Our students are quite busy as they are finishing up their last term of the year before they move up to Year 6 (fifth grade). Both classrooms are in review mode now before they take their standardized tests in a few weeks. Although we didn't teach any lessons today, we did a lot of work helping kids with topics they're still struggling with, and for a majority of them that means fractions.
Our teachers let me look at the tests from last year and the standards for the test this year. They were incredibly ahead of the United States curriculum requirements for our 4th grade students. The students were finishing up ongoing projects. They're in a persuasion unit and created commercials to convince other students to buy their smoothies. They came up with really cute jingles and outfits for their advertisements. I was impressed. The winning team, Very Berry Smoothie, got to present their smoothie commercial to the principal; this is the kids' favorite treat. They love being able to go down to his office! Tuesday will be another one of our USA lessons over the geography of the states. I'm excited to see how it will turn out!
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We had a 6am flight back to Manchester, meaning that our gate closed at 5:30 and we had to be at the airport by 3:30... Not to mention the bus ride to get there! So this meant an all nighter, great times! When we got back to Liverpool there was a marathon going on through the town. It was much like the flying pig with live music at the mile markers and people dressed up in spunk outfits! I even got to see a leprechaun running in the race. After a night full of cat naps in the airport, on the 30 minute flight, and our train ride back to Liverpool you could say that I was a little tired! Once we got back I took a long and much needed nap. After working on some schoolwork (Yes dad I am actually doing homework on my trip.) I ventured into city center for the afternoon. City center is my favorite spot in Liverpool, you can always hear live music. Not to mention do some window shopping! I'm so glad to have Liverpool as our home base city, it's a wonderful place that has a lot to offer. There are very few stores here that you can find back in the states, and the style here is completely different. Getting groceries is always an surprise. A lot of the food here is similar, but have different names. Let's just say I haven't always ended up with what I was expecting! If you know me then you know my love for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches daily, and sometimes even twice a day! Well here the peanut butter is like sun butter back at home, but it's growing on me! The bus ride back to campus carrying all of your groceries like a pack mule definitely makes me glad I don't live in a big city and have to do this regularly. After city center Rachel and I went to 5 ways for dinner. We both tried the British beef and kidney stew, it was different. I wouldn't have kidney for a regular mean back in the states though we will say. We met some new friends though and stayed out way later that we had planed, but it was a great night! On Saturday morning we started off our day by going to the Educational Hand. This is a statue that is said to be good luck to any future educators. So it was a mandatory stop while visiting Ireland!
After the educational hand we went to the Guinness factory to have a tour and see how it is made! I had no idea that there was so much that goes into making beer. We went through 7 floors, each having a different step to the process. We also went to the Guinness academy to learn the proper manners for when having a Guinness. It was a rather humorous process! The last floor was called zero gravity. From here you have a 360 degree view from the highest point in the city. This was breathtaking. There was floor to ceiling windows with a view for miles. We spent quite awhile sitting up there just taking in the view. After awhile we all were getting rather hungry. We went to dinner at the first pub in all of Ireland, The Brazen Head dating back to 1198. We had Irish honey glazed ham with stew stew that was quite delicious! Another reason we choose to go here was because it was across the street from Ireland's futbol stadium. There was a futbol game going on against Scotland, their biggest rivals. The fans were intensely watching the game and it was such an interesting experience. People in Europe take futbol very seriously! The game ended in a tie, which means that both teams were celebrating. After dinner we went out to temple bar to experience the tied game with the fans. It was a great end to a long day of walking! I loved Dublin, it was a big city that was all within walking distance and such friendly locals! Today I did a three hour walking tour of Dublin. The tour covered a lot of sights like the spear, Trinity College, the Dublin Castle, Temple Bar, and the gothic region. At each of these stops you would learn extensively about the location and Dublin's history behind it. My favorite part was learning about Ireland's history and splitting off from the United Kingdom. This was something that I know to this day is still a hot topic. Ireland broke off from the United Kingdom in 1949. The first time the royal family went to Ireland since Ireland claimed its independence was just in 2011. For over 50 years they were not on good terms, and even today they're not completely over it. The UK still owns the 6 most northern regions of Ireland, and during wars Ireland has to allow the UK to use their ports. The same week the royal family visited Ireland in 2011, Barrack Obama visited as well.
