Finding approach to study that works for you key to a productive Christmas

Q I'm not sure if I'm on the right track with my CAO application and careers research. What should I have done by now?

A Now that Christmas is fast approaching and we have been back at school for more than three months, students are likely to have made some progress on their career exploration and planning. While it is possible to open a CAO application right up to February 1, early application is advisable.

At this point, students should be attending the open days of the colleges for which they wish to apply, reading courses regularly, and gathering information on as many courses as possible. It is better to have too many than too few at this stage and the next step is to decide what the order will be. This should always be in your order of preference.

Students should also pay particular attention to any restricted entry courses they would like to apply for as it is not possible to apply for these during the 'change of mind' process.

Q How can I make best use of the Christmas break to get on top of my school work?

A No doubt all over the country teachers are loading on the work in an attempt to ensure that the courses are finished as early as possible. In addition to this, students may be working hard on projects and briefs.

Some students may be getting work weary, while others are wondering where the year has gone.

However, the Christmas holidays are an excellent opportunity for everyone and should not be missed.

It is difficult for anyone to spend all day at school and then go home and write large assignments, such as essays. The Christmas holidays are a great opportunity to catch up on some of this work. It is also important to keep a good routine and have balance. Try getting school work done as early as possible in the day. This way you can get in a good couple of hours' study and still have the rest of the day for relaxing and family time.

It may also be a good idea to come up with a plan of what you want to achieve over the two weeks. There are two ways you can do this.

Firstly, if you find that you are easily distracted, perhaps give yourself a number of tasks to achieve rather than focus on the time you wish to spend on study.

The People's Procession of Light is back!

This free, fun-filled, family-friendly event will once again illuminate the streets of Dublin where we invite you to join us on our journey, bringing families, visitors and locals together to experience the magical spirit of Ireland. To mark the closing of The Gathering 2013, our theatrical street performers and enchanting characters will provide a visual and musical spectacle beyond imagination.

With Ireland’s top specialists in illuminated processions and aerial dance leading the way, this year’s Procession will create a spectacular river of light through the heart of the city. For the first time in the history of Irish public parades, the People’s Procession of Light will make its final leg of the journey through the iconic Grafton Street to the grand finale at St. Stephen’s Green.

Be part of it!

Be more than a spectator! Join the parade and help us illuminate the streets by bringing your own source of light to the procession.

Kids, grown-ups, families and friends are all welcome to participate in this very special New Year’s Eve celebration. Join our free lantern-making workshops, follow our easy step-by-step home kit or simply bring your own lanterns from home. Help us spread our visual message: The Light is on, Come on in!

Please note that participants are required to register for the Procession and workshops in advance.

Register to Participate in the Procession

Register for the Lantern Making Workshop

   

Happy Christmas!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TEywsWQ9QE

Traditional Culture Festivals Waterford Winterval - Ireland's Christmas Festival

This December, Waterford, Ireland oldest city will be wrapped up in the sights, sound and taste of Christmas. This delightful Christmas festival is packed with seasonal events and activities set in unique heritage sites arournd the city.

Winterval is a delightful Christmas festival for the young and young at heart and is packed with seasonal events and activities set in unique heritage sites around Waterford City. Winterval takes its inspiration from the enchanting Christmas markets throughout Europe, bringing the collective sights, sounds and festive charms to Ireland's oldest city. 

From Santa's Grotto in the Medieval Museum to a Georgian Christmas in the Bishop's Palace, a toy museum, Winterval Express Santa Train, ice-rink and an animal farm complete with reindeer, Winterval is set to be a highlight in the Christmas calendar that every family will want to experience. Look forward to craft making for children, an artisan food fair, a Viking Yuletide village, storytelling in Reginald's Tower, a Polish Christmas, and a spectacular 3D sound and light show and Christmas Market in Cathedral Square. 

Dates from 29 Nov. to 23 Dec. and Dec. 27-31. See programme and check website for more details of events at Winterval.

Visit Waterford Winterval - Ireland's Christmas Festival Events: Come and check it out for yourself.

