Sunday, May 17, 2009

BECAS MEC - message for our Spanish students!

This year the Spanish government are giving over 20,000 grants to Spanish university students to come and do an English language course (BECAS MEC).
There is more information here: ANNALIVIA SCHOOL BECAS MEC and you can also contact the school directly and we will explain more to you.

The grant will help you come to Dublin and take a 3 or 6 week English course so... don't wait... apply!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Annalivia School is used in an add!

A few weeks ago, we had a film crew in the school shooting for an Irish mobile telephone network (Meteor). It's for what they call a Viral Marketing add. They filmed in our canteen and had included some students as extras for the add but unfortunately (or forunately maybe!) they were not included in the add. I'm not sure what to make of the add. Actually, I do know what I think about the add, but I don't want to influence your opinions of it. Let me know what you think of it in the comments... Here's the add:

Monday, February 9, 2009

Teaching English in India


In December 2008, myself and Peter (our academic director) had the opportunity to travel to the state of Tamil Nadu on a “recon mission” to see if we could set up an English programme, sponsored by Annalivia School, for a small charity called SPPD (Society for Poor People Development). The charity is run by Raju who set it up to give the local disadvantaged children a chance of an education, shelter and food.

We had an amazing experience and took a lot from teaching the staff and children. It was unlike anything we have experienced before. The English that the Indian students have been taught is very different to the English that we are used to. We had a problem though…

Should we have corrected their English mistakes?
In a English class in Dun Laoghaire, in front of a group of mixed nationalities, someone who uses the third person singular without an “s” at the end of “eat” will expect and want to be corrected. Does the same rule apply in India, teaching in a very rural area, a group of children, all taught by teachers making the same “mistakes” (I’m having problems with the word “mistake” but for the moment I’ll leave it) as they are making?

Who is to say that standard British English or American English is more correct than Indianised English?

It raises a huge dilemma. By not correcting their issues (a little better than the word “mistake”) they will not be able to send an e-mail, for example, to the States or to the UK without the recipient pre-judging them based on the irregular content (even better than “issues”). One way of looking at this would be to say that it is, in fact, the recipient in the UK that is blinkered and insufficiently travelled to recognise that they are not mistakes, issues or irregularities but more a dialect or adaptation of the English language.

Is it more correct to write “recognized” or “recognised”? Microsoft word’s spell check will accept both as correct. Amercian readers will accept both but recognise that the latter is someone who speaks British English (or has been taught British English). What about the following sentence consider the following “One of my cow died last night in the storm.” Grammatically incorrect? Completely wrong? Whether it be in American or British English, “One of my” implies a plural and so “Cow” should be “Cows”.

I don’t think so. There are 90 million English speakers in India which is a lot more than in the UK. Isn’t there a case to be made that any language (which is constantly evolving anyway) should be ruled by a majority rule? Or what about this “I is going to that party!” Completely wrong? Try saying it with an American accent. Isn’t it just as acceptable as “I am going to a Party”? Same question for the now very common British “He were…”

If your answer is simply, no, it’s completely incorrect then consider the same question but replace incorrect grammar with differing phonetics and accents…

A Dublin Irish person might say “Oim goin to da pub”. If you it’s accepted that “I is” is WRONG then so is the Irish “PUB” vs the UK “PAB”. I think it’s easier to accept that accents are a part of our culture and national identity but more difficult to do the same with grammar.

Anyway, all that aside, we are offering 2 scholarships per year on our teacher training courses (CELT). Annalivia School will give you a free place on a course in exchange for 4 months of teacher training in SPPD in India. Please click through here for the link.

There’s also a nice article that Peter wrote for the UCD tribune here.


Thursday, January 15, 2009

Wow - It's cold...

A very cold month, this one... We've been having to work very hard to keep warm. So what have we been doing?

We've put together lots of new courses for 2009, English + surfing, horse riding, scuba diving, moutain climbing, hill walking, cooking, windsurfing and on and on and on and on. Ok, I'm lying it wasn't THAT much hard work. What we did was to contact local people around Dun Laoghaire that offer these services and we asked them to look after Annalivia Students. The said yes and we stuck them up on the website. Easy!

We've also been working hard on our social programme and Diane has put together a 6 month calendar, which, we've put online and that did take some time to organise and work out. Great programme though!

We've also put a calender up pf our free classes and workshops so that you can decide in advance which classes you'd like to attend. BUT WAIT! Before we start getting inundated with e-mails of enquiries - these classes are only for students that are registered in the school as full or part time students. Unfortunately these classes fill up VERY fast and we have to give preference to our current students.

We're also got our TEFL/CELT Scholarship up and running in association with SPPD who do amazing work in Tamil Nadu, India. We're VERY happy to be able to support them and have organised an English programme for them. Now we just need the Volunteer English Teachers. Do you have what it takes? CLICK HERE

What else? We've taken down the Christmas decorations, got rid of the horrible sweet machine that keeps stealing students money, got a new Coffee Machine, sent out some newsletters, watered the plants and went for a hair cut.

Not a bad start to the year...

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Winter is here again...

Yep, the sun seems to have set again for another 8 months, we've had alot of wind, rain and very very changeable weather. Things in the school are starting to slow down as the number of students is reduced. For anyone considering coming to the schoo lin the next few weeks, have a good look for some special offers by clicking here.

2 other quick things:

  • Please feel free to add photos, comments etc to our Facebook page. Add Annalivia SchoolinDublin as your friend!
  • I found this great video of Barry, one of our talented teachers... Click here to see it

Friday, August 29, 2008

Sorry!

