Work Experience by Colin McCarthy
It was a week that I was not sure I would enjoy. I wouldn’t say I was dreading going back to my old school; in fact, it was the opposite! I enjoyed my years in the school. However I was a bit worried that I would have nothing to do, nobody to talk to and the week would end up being very long. I could not have been more wrong!
I was based in Junior Infants for the week which made me nervous as it was the only class in the whole school in which I knew nobody. My two friends Brian and Ken had been on work experience the week before and they had each other to talk to and they would help each other to settle in. The teacher Ms. Cullen, an old teacher of mine, welcomed me back along with my old principal and suddenly I felt as if I had never left!
I don’t remember much of my time in Junior Infants but I’m certain that we weren’t as lucky as the infants here now. There were shelves upon shelves of toys from construction to farming and barbies to pirate costumes! The infants also have great variety in their learning. They begin the morning by getting into groups of five; then five or six learning support teachers come in and take a group with which they do activities to improve and understand the English language! For example, the infants would have to match the first letter of an object to the correct object. They then all regroup as one class and practise their handwriting and maths. When they return to the classroom after lunch it’s playtime! I had to have different areas set up, like the construction area, which included building blocks and the art area.
One of my favourite stories of the week came on Wednesday as the teacher was teaching them about St Patrick. One boy put up his hand and said out of the blue, “I live in Ballincollig,” which prompted the rest of the class to tell the teacher where they lived too! It really showed how a class of four and five-year-olds can lose their attention so easily!
I went on a great week as it was Seachtain na Gaeilge which meant there were loads of activities going on throughout the school – a quiz and a céilí to name just two.
I spent a lot of the week helping the teacher and helping the infants with their Maths, Handwriting, etc. I also had to sort out their sound copies and reading folders! One thing I really enjoyed about the week was that all the infants were so friendly and chatty! They could have talked for hours and their imaginations are unbelievable! If I had as much imagination I think I would be a top-class storyteller!
It was not only the children that were so friendly – the teachers were too! I spent my lunch with the SNAs in the school. We had our lunch later than the rest of the teachers because we were supervising the classes during the lunch break. I had great conversations with them and they treated me as one of them and made me feel like I had been there my whole life!
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed my week in Ballinora N.S and it has definitely made me think about becoming a teacher!