Waterford on Ice.
Horse-drawn Sleigh.
Snow-globe. 
Christmas Carousel. 
Helter Skelter.
Waterford Illuminates. 
Old Man Winter.
Valgard.
Creative Writing Workshop
The Christmas Markets. 
Santa's Grotto at the Medieval Museum. 
Winterval Express Train. 
Toy Museum - large Room, City Hall. 
Storytelling at Reginald's Tower 
A Georgian Christmas at the Bishops Palace. 
Story Telling at Reginald's Tower 
City Square Snowman Competition.
Late Night Winterval Club.
House of Waterford Crystal Christmas Experience
Winterval at the Theater Royal 
Winterval at Garter Lane
The Singing Christmas Tree

Gadgets: Making travel easier

Spypoint BF-10HD Wildlife Camera
Sounding like something that spooks might use on a surveillance op, this is actually one of the best pieces of gadgetry around for capturing wildlife on video. With HD albeit only 720P as well as 10MP stills, it really comes into its own is after dark, where black flash infrared LEDs means no spooking your elusive subjects with a Cyclops red light. You’ll get close to three months on a full charge, shooting to an SD card. You can set the sensitivity of the trigger based on the wildlife you’re interested in, but let’s just hope your memory isn’t full when the skating pandas appear.£238 from military-outdoor.co.uk

Outlier Doublebag
If it’s more packing into less luggage you’re looking for, the regime du jour is rolling. It’s compression in effect; every cubic centimetre of air you roll out, can be replaced by sock or top. Doublebag from Outlier doubles as a compression bag and a dirty laundry stash. This magic is pulled off by a double compartment, where the clean clothes all start in one side of the bag and as they’re worn, get stuffed into the other end. Both ends close with aluminium clips and the bag is made from tough 125gm Supplex nylon. $48 from
outlier.cc

Doxie Flip Portable Scanner
Doxie has been a leader in portable scanners, usually for documents, but the Flip is something new again. Completely portable in that it’s about the size of a notebook and powered by battery, it’s been made for photos and journals, and the general miscellany of travel. You can use it as a standard scanner with your subject under the lid or flip it over and actually see what you’re scanning through the window.
$149 from getdoxie.com

Travelling is that thing everyone tells you to do

Travelling is that thing everyone tells you to do. It's likely your whole family encourages you to explore the far reaches of the known world while you're “still young”. But that's easier said than done.

I don't know anybody who doesn't want to travel the world and visitAustralia or american, or exotic like Brazil havens a little further afield likeBhutan (fish out your atlas for that one).

We talk about it between lectures and at parties: how we'll do a J1 in the summer and go travelling before “settling down” into a straight-laced proper job that pays well enough for a trip to the south of France once a year.

With the fervent excitement of a religious fanatic, we discuss the places we'll see and the things we'll do and the foods we'll eat and the portions of life that we'll sample.

And yet, when it comes down to it, it doesn't always happen.

1. Don't hold back

For many, the lure of the job after college is too strong. The career progression is hard to turn down in favour of a trip abroad that'll drain your hard-earned funds.

Or you get caught up in a relationship, or a postgrad, or in family strife, or money's that bit too tight and you say you'll save up and then you'll go.

But you don't. Because in the lottery of life there's always going to be that “something” holding you back.

Don't let it to hold you back. The benefits of travelling are vast and unexpected: meeting new people; broadening the landscape of your mind; trying new foods and activities and crazy things; experiencing places that aren't like the wet, homogenous 32 counties.

1. Money

It may be cliché but when you're young there's certain things you should do, and travelling is one of them.

You don't want to be old and grey, ensconced in your nursing home, wishing you'd dropped everything and gone to India or Pakistan when you had the chance.

Money will always be a little too tight for travelling; it's inevitably going to be cheaper to knuckle down and stay at home, earning pocket change in a mind-numbing part-time job.

You might justify it as “responsible” to stay, or claim you don't have the means to travel; and, yes, some people don't. But there are people who have encircled the world on an absolute pittance, and there's no reason why you couldn't do the same.

2. Interrailing

Last summer, I took part in the age-old traditional of interrailing aroundEurope - it was arguably one of the best things I've ever done.

I met students from all around the world, braving it alone or in pairs, set far adrift from their homes in Australia or New Zealand or Japan.