I've been a very busy bee over the past few months and so I haven't had a chance to update the Blog in a while. So what's been happening in the school? Lots!

The Annalivia Lions Rugby team!
After a very difficult season, we finished second in the league. ALthough it was a great result, it was a very frustrating season. We beat all the teams we played, except one! And although we played them 3 times (including in the final) they destroyed us everytime. They wer ein the wrong league and in their first 3 games, they scored 84 tries. Diaster! It was very disheartening as we were trying to have a positive attitude, but all of us knew we stood no chance in the final. Still though, it was great fun and we celebrated with a party. I have lots and lots of photos of the 10 games we played, but this photo is the best... David and his "Photoshopping" skills strikes again!

The School:
We've been working hard to try to make improvements to the school and we've finally managed to fix our Wireless problems! Jennifer has spent alo of time painting, redorating and refurnishing the student common area and has put in a nice vending
machine. It looks great and really adds a comfortable, relaxing place for students to spend time when they are not in class studying...

Other bits and pieces:

Our June TEFL (teacher training) course was a great success and many of the newly qualified teachers worked with Claire in our Junior Summer centre. A Baptism of fire! but they were great and seemed to enjoy it. We're running 2 more courses this year and you can click here to find out more info.

Our Facebook page is working really well, lots of students have posted photos and it's a real little community of past and present students. It's great to see everyone keeping in touch and to hear how students are getting on since leaving Ireland. Please feel free to add us as your friend. Look us up under Annalivia SchoolInDublin.

I was surfing the net a few weeks ago and happened on this video! It was great to see it! One of our French Student put up a little film of his friends during his time in our Summer Camp.

There are a few other videos up there too.. but this was the best one!If you have other photos or videos, please send them onto us!

Promise I'll update more soon!

Rupert.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Winning isn't everything... IT'S THE ONLY THING!

It was a warm, Summers evening and there, sitting at the foothills of the Dublin Mountains, The Annalivia Lions gathered in the prairie and lay in wait. Julie, a lion with a thorn in her paw, was sick and bruised but sitting side by side with Michelle, an Annalivia Lion with a heart (A heart for ripping tags off anyone that gets in her way). Skulking in the background were Aitor and David, 2 huge beasts from Spain. It is said of them that they once chased their lunch with such speed that they accidentally caught breakfast! Then there was the stylish Elena lion, sitting with her head perked with enthusiasm waiting anxiously for her next victim to claw to death. Ryo, a cunning, stocky, Japanese feline who plays rugby with an atomic switch in his pocket. Once he flicks the switch, an explosion of speed an passion fires him up the pitch like a rocket. Jordan, a French Lion was composed and calm. She knew the battle that was around the corner and was visualising her right kicking paw striking the ball with pin-point pressure, cleverly placing it just behind the weakest victim of the other team. Jennifer, our Teacher Lion, has been coordinating and motivating from the outset. She sat overlooking her lion cubs with authority and mastery whilst quietly focused on getting the ball across the line. Laurine, who is not actually a lion, but a gazelle, sat by the battlefield, with a grin that said "Something special is going to happen". Kevin, the head lion, sat behind the pride with confidence that the training and preparation was about to pay off. The Annalivia Lions could smell blood.

At 18H55, the "PayZone Panthers" trundled like an army of black warriors onto the rugby pitch and glared at the Lions, who were basking in the sun, with a sense of what was to come... A carnage.

19H00 eventually came and as the referee blew his whistle. Things moved fast then, Jordan received the ball and passed with precision accuracy, then another pass, and another. The Panthers defended well but the Annalivia Lions came alive and burst up the field. 1 tag, then another tag, then the ball came left wing and a beautiful pass to Kevin resulted in the first try of the tournament. The Panthers were hurt but the Lions were only warming up.

The next try came from The Panthers as they scored a clever little try as a result of the Lions over-zealousness (or being offside). The Panthers celebrated and the lions snarled. David decided to show his teeth and used his massive height to steal the ball out of the air and with lightening speed ripped up the field. The Panthers trotted up behind him but were never going to catch him. Julie, as if on train tracks and roller blades followed David up the line. David passed to Julie at the last minute to score a girl try (worth 3 points) but, just as she as about to put the ball down, 2 male Panthers closed in and sandwiched Julie sending her tumbling into the next pitch. Elena, who was on the sidelines, was up to Julies defence in 3 seconds. Julie brushed herself down glared at the Panthers and went back into her position on the wing. The referee awarded a penalty try to the Lions and a Panther was sent off for 10 minutes.

The Panthers knew it was finished at that point. For the remaining of the first half, David and Aitor fed balls to the team and the team feds balls to each other resulting in a total of 7 trys. After half time, the Panthers limped back onto the pitch as the Lions stretched and flexed. More Trys for the Lions: our Spanish Lions twirled and skipped around the Panthers. Ryo charged at them with such ferocity that they were only making half efforts to stop him. Jordan got through with another girl try. A beautiful pass to Jennifer in the last minute got her to the line but an overly aggressive tag and trip sent her 3 feet into the air and a penalty was awarded where the team got the ball from the right side of the pitch all the way left found it’s way to the Kevin who got a sly try just on the line.

Elena’s motivation, Michelle’s tagging, Jordan’s runs and kicks, David and Aitor’s Matador style and salsa like movements, Jens’ ownership of the right wing, Ryo’s aggression, Julie’s sporting intelligence and Laurine’s sideline support resulted in the final score of16 - 8 to the Lions... It was only the first match and there is still alot of training to do. But what a start…

Click here to see the league table.