Week 7: The World Around Us

We have been lucky to not have many morning classes so waking up early on Wednesday morning to attend the meeting at our placement primary school was a slight struggle however the anticipation of what school would be like got us out of our comfy, warm beds. We were welcomed with open arms as the principal greeted us and gave us an introduction and tour to the school. He was very welcoming and was excited that we were from Stranmillis as he had attended a course there in the past and had obviously enjoyed his stay in Northern Ireland as he even had a picture of Dunluce Castle up on his wall. Whilst on the tour of the school I was very impressed by the different wall displays up outside each classroom, the principal explained that a specialised teacher came in to teach art, drama and P.E. with the children. The case for specialised subject teachers is one that interests me. Farenga and Ness (2005) note the importance of a teacher’s enthusiasm towards their teaching and how it affects the child in their enthusiasm and achievement. This is important as if a teacher doesn’t like a certain subject they have less knowledge and passion for it which can be reflected in their teaching and dedication towards this subject which can consequently affect a child’s success within a particular subject. However currently in Northern Ireland the teacher is expected to be an ‘all-rounder’ in their knowledge and capability to teach every area of the curriculum as set out by the GTCNI (2011) in competences 3 and 4 of their publication, Teacher: the Reflective Profession.

Views that remind me of home

This week brought around the 2^nd hike organised by one of the workers at the University Residence. This time it was around Dingli Cliffs and he said the theme of this hike was the views, although I thought it would be hard to beat some of the views we had seen in our first hike! However he was right – the views were incredible! Some even reminded me of home. This has made me realise that I take for granted the many beautiful places we have at home, Ireland is so lucky to have so much greenery and so many wide open spaces. Malta is quite a condensed country with a high population density, something I am not used to being a ‘born and bred’ country girl and so I will appreciate where I live and the views much more when I return home.

Enjoying the view during our lunch pit-stop!

Dingli Cliffs

Enjoying the sunshine!

During the hike we got chatting to a girl from Palestine. Having found out where she was from I was really interested as I had a basic knowledge of the troubles there from a case study I had done at A-Level geography however was intrigued to learn more and to hear the story from a local. Living in the residence has opened my eyes to the many different cultures of this world, even hearing the different languages people speak makes me wish I had a second language that I could speak, especially when the majority of Maltese people are bi-lingual in Maltese and English and can switch from one to the other so easily!