But the one thing that stood out was the absolute lack of Irish students who dared go it alone, or even in small groups; the majority were clumped in fives or sixes or – in one extreme case – a group of 13.

So maybe our culture isn't one of real travel, real exploration, and that's why we stay rather than go. Though we put big weight on our famed diaspora, there's a difference between flying from one nest in Ireland to another in America, and settling ourselves comfortably there.

It might be that we just aren't used to it. We lack the cultural norm to force ourselves onto a rickety flight to Turkmenistan, a camel ride to Mauritania, a boat journey into the Amazon's soul.

But to make a norm people have to take the plunge, so let it be you who swims with sharks in Australia instead of flirting with hypothermia in Ireland; who welcomes in the New Year in Chiang Mai rather than Coppers; who eats potentially-lethal puffer fish in Tokyo instead of McDonald's and a mediocre night out.

Let it be you who goes and doesn't stay.

Dublin a hit with students QS ranking places Dublin 15th for being student friendly

Dublin has been ranked among the top student-friendly cities in an international ranking that places it 15th of 50 university towns. Paris tops the list, with London coming a close second.

This is the second student city ranking to be published by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), a company that also produces a world university ranking. And while Dublin’s universities may not top the bill – falling outside the top 100 – we do much better when it comes to keeping students happy.

London-based QS does not use “party town” as one of its five main ranking criteria, but that didn’t seem to matter given Dublin’s overall performance. QS uses university rankings, student mix, quality of living, employer activity and affordability when it assesses a university town and the benefits it bestows on students there.

Dublin performed well in all of these categories except affordability, said Ben Sowter, head of research at QS.

Affordability an issue“With a maximum of 100 points awarded, Dublin’s highest scores were 92 for student mix, 80 for quality of living and 77 for university rankings. However, with the cost of higher education rising around the world, the city’s affordability score of 42 could be an issue for students facing financial constraints.” We managed 75 for employer activity, QS found.

To be included the city must have a population of at least 250,000 – something that rules out our other cities – and must have at least two institutions in the QS WorldUniversity Rankings, in our case Trinity and UCD as the highest two.

This approach meant that 98 countries qualified, but QS only provided a top 50 listing.

Dublin was placed 8th in last year’s inaugural ranking but QS warned that comparisons between 2013 and 2012 were a problem because of significantly changed criteria, a spokeswoman said. The figures this year put us in joint 15th along with Vienna, not a shabby student town at all.

Thirty countries are included in the top 50, with the US having seven cities in the rankings. Australia had six, Canada and the UK three each.

The top 10 running order is as follows: Paris, London, Singapore, Sydney, Melbourne, Zurich, Hong Kong, Boston, Montreal and Munich, with Melbourne and Zurich tied in fifth place.

Students are increasingly internationally mobile and the availability of a city’s ranking will complement the QS universities ranking in helping them make informed choices if choosing to study abroad. “After all, a university experience is intrinsically influenced by the location, especially for international students,” said Mr Sowter.

One wild festival: camping in the Comeraghs The majestic Comeragh Mountains, scalloped out by ice, are at the heart of a festival this week that offers new pathways into our natural and cultural history

Robert Lloyd Praeger, whose book The Way That I Went, from 1937, remains an eccentric treasure for anyone interested in our natural history, described the Comeragh Mountains, in Co Waterford, as among the most interesting in Ireland.

He was right, perhaps for more reasons than he realised. The Comeragh region, especially if we include its adjacent Copper Coast, is as rich in human history and culture as it is in the geology and strikingly beautiful landscapes that Praeger described so well.

But it remains an area that is not as well known as it should be. “Tourists get off the ferry at Rosslare,” says Joe Green, of Copper Coast Geopark, “and they drive straight through here to west Cork or Kerry.”

A British agency for mountain tours in Ireland did not, until very recently, even have the Comeraghs on its radar. This is extraordinary, because these mountains are easily accessible and give extraordinary rewards for relatively little effort.