Trinity college was the first university in Ireland, established during the 1100's. After completing your second year there, you can take a scholar exam. This exam has over a 90% fail rate, and only 3 people in history have ever gotten a 100%. So why volunteer to take such a strenuous test, right? Well, it most certainly comes with its perks. If you become a trinity scholar, you get all of your tuition paid for, they will pay for your living costs, or if you choose to live at home, they will pay you for however much your living costs would have been that year. Seems pretty average so far, right? Well, it only gets better... If you also own any sheep, you're allowed to bring them to college with you and let them graze in the courtyards, during any exam you could ask your test supervisor to bring you a pint of Guinness, and you were allowed to bring your own sold if you owned one to your exam and lay it across your desk. After that I thought my tour guide had to be messing with us, but there was a plaque in the courtyard discussing all of the benefits of being a Trinity Scholar, reaffirming everything he had told us. Dublin castle was massive and took up several city blocks. In the 90's, Ireland's economy really bottomed out and was in financial trouble, but within the past year has tremendously improved. It was like an insider's scoop having a tour guide whose family has been in Ireland for generations and was truly proud of his country. After the tour I walked to St. Patrick's cathedral. This is where St. Patrick is believed to have first gone for his travels in Ireland. I went back to the castle after this and walked through all of the gardens inside its courtyard. They seemed to just keep going and going. It was amazing to think of all the time and detail that must be put into the landscaping. After the castle, I was on my way to dinner near Temple Bar where I got my first Irish meal, Guinness Stew! It was delicious, and no surprise it came with potatoes! It was really tasty and filling. I am amazed at how many foreign foods I have liked considering I am a rather picky eater. We had to sacrifice ourselves and chase down dinner with some delicious gelato. It was rough, but we survived. Later that night I did a pub crawl through Temple Bar where I had a really good time and met a lot of new people! Ironically, halfway across the world, I spent my night with UC, NKU, and ND college students. It was a nice home away from home feeling. Throughout the weekend we were continuously told we chose a great weekend to be there because there was a fútbol match in Dublin between Ireland and Scotland. These two teams are big rivals, making the fans even more excited about the game. When we were at Temple Bar there wasn't a guy in sight that didn't have on a kilt, which was most certainly different from back home. Overall it was a long day, but I enjoyed learning so much about Ireland's history. Today I taught my first United States lesson. We started with some technical difficulties because the wifi wasn't working (like always). Once we got it all sorted out, though, it went wonderfully. My supervising teacher gave me some wonderful compliments and feedback. I am so excited to continue our unit now that I have started. The students learned a little background knowledge on the United States and the significance behind the American flag. After explaining how each piece of the US flag has important significance, I let the student create their own flags with the catch that they had to explain to me why they choose those symbols and colors. The teacher thought this was a wonderful way to open up and ease the students into our United States unit.
After school we took the bus directly to the train station to begin our journey to Ireland! Nothing throws off your plans more than the train to the Manchester Airport getting canceled. Once we figured out this dilemma and hopped on a few different trains, we finally made it to the airport! The joys of traveling through Europe are that every airport you go to has different polices. It's really a joy -- not! So, naturally, we had to go through security a few extra times. The extra trips through were increasingly entertaining each time. Although it turns out, when answering security questions, regardless of how ridiculous they are, laughing is highly frowned upon and I'm pretty sure the last time through security was just to be spiteful! Our flight took off, and we were in Ireland within 30 minutes! Crazy fast, right? I now know what people mean when they warned me about Ireland and not being able to understand them speaking, even though we are both speaking English. Wow, do they talk fast! I know that I can talk fast at times, but they kicked it up to a whole different level. I'm sure I am giving them the weirdest looks as I try to understand what they are saying. We had to take a bus from the airport to our hostel, and yes, they still drive on the wrong side of the rode in Ireland. It was nice to finally arrive at our hostel after a long day on the go. Our hostel is really nice and just like hotels back home; it's nice for a change. We're a stone's throw from the Spears Tower, which is really close to city center. We got some food and spent what was left of our night figuring out on a map our destinations for the weekend. I cannot wait to see what the weekend has in store for us! Hello Ireland 🍀 Now that I am half way through our trip, I am continuously getting asked what my favorite part is so far, but honestly, I don't have a "favorite part." Why? I am having the time of my life, and enjoying every day! This trip as a whole is my favorite part. Although that might seem silly, I have never experienced anything like this in my life. I am learning through so many experiences. I have experienced several completely different cultures. For the first time in my life I have experienced a language barrier. Not speaking the language is not a feeling you can explain to someone else. It has definitely given me a perspective into how an English as a Second Language student would feel in an American classroom. Traveling Europe is an amazing experience where I have learned so much. It is amazing how different the culture is here. I honestly like it better. It's much more detached and not so technology driven, but still just as informed with the same expectations here. I have met quite a few Americans while living here and their reasons for moving to Europe have all been very interesting. You can get newspapers for free at any street corner and there are two published each day. I admit I feel like an old person when I pick one up, but they're always so interesting. Here it is required by the government that a business person is not allowed to work over 35 hours a week and gets a minimum of 25 paid days off, plus 9 bank holidays. I am told that on average most businesses allow 35 paid days off. Maternity leave is also 2 years full pay and you can extend it to 5 years while still receiving eighty percent of your original salary. These are just a few examples of how the lifestyle is so different here! I am thoroughly enjoying the school that I am working with. The students are extremely respectful of the teachers. The staff is always encouraging us to try new things in the classroom. The parents are highly involved and constantly