Contrary to wide-spread belief, I am prompt to claim that all the nice things in life do not necessarily happen to somebody else. Not until this year's ELTA Conference was I convinced of that, but then, being awarded a full scholarship for two-weeks Teacher Refresher Course in Dublin School of English in July, I unexpectedly got the indisputable proof to support this thesis.  

      Overwhelmed by impressions, still stunned and astonished by the fact it was not a dream, timidly at first, I started asking myself what did I, actually, know about Ireland? I certainly could not rely on my distant memory of history or geography classes and, excluding the U2, Sinead O'Connor, Cranberries, Riverdance or few others I usually associate this island with, it seemed inevitable to address to my quick-witted, knowledgeable friend Wikipedia for help:

• Ireland (Irish: Eire) is the 3rd largest island in Europe. Its capital city, Dublin (Irish: Dubh-black + Linn-pool), situated at the mouth of the river Liffey, was founded as a Viking settlement in 988. Today, with 1.5 million inhabitants, it has one of the youngest and fastest growing populations of any EU capital city (50% of population is younger than 25!);
• The period of high economic growth (1995 – 2000) led many to call the country the Celtic Tiger. Recently, the World Bank measured Ireland's Gross National Income per head at $41 140 which is the 3 rd highest of any EU member state. A study of Economist found Ireland to have the best quality of life in the world!
• Living standards have risen dramatically although the cost of living has also soared – Dublin is the 8th most expensive city in Europe (households spend 1000 euro a week, but 94% Dubliners love their expensive town)
• Dublin has the 4th highest wages for a city in the world (behind Zurich, Geneva and Oslo) and only Prague had a better rate in a survey how easy was to find a good job;
• The single largest group of immigrants comes from the UK, followed by Poland, Lithuania and Nigeria. There are over 100 000 Poles resident in Ireland and Polish language is one of the most widely spoken;
• The Republic of Ireland is 86.8% Roman Catholic and has one of the highest rates of regular and weekly church attendance in the western world. The patron saints are Saint Patrick and Saint Bridget. In the past, Ireland had historically favoured conservative legislation regarding sexuality, but now, Ireland has taken steps to grant equal rights for its gay citizens!
• The literacy rate in society is 99.9% (the highest in the world!). Although the Irish language is compulsory both in primary and secondary schools, only 39% regard themselves as competent in Irish. Many renowned writers were Irish: James Joyce, George Berkeley, W.B. Yeats, Samuel Beckett, G.B. Shaw…

   Baring in mind all these statistics can be useful, I reckoned, but only after arriving in Dublin did I realize that such a breathtaking city cannot be described, but profoundly experienced! Neither gloomy, dump, chilly weather nor occasional, but persistent showers could ruin my impression and, perhaps in spite of the weather, I found the Irish people being extremely friendly, courteous, open-hearted, amusing, with a great sense of humour. I felt more than welcomed!

   I was fascinated not only by the fabulous architecture, colossal churches, beautiful castles and numerous landmarks and amenities of the city, but also with their routine and every day scenes: all the commuters in DART (city train) read books, many young people wore smart suits with chunky trainers (Ireland has the youngest managers and executives in the world!), streets were crowded with tourists (especially Spanish and Italian), buskers, performers, drummers…, nobody was dressed according to the weather, so you could see some wearing flip-flops, others winter boots…

   Undoubtedly, as this was my first visit to an English-speaking country, the most valuable experience I gained at the course. Dublin School of English has been running Teacher Training and Teacher Development Programmes since 1975. The course has been designed to enable TEFL / TESOL teachers to further develop their teaching, conversational or grammatical skills, to improve their teaching methods through lectures, workshops, class observation and peer-teaching sessions and to acquaint teachers with the most up to date methods in TEFL. In my group, there were two German, a Hungarian and an Italian teacher, and although we had different backgrounds, we all shared the same problems, and had similar expectations of the course which were surpassed thanks to our trainer Con O'Kelly, an extraordinary teacher and a role model!

   The course covered different areas: Modern approaches to language learning, NLP and Suggestopedia; Creative teaching; A communicative approach to grammar teaching; Integration of the four skills; Language games and role play; Task-based learning; Warmers, fillers and oilers… All the ideas, new techniques, dynamic, interactive methods can easily be applied in any classroom and once you broaden your horizons, nothing will be the same (not to mention my confidence, optimism, motivation, eagerness to become a better teacher)!

   Culture matters and social behaviour were discussed in the most appropriate place for the topics – in the pubs! While drinking a pint of Guinness or a cup of Irish coffee, we were taught that their national dishes were: Fish and chips (with mashed peas!), Irish stew, Cottage pie, Apple tart, Trifle, Muffins…; Irish people do not use napkins during dinner; they say 'sorry' all the time; traditionally spend their holidays in Spain (Turkey or India are also popular); corporal punishment was forbidden in schools in 1982; even today there are many single-sex schools; the most popular names are: Seamus, Conor, Fergus, Duncan, Siobhan, Eileen, Tara; parents prefer au pairs than a kindergarten; harp is the national symbol, not a shamrock; if you

eat some magic mushrooms, you could see leprechauns; hurling, Irish football, golf and rugby are their favourite sports; according to some surveys, they are the happiest (and the 3 rd ugliest!) nation in the world!

Within the course, there was a full social programme which included visits to museums and galleries as well as to sites of historical interest:

• National Museum of Ireland – a fascinating exhibition of Iron Age bog bodies
• National Library of Ireland – the largest exhibition of the life and works of William Butler Yeats
• Chester Beatty Library – artistic treasures of the great cultures and religions of the world
• Dublinia – we explored the world of the Vikings and medieval Dublin
• Trinity College – the oldest university in Ireland, founded in 1592, The Book of Kells – a world famous manuscript produced by Celtic monks in A.D. 800 is on display in Trinity College Library
• Malahide Castle – both a fortress and a private home of the Talbot family from 1185 – 1973 when the last Lord Talbot died
• Dublin Castle – a Gaelic ring fort existed on the present castle site
• Christ Church Cathedral – Dublin's oldest building, founded about 1030
• St. Patrick's Cathedral – the National Cathedral for the Church of Ireland was built in 1192
• Guinness Storehouse – since 1759, Guinness dark beer has been produced at the St. James's Gate Brewery. Each day, 3 million pints are produced for the world markets
• Temple Bar – the most internationally notorious area, a vibrant nightlife, many intimate small music venues

Should I add that those two weeks were thoroughly absorbing, utterly amazing  and that I had the time of my life? Finally, instead of goodbye, we received an Irish Blessing:

May the road rise to meet you

May the wind be always at your back

Mat the Sun shine warm upon your face

The rain fall soft upon your fields

And until we meet again,

May God hold you in the palm of his hand. 

I would like to express my gratefulness to those who enabled me to live a dream:

Dublin School of English (for covering course costs)

KUB Travel Enterprises (for covering host family accommodation) and

ELTA (for covering flight tickets) 

Sanja Conjagic, Educational Centre 'Premier', Sabac