I experienced my first of many Thursday afternoon homework club sessions yesterday! I think the best way to describe my time at Scoil Bhride (pronounced 'Skol Breege') is to start from the beginning.
Jenni and I found directions to the school and left our apartment at 3:30 thinking that a half hour would be ample time to walk to campus and then to the school. We ended up taking a bit of a round-about way and found ourselves questioning if we had missed a turn along the way. We walked for about 40 minutes and finally stumbled upon a white, one-story building with a large metal gate. We saw the sign and knew that we had made it. It was about 4:15 at this time so we quickly walked in and were greeted by a young boy kicking a soccer ball around the halls who pointed us in the direction of the homework club. We shyly peeked our heads in and were welcomed by two other students from our class and Sister Margaret, who is in charge of the program. She is a sweet but feisty older woman and she explained to us that we'd be working with the secondary school children.
We expected to each be assigned to a child, like the other students had earlier in the week, but she told us that they have made some adjustments to the program because the "at risk" secondary school children, (meaning that most were highly at risk of dropping out of high school) were unable to sit and do homework from 4-5:30 because they had just gotten out of a long day of school. Sister Margaret told us in a hushed tone that these "at risk" students all had tough home lives (one of them has a child), and the homework club serves as a place for them to come to do some work, but mostly to have a safe place to be after school where they can enjoy themselves and have food and build solid relationships with the helpers but also with each other. The program has been molded into more of an activity club, where the children sit and do an assignment for the first 20-30 minutes, and the last hour is activity time where they play sports or other active games.
There were eight children yesterday, 6 boys and 2 girls. All of them were friendly to us and seemed interested in our lives back in America. However, I've never heard 11-16 year olds swear so much in such a short time. This will definitely take some getting used to. They also were very rough with one another and the teachers didn't seem to be bothered by this. My camp counselor instinct kicked in as I found myself wincing when they would swear at each other and push each other around but I didn't really know if it was my place to say anything since the teachers didn't seem phased.
We sat with a few of the 11 year old boys as they did an assignment and although they were rowdy and didn't want to sit still, they all showed that they were intelligent as they completed their tasks. We didn't really get a chance to teach yesterday, since it was our first day, but I'm glad that we got to observe the way that the homework club functions. I had a lot of fun playing dodgeball (and by playing, I mean trying not to get pelted in the face by preteens) and watching the children play soccer in the gym - I couldn't believe how talented they were at soccer! I would get absolutely schooled if I tried to play against any of them, I'm sure.
I am so excited to get to know these kids and to watch them grow and progress as we meet with them each week. I know it's going to be a challenge but I am completely up for it. I think that each one of these kids has a story to tell and I know that I'll learn a lot from them.
Last night I went out with some of the girls in my program and we went to Taaffes to hear traditional Irish music. I could sit and listen to Irish bands for hours, I absolutely love the music scene here. I also met a group from Colorado who had just arrived in Galway yesterday! They are only going to be in Ireland for 5 days and it was really cool to explain to them that I had been here for 3 weeks already and they seemed jealous that I get to stay here for 5 months. Although I still feel new to Ireland, it was really cool to be able to tell them about my favorite places around Galway. It was definitely one of my first moments here where I've felt more like a student than a tourist.
I'm leaving in 2 hours to go to a homestay in Knocknacarra for the weekend! It's in Galway but I am very excited to meet an Irish family and observe family life here. I'll blog about it when I return home on Sunday.
Thanks for reading!
Maggie
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