asking how they can help and what they should be working on with their students at home. Much Woolton has offered me so many wonderful opportunities and I am trying to make the most of it all while I am over here. Here are some pictures from my classroom! We started off our morning in London by taking the tube out to the Sherlock Holmes house. It was so much fun to walk through. All of the employees were dressed up like Sherlock Holmes characters. We spent a while playing with all of the magnification glasses and reading about Sherlock Holmes. Near the Sherlock Holmes house was Abbey Road, so we had to pose like the Beatles!! This was actually quite entertaining. There were obviously lots of tourists doing the same things as us, but since pedestrians have the right of way traffic has to stop for all the tourists taking this picture. Naturally the locals were not very happy having to wait for the tourists to take all of their pictures. When you would stop and take this picture, there would be a line of traffic honking their horns. It was rather funny to people watch here! After the Sherlock House and Abbey Road, we made our way to the Tardis and had a little Dr. Who fun for all my fellow fans who know what I'm referring to! From there we went to the National History Museum and went through the Dinosaur exhibit. I felt like I was in Night at the Museum. It was so much fun to go through the interactive exhibits. I would love to have free resources like this available for my students to visit. As an adult I am fascinated with all of the things here. For kids I can only imagine how amazed they would be. From the terrific museum we went to the parent trap house! After the National History Museum we went to the Parent Trap House across the street! This was a house that was in one of my favorite movies growing up. It still looks exactly the same. We had to reenact our favorite scenes before moving on to the British museum. By this time it was already rather late in the afternoon and we didn't have long until the museum closed. We got to see the Rosetta stone though! This is a piece of history that contained so much information for us. It was the main thing I wanted to see there! After the British museum we went to our hostel and began our journey back to Liverpool. I really enjoyed my time in London. I hope that I can make it back there before I return to the states. Everyone we met in London was extremely friendly and helpful. The city was much larger that New York, but I loved the style of the city. The only issues I had was with all of their pollution. For our weekend there the city was on high alert and all of the locals were wearing masks. It made my throat hurt and you could definitely tell their air was toxic. They had signs everywhere about working out outside of city limits because the air was too toxic. After getting back to Liverpool you could instantly tell a difference. I would recommend London to anyone as a MUST SEE!!
We had an early start, but I met two girls from our group at the London Eye at 9am. We spent 30 minutes rotating around the Eye getting a birdseye view of the city. We also got a commentator for what we were seeing during our ride. everything looked so pretty and peaceful during the ride. This was one of the highlights so far in London. We bought day and night tickets so we could see London twice because we could not decide when would be the best time to go! From the London Eye, we walked across the West Minister Bridge to Big Ben and the Westminster Abbey. I did not know prior to visiting London that Big Ben was attached to the house of parliament. Having these two attractions so close made for lots of tourists in one small area, so we didn't stay for long. Admiring its size and beauty, though, was enjoyable. After leaving Big Ben, on a search for somewhere to eat, we passed two very large and active protest groups. One was protesting for dolphins, chanting about saving the dolphins. Then the other, and much larger protest, was regarding ISIS... which is taken much more seriously and to heart in Europe. It was intresting to listen to the people protest in a peaceful manner, stating what they thought the government should do, and to take action regarding ISIS. We ate lunch at a pub called The Central, near the base of Big Ben. This is where we got our local meal that everyone was recommending. Steak & kidney pie is now one of my favorite foods I have had since I have been here. It's a close tie with the Dutch butterballs. I would recommend it to anyone traveling through London! After fueling up, we were off to Shakespeare's Globe, London Bridge, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, and Borough Market. These sights were all within two or three block of each other, which made it really nice for us! The tube made traveling from one region to the next quick and efficient. I think it is required you sing the London Bridge song a minimum of 5 times when crossing it, am I correct? I know that I certainly did! It was a really windy day and I don't think being on a bridge over a river was helping! The tower was really interesting to see and to learn about how it worked in its working days. If you wished to enter the tower, you would have to walk through the yard that always had at least two lions. Friendly, right? The Tower Bridge is not nearly as famous, but it certainly stands out more compared to London Bridge, which I was surprised by. The Borough Market was my favorite part of London. I am finding that although all of the tourist sights are pretty to see, it is the markets I enjoy. I think this is where you are truly experiencing the culture of the cities. This market is the oldest market known to date that is still open. The Borough Market opened during the 13th century and has been open every day since then. At this market you could find all kinds of fresh food. I was really happy to finally get some fruit! Since it is too cold in England to grow fruit, they have to get it from other places, making it expensive and not common in meals. You don't realize how much you enjoy your fruits and vegetables until you have to go without them! Don't worry though, you will find potatoes incorporated into every meal.. and you think I'm kidding. Reguardless of where you travel in the UK, it is always the same when it comes to their potatoes. At this market we all got fruit, some fresh granola, and juice that had been hand squeezed with no sugars added. It was quite tasty. From here, we were off to China Town! This is where we got some tasty Chinese food for dinner. Next to China Town in Leicester Square is where the real adventure awaited! Amongst all of the street performers and talented performers was ... wait for it... M & M World! This was 4 stories of fun for three college girls! It was now time for our night ride on the London Eye! I am not sure which I enjoyed more the day or night ride. During the night ride the entire city was sparkling, it was an amazing sight to see. It was worth the three more dollars to ride the London Eye twice, I would recommend it to anyone! After our second time around the London Eye we went to go get some drinks at a pub on the river. It was a wonderful day full of lots of adventure and walking! I fell in love with London today.
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