Dublin showed itself from its best side to the students of the 4AHIF from the department of informatics during their language week there from 21st to 27th February. They were accompanied by their class teacher Christian Mauerhofer and their English teacher Brigitte Karner and the main aim of the trip was to raise their cultural awareness and improve their English skills.
The appropriate accommodation to achieve these goals were host families in the northeast of Dublin and different guided tours during the stay as well as lessons at CES Dublin in Dame Street exposed the students to even more native speakers with different accents. The main focuses of the lessons were Irish culture and sales pitches. After analysing successful ones, they had to prepare their own sales pitches and present them.
Beside school the students had an extensive sightseeing programme including a guided tour in Dublin Castle or a visit to the National Museum of Archaeology where they could improve their team skills in completing worksheets about the different sections like The Stone Age, the Vikings, the Treasury etc. On the Jeanie Johnston they could experience the cramped conditions emigrants had to endure during the voyage to Canada and the US during the Great Famine in the 1840s. A stroll along Grafton Street, the main pedestrian zone in the city centre with its numerous buskers, through the college grounds of Trinity College and into St Steven’s Green was a welcome break after the lessons on Thursday morning.
In O’Connell Street the history of the republic was explored with the Statue of Daniel O’Connell, who secured the Catholic emancipation in 1829, the GPO where the Easter Rising of 1916 started, the statue of Charles Stewart Parnell who was the leader of the Home Rule League in Ireland in the 1880s or the Garden of Remembrance where all those who fought for the freedom of Ireland are commemorated.
When attending a service at Christ Church Cathedral, the second important cathedral beside St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the students could see some of the differences between the Catholic and the Anglican Church and afterwards they could discover the hidden treasures of the cathedral like Strongbow’s tomb, the heart of St Laurence O’Toole and the vault. They were even invited for tea and biscuits by the local community.
A visit to Ireland is not complete without learning about one of the main Irish export goods, namely whiskey which reached a value of 1 billion euros in 2023. During an interesting tour at Teeling the students could learn about the history of whiskey production in Ireland, its ingredients and the main stages of the production as well as its economic importance.
On Saturday we took the Dublin Express bus to Belfast where a local guide told us a lot about the Troubles during a three-hour walking tour through the Protestant and Catholic parts of the city. Finally, the students could leave peace messages on the Peace Wall. Afterwards we visited the Titanic Quarter and the city centre.
As there was no rain during the whole week, we could also do two hiking tours, the cliff walk in Howth and one up to Bray Head to enjoy a breathtaking view of the city and the coastline.
In the evenings we listened to some traditional Irish music and went to the cinema to watch the film ‘One Life’.
On the last day the students went on a treasure hunt in the city centre before starting the journey back home after a lot of new experiences and with memories of a great time in Dublin.