Them's Fighting Words, Roddy!

Transition Year Class A with Roddy Doyle, Mrs. Monagle and Miss Lafferty

Was it the excitement of having created their first short story together or was it the experience of meeting the great Roddy Doyle, whose work they were studying in their classroom?
Maybe it was the soaking they got while running up O'Connell Street in Dublin in a thunder-shower to get to the bus in Parnell Square before it departed for the hills of Donegal...
Whatever the reason, the noise on the bus home to Carndonagh from "Fighting Words" caused me to note that...when Youth is determined, Youth will prevail!
I wonder will anyone top their 'world record' of thirty minutes non-stop clapping in unison!

Mrs. Catherine Monagle

Teacher, Transition Year A

Fighting Words is a creative writing centre, established by Roddy Doyle and Sean Love. Fighting Words helps students of all ages to develop their writing skills and to explore their love of writing.

http://www.fightingwords.ie/

Enjoying meetings

Certainly the poetry of the memories shared with colleagues opens our minds to what we experience. We also had time for work and in my dummy role of coordinator, I also wish to thank you all for the efforts made and, as the saying goes, the best- still to come. Thanks mates for keep on working and making it a pleasure. Cheers.

El instituto de Educación Secundaria “La Marina”, de Santa Cruz de Bezana, ha participado recientemente en una nueva reunión de evaluación del proyecto Comenius: E- Read. Coordinada desde el propio centro, esta actuación forma parte de las abundantes y variadas actividades que el instituto está llevando a cabo relativas al tema del fomento de la lectura y escritura.

En este proyecto Comenius participan centros educativos de Irlanda (Carndonagh Community School) y Alemania (Werkmeister Gymnasium) y se coordina desde el IES La Marina, en España. A lo largo de este segundo año se continuarán trabajando conjuntamente diferentes temas: la competencia lingüística y digital, la competencia lectora, el funcionamiento de las bibliotecas escolares y otros múltiples aspectos que reflejan los intereses e iniciativas de de profesores, alumnado y familias de los centros colaboradores.

Este reciente encuentro ha servido para revisar, especificar los objetivos y consensuar, coordinar y plantear las distintas actividades que se desarrollarán a lo largo del calendario de trabajo de este segundo año de funcionamiento de la asociación escolar.

El proyecto del IES La Marina concibe la lectura y escritura como ejes centrales de trabajo, en consonancia con los objetivos del Plan Lector que se viene desarrollando desde hace varios cursos en nuestro centro. El IES La Marina es uno de los centros educativos de Cantabria que cuenta con un proyecto europeo de asociación escolar del que, además, es coordinador. Para mayor información, les invitamos a visitar la web del proyecto: http://comenius-e-read.blogspot.com/ y http://www.iesbezana.org/web-ies/comenius/eread.htm

I'm not a poet, but...

It's not too often that I'm inspired to write poetry...the following has nothing to do with books! It has more to do with how much I enjoyed my stay in Neresheim and Nordlingen recently. Many, many thanks to Alexandra and her two wonderful children, Herr Christian, Regine, Sonia, the host families and all who looked after us during our stay.

Maybe one day I'll sit beneath the lonesome tree by the Neresheim cycle path and read a line or two of Goethe (now that I know who he is...)

On a German Cycle Path

Wandering…weaving among broken white lines,
The casual peloton carelessly meanders

Along tree-lined paths and roads rarely used.

Though now and again comes the call of the rearguard…

"Auto!..."

A secluded playground bids us to stop

In a glade that echoes to laughter.

In sight of the swinehouse stands a large, leafy tree.

Solitary;

The forested horizon a distant companion.
Not before time comes The Cyclist's Rest;

A welcome pause in sublime isolation.
Onwards!

The homeward journey is a satisfied crawl.
We arrive full circle.

There's pleasure in good company

On a German cycle path.

Book Collector

The following piece is contributed by Donegal historian and author, Seán Beattie (on right in photo). He was a teacher and counsellor at Carndonagh Community School. To the left in photo is Nobel Prize winner, John Hume. Seán certainly ranks among distinguished colleagues...he went to school with another Nobel Prize winner, Seamus Heaney!

I first started collecting books when I was a student, holding on to my textbooks rather than selling them. As a student in the 1960s in UCD, I had ample opportunity to add to my collection by paying regular visits to the numerous bookshops along the quays, now no more, where thousands of second-hand books were on open display under awnings. My preference was for history books from an early stage and I still have a copy of my first purchase, David Hume’s History of England, published in 1831, which cost the princely sum of one shilling. Slowly, I found my attention turning to Irish history and local publications, which at that time were few in number. Harry Swan lived in Buncrana and was one of a small number of historians writing about local history. I recall buying his Romantic Inishowen for ten shillings and since then I have built up a collection of his entire output. For many years, I searched for the histories of local landlord families such as the Youngs, the Harveys and the Harts and have only recently, after many years searching, succeeded in getting all three.

In 1966, my reading interests took a different turn. A book of poetry caught my attention, called Death of a Naturalist, which had glowing reviews in the press. The poet was Seamus Heaney, whom I had known as a fellow student in St. Columb’s College in Derry. Heaney had a brother in the school and he was in my class, so I knew the family well. I found I could identify with some of the poems, particularly “Mid-term Break”, which is set against the background of the college. Heaney described how he sat all day in the sick-bay in the school waiting for his parents to come and bring him home for the funeral of his little brother who had been killed in a car accident. Since that first publication, I have been buying and reading Heaney’s books of poetry as they appeared, including his most recent, Human Chain. Heaney is now a major player in the world of international literature and it is difficult to keep track of his work, much of which is published abroad.

Other Irish writers that have caught my attention are John McGahern and Jennifer Johnson, both of whom I have met several times. McGahern has passed on but Jennifer is still hard at work.

I have always had an interest in French literature since my time in UCD. Two of my favourite authors are Merimée and Balzac. Prosper Merimée wrote Colomba, a story of treachery and savagery set in Corsica. Honoré de Balzac’s La Cousine Bette is his best known novel and superbly portrays the decadence of mid-nineteenth century Paris. But the most interesting of all is Alain-Fournier’s Le Grand Meaulnes (The Lost Domain), with its narrative of magic, realism, and beauty. He wrote only one novel and lost his life in 1914 at the age of 27. One wonders what might have been had he got a better throw of the dice.

A seventeenth century writer, Francis Bacon, said that some books are to be chewed and digested. I disagree. I prefer to read and collect them.

Seán Beattie, Culdaff, 2010 (http://www.historyofdonegal.com)