The range takes its name from the word Coum, which indicates both the high corrie lakes scooped out by glacial action and the elegant architecture of the curved cliffs above them. There are lovely corrie lakes in many parts of the country, but there is something especially majestic about the huge natural amphitheatres that have been formed here, as the Old Red Sandstone plateaus that formed the Comeraghs were scooped out by ice.

Or rather, as Michael Whelan of the local company Mountainzone puts it perfectly, they were scalloped out: to hike in one of these valleys is like walking in a giant seashell.

Whelan, whose business is “giving mountain experiences to nonmountaineers”, is participating in the inaugural Comeraghs Wild Festival, which starts on Thursday and runs until Sunday. This Waterford County Council initiative, in co-operation with Comeraghs Mountain Forum and in partnership with Storytelling Southeast, aims to “showcase the natural beauty of the mountain range while celebrating its culture, heritage, spirituality and diversity”.

Whelan’s event is unusual even by the innovative standards of Irish festivals: a full-moon hike, with optional overnight camping – tents and food provided – on Comshingaun, a mountain that Praeger praised as the finest of all the Comeraghs.

Whelan points out that the crags above the lake, at 300m, are twice as high as the Cliffs of Moher. He won’t bring hikers all the way up there by night – the campsite is near the lake – but he will take them to a vantage point where they should see a full moon rising from the east. On a good night, mountain perspectives can make it look enormous, and very close, at this dramatic moment. As Whelan puts it, “They should get to see a bigger sky.” He says that “you only really experience mountains when you sleep overnight in them” and that complete strangers open up to each other remarkably in storytelling sessions in the hills. One of his clients was so moved that he called his brother in the US there and then to tell him about it. They had not spoken in 10 years.

He admits that campers generally make too much noise to see many animals or birds, and even Praeger is a little sniffy about the Comeraghs’ surprisingly limited range of plant species. But there is one unusual little plant that you might see on the hike, at least in the morning light, usually growing on or around rocks.

Chalk Talk News and views in education

Bringing ‘100 Objects’ into the class
After the success of Fintan O’Toole’s ‘Irish Times’ series A History of Ireland in 100 Objects, and the subsequent book, a series of lesson plans for primary schools, based on some of the objects, will be launched tomorrow. The plans are available free online at 100objects.ie/education. An icon beside each object indicates whether it is of interest to primary or secondary students. The impressive lesson plans were compiled by the Royal Irish Academy and the National Museum of Ireland. There’s a step-by-step guide to how to deliver the lessons within the curriculum, and indicating which part of the curriculum is covered by each object. It includes lesson aims and objectives, and activities such as visual arts, drama, worksheets and quizzes. You can read how the 100 Objects project came about at iti.ms/1foe2SG.

New era for schools in radical overhaul of exams Major reforms will spell end of rote learning for students

28 OCTOBER 2013

STUDENTS will get marks for sporting performance, writing computer code or devising mental health campaigns under major changes to the Junior Certsyllabus.

Radical reform of the Junior Cert will provide teenagers with unprecedented opportunities to earn grades for showing what they can do outside the exam hall.

Change is aimed at encouraging students to think and to get away from a system dominated by a single, terminal exam that has spawned a reliance on "teaching to the test" and rote learning.

Eight new optional "short courses" will be rolled out in the coming years, offering 15- and 16-year-olds a suite of options for study – and massive changes in how they are assessed.

Now details of four of the short courses have been revealed by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), the Government education advisory body which is developing the courses.

Draft proposals have now been outlined for four of the subjects that will be on offer – physical education; computer coding; social, personal and health education; and civic, social and personal education. The NCCA is inviting feedback on the new courses until Christmas.

To date it has produced proposals for:

* A new short course in programming and coding where pupils will learn how to design, write and test computer code.

* A physical education (PE) course where students gain half their marks from their sporting performances.

* An end to the written exam in civic, social and personal education (CSPE), with marks based on work carried out in school instead.

* An option to be assessed in projects as part of social personal and health education (SPHE).

PE, SPHE and CSPE are already available and will continue to be so for students who opt not to take it as an exam subject.

However, the programming and coding course is entirely new as more and more pupils express an interest in computers and IT and the Government continues to push towards more highly skilled jobs.

