Wednesday, October 23, 2019

TY House Speech Competition

Maxim Meddah gives an account of the annual TY House Speech Competition:

On Sunday 29th September, the annual Transition Year House Speeches took place once again in St Columba’s College. Each house was represented by two pupils. The topic the pupils could choose was up to them. Some were serious and some were humorous. The contestants were marked out of ten points for delivery and content and five points on lack of reliance on notes. They each spoke for three to five minutes.  

Glen was represented by Antoine Dulauroy who spoke about how Astrophysics can change your view on the world and Akin Babajide who spoke about why the idea of world peace is naive. Gwynn was represented by Tom Casey who spoke about why the earth is flat and Peter Taylor who spoke about anxiety. Stackallan was represented by Marcus O’Connor speaking about the profound message of Kung Fu Panda and Andrew Maguire on the importance of team sports. Edna Johnston spoke about being a twin and Amalia Falkenhayn speaking about being tall represented Iona. Representing Hollypark were Emma Hinde talking about ‘the power of words’ and Caroline Hager speaking about Flying.  

The event started with the announcement of the first speaker Edna Johnston by the evening’s MC, Guy Fitzgibbon. Edna then commenced with her speech which was about being a twin. She talked about her least favourite response to people finding out she has a twin which was “Oh I know a set of twins” and her favourite response being when people look in shock with their mouths wide open. In retrospect, her speech was really about being her own person and that she and her sister are not one and the same person but two individuals that merely look alike. The next speech was by Antoine Dulauroy. He talked about the two different ways someone's view of the world could be affected by astrophysics, showing us how big the universe really is. The first point was that you feel tiny in such a huge world and that nothing matters. The second being seizing that feeling of feeling small and meaningless and use it as a pretext to trying scary and challenging new things. In the end, he mentioned his dream, or rather his objective of becoming an astrophysicist.

The third speech, a humorous one, was given by Tom Casey and he talked about the earth being flat with the example of a grapefruit. His first reason was that if the earth was round an aeroplane which flies from the northern hemisphere to the southern one should arrive upside down, which quite evidently does not. He also reasoned that all the water would pour down the face of the earth if it were round. His speech entertained the audience well and by the end of his speech the whole room was filled with laughter. 

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

INOTE 2019

Some reactions and resources from the annual conference of the Irish National Organisation for Teachers of English.

Friday, October 11, 2019

INOTE Conference 2019

Notes and links from the keynote at the annual conference of the Irish National Organisation of Teachers of English in Portlaoise on Saturday 12th October 2019.

Link to presentation

Collection of tweets and resources.

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researchED

 Books


Vocabulary

    Online

    Some more recommended books

    • Sinead Gleeson: Constellations
    • Emily Pine: Notes to Self
    • Tim Winton: The Boy Behind the Curtain
    • Rachel Cusk: Kudos, Transit and Outline, as well as Coventry (essays)
    • Robert Macfarlane: The Old Ways, Landmarks, Underland.
    • Joseph O'Connor: Shadowplay
    • David Park: Travelling in a Strange Land
    • Melatu Uche Okorie: This Hostel Life

    Wednesday, October 09, 2019

    researchED Dublin

    On Saturday 5th October, the first-ever researchED event in Ireland took place at SCC. Below, a video of impressions (credit to Ian O'Herlihy) and plenty of Twitter reaction.

    English teachers, current and former, were strong on the ground, including Alex Quigley, Daisy Christodoulou, Carl Hendrick, David Didau, Leona Forde, Kate Barry, Rebecca Foster, Conor Murphy and Edmond Behan.