair.  The Irish cups were the most popular and sold more than half what we brought.  They really liked the cups.  On Wednesday, we went to a garden centre and made Christmas ornaments out of pine cone and decorations.  When we got back, we did an English class and had lunch.  The food was nice.  There was a lot of sausages, rice and pasta.  On Thursday, we went on a bus for 2 hours to Wittenburg, Martin Luther King’s town.  We had a tour around the whole city and saw where he lived.  After that, we went to the Christmas fair.  They had a lot of beautiful Christmas gifts.  We had a tour outside of the palace where the tour guide told us there was a white fairy.  There were rumours that if you followed the white fairy, she would lead you into a secret dungeon and one night a man followed her and she led him into the secret dungeon where there was a large chest full of valuable jewels and gold.  She told him that if he told anyone something bad would happen.  One night, he had a feast and drank a lot of wine and told people about the jewels.  The white fairy knocked on his window three times and from then on, he had very bad luck and got very sick and passed away.  At the Christmas fair, we went on a ferris wheel.  At the top, it stopped so we could see the view and I thought it had broken down so I screamed.  On Friday, we went to Dresden, a very popular city and went to the Maths Adventure Centre and had a fire show with explosive experiments.  We stayed there for two hours and then we went to a Christmas Market.  We tasted some of their native food and drink.  We drank non-alcoholic Gluvine which is hot punch.  We went to a shopping mall and went to the Apple store and Starbucks.  They had the best caramel hot chocolate.  Ella gave me a book about Doberlug-Kirchhain and a picture in a frame of us.  On Saturday morning, we said our goodbyes and went in the taxi to Berlin.  When we arrived there, we went to the hotel and shopped in the mall.  When we got back, we played a few boardgames and at half 6, we had dinner in an Italian restaurant.  Italian restaurants are actually very popular there.  We went to a Christmas fair and went on a big ferris wheel and on a flying chair ride and had kinder punch.  The next morning, we got up at 5a.m. to get to the airport.  We got back to Ireland at half 10.  My friends were waiting for me and were very happy to see me.  It was a really enjoyable experience to live in a different culture for a week.