The NCCA is also continuing to work on proposals for the other short courses: Chinese, artistic performance, digital media literacy and caring for animals.

It is also open to schools and other organisations to develop their own short courses.

When the changes are fully implemented, it will mean that junior cycle students will study between eight and 10 full subjects from a selection of 21.

The new-style Junior Cert will start from next September with a revised English syllabus for first years, who may also have the option of starting some short courses at that time.

English, Irish and maths will be mandatory, but beyond that schools will have flexibility in deciding the number and choice of subjects and short courses that they will offer.

Pupils will have the option of trading a maximum of two full subjects for four short courses.

Syllabuses for traditional subjects are also undergoing revision and teachers will be given training to prepare for the new – more practical – approach to teaching and learning.

Instead of the State Junior Certificate, schools will award their own School Certificate of Learning.

Another key part of reforming the Junior Cert is assessment by teachers of their own students, with the traditional June exams being phased out over eight years.

While there will be a combination of ongoing assessment and a final written exam in traditional subjects – also graded by teachers – there will be ongoing assessment only for short courses.

Developing numeracy and literacy skills, including digital literacy, is a focus of the change and the use of new technology by students and will be a feature of assessment in many areas.

Students will present their own digital recordings, showing ongoing progression in a subject.

The ability to work with others will also be important – and in some cases, marks awarded to students will be based on team, rather than individual, performance.

Ongoing assessment by teachers, common in other countries, is seen as a way of promoting learning by helping students to identify weaknesses and to work on building competency.

Teachers have raised concerns that assessing their own students will put them under pressure from parents, and that sufficient resources are not being provided to ensure that change will be implemented properly.

Teacher training for the revised English syllabus is about to get under way, but in the current dispute between the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI) and the Government, the union has directed members not to co-operate with it.

There is also controversy about the threat to some traditional subjects by the introduction of short courses.

After English in 2014, revised syllabuses in Irish, science and business studies will follow in September 2015 and changes in other subjects are due in 2016 and 2017.

By Katherine Donnelly

Irish Independent

Waterford Winterval - Ireland's Christmas Festival

Winterval is a delightful Christmas festival for the young and young at heart and is packed with seasonal events and activities set in unique heritage sites around Waterford City. Winterval takes its inspiration from the enchanting Christmas markets throughout Europe, bringing the collective sights, sounds and festive charms to Ireland's oldest city. 

From Santa's Grotto in the Medieval Museum to a Georgian Christmas in the Bishop's Palace, a toy museum, Winterval Express Santa Train, ice-rink and an animal farm complete with reindeer, Winterval is set to be a highlight in the Christmas calendar that every family will want to experience. Look forward to craft making for children, an artisan food fair, a Viking Yuletide village, storytelling in Reginald's Tower, a Polish Christmas, and a spectacular 3D sound and light show and Christmas Market in Cathedral Square. 

Dates from 29 Nov. to 23 Dec. and Dec. 27-31. See programme and check website for more details of events at Winterval.

Visit Waterford Winterval - Ireland's Christmas Festival Events: 
Waterford on Ice. 
Waterford Illuminates 
The Christmas Markets 
Santa's Grotto at the Medieval Museum. 
Winterval Express Train. 
Toy Museum - large Room, City Hall. 
Yule Viking Christmas at greyfriars Church. 
Waterford city Enterprise Village. 
A Georgian christmas at the Bishops Palace. 
Story Telling at Reginalds Towner 
Christmas Carousel 
Christmas Treasure Hunt at city square. 
Christmas at Waterford Crystal.

Libraries worldwide nominate their favourite 2012 books – is yours in there?

LIBRARIES AROUND THE world have nominated their favourite books from 2012 for the IMPAC DUBLIN Literary Award – and three Irish books have made the longlist.

The IMPAC award is the world’s most valuable annual literary prize for a single work of fiction published in English – the prize totals €100k – and this year three Irish novels are among 152 titles that have been nominated by libraries worldwide
                                

The nominations also include 51 American, 23 British, 11 Canadian novels and 41 novels in translation.

The award is organised by Dublin City Council, and the 2014 award was launched today by its patron, Lord Mayor of Dublin, Oisín Quinn.

The nominated Irish books are:

• The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan, nominated by Cork City Libraries and by Dublin City Public Libraries, Ireland
• The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín, nominated by Bibliothèque Municipale de Mulhouse, France and by Winnipeg Public Library, Canada
• The Light of Amsterdam by David Park (Northern Irish), nominated by Tampere City Library, Finland.

Margaret Hayes, Dublin City Librarian, said that the 152 books were nominated by libraries in 110 cities and 39 countries worldwide. Among them are 41 titles in translation, spanning 17 languages, and 47 are first novels.

Other novels nominated for the 2014 Award include Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel, winner of the 2012 Man Booker Prize and the Costa Prize; The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson , winner of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and The Round House by Louise Erdrich, winner of the 2012 National Book Award.

Among the 41 translated authors are Mario Vargas Llosa (Peruvian-Spanish writer and winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize for Literature); Karl Ove Knausgård (Norway), Herman Koch (The Netherlands) and Ragna Sigurðardóttir (Iceland).

Two previous winners of the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, 2010 winner Gerbrand Bakker and 1998 winner Herta Müller, have also been nominated. Herta Müller was also the recipient of the 2009 Nobel prize.

The most nominated books this year are Bring Up the Bodies by Mantel and Canada by Ford. Other books nominated by multiple libraries are The Dinner by Herman Koch, The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson, The Round House by Louise Erdrich and The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce.

Want to read the chosen books?

All the nominated novels are available for readers to borrow from Dublin’s public libraries, and you can see the full list on www.impacdublinaward.ie.

The winner will be announced on 12 June next year. Last year’s winner was an Irish author, Kevin Barry, so maybe 2014 will also see an Irish winner.

The 2014 Judging Panel comprises Irish author, Catherine Dunne; Malaysian novelist Tash Aw; Giles Foden, British novelist and Professor of Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia; Maya Jaggi, award winning cultural journalist and critic for Guardian Review and Maciej Świerkocki, Polish translator, critic, scriptwriter, novelist and editor. The non-voting Chairperson is Eugene R Sullivan.

What English-language book from 2012 would you nominate for the award? Tell us in the comments.

Read: Kevin Barry’s City of Bohane wins the prestigious IMPAC DUBLIN Literary Award>

Read: Three Irish authors make Man Booker Prize longlist>

General English Course

4 weeks English Course

4 weeks accommodation with a host family, that includes:

Private bedroom, bathroom facilities, three meals a day, laundry service and internet access.

1,800.00€ 

www.irelandconnections.com

Tourism Ireland leads Europe in digital marketing - report

Use of Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter drives ranking

Tourism Ireland is at the top of a European league table for the use of digital marketing by national tourism organisations. The Digital Tourism Brand Index measured 45 national tourism organisations in Europe and evaluated their use of digital marketing to promote their destinations. The index ranked Tourism Ireland in the top spot for its use of Facebook (it has more than 1.7 million “friends” worldwide). Tourism Ireland also ranks in the number one spot for its use of YouTube, with more than 8.3 million video views at its channel on the site, and number three for Twitter (with almost 100,000 followers).

Confira dicas para reduzir o desconforto em viagens de avião

http://g1.globo.com/turismo-e-viagem/noticia/2012/12/confira-dicas-para-reduzir-o-desconforto-em-viagens-de-aviao.html

STUDY IN IRELAND

It is estimated that approximately 1 billion people worldwide are learning English. The English language is spoken by 1.8 billion people, with 380 million people using it as their first language. English is the official language of 54 countries, it is the dominant international language in communications, science, business, aviation, entertainment, radio and diplomacy. It is also the language used by organizations such as the UN, the European Union and European Free Trade Association. These statistics show that there has never been a better time to learn English.

Why do an English course abroad?

If you need to improve or learn English, there is nothing better than studying in a country where it is spoken by everyone. Imagine: You will be immersed in the language 24 hours a day! You'll be in an English speaking class, chatting with colleagues or strolling through the city center, you'll always be surrounded by the language and native speakers. With all these opportunities to practice, you will be surprised with the ease at which you will learn English fast and enjoyably! You can find more on www.irelandconnections.com