3,2,1,... Action!!

On Tuesday, all the Transition Years went to Mullingar for the Briary Gap Drama competition. We had been working on our dramas since October, so all our nerves were building as the day came closer. On Tuesday Morning, we all walked to the bus, arms full of props, from hats to gravestones, and we headed off for Mullingar. After a loud (thanks to Laura Smyth attempting to sing Super Base -.-) and exciting bus journey, we arrived at the Arts Centre in Mullingar town. We had a quick rehearsal, and went straight off to change, before being called the stage to preform our version of Seamus Heaney's poem 'Mid Term Break'. Before we knew it, our performance was over and we watched the rest of the ty's plays. After everyone play was over, we were free to go around Mullingar town! We went to McDonald's and had as great time before heading home.
Overall it was a really great day!!

English, English & English?

Last Wednesday, class Eriú went to 'Fighting Words' in Dublin for a creative writing workshop. We left school at 1 o'clock and when we arrived, we straight away started some creative writing. We brainstormed together to start an essay, and before we knew it, we had written the first page of an essay about two 16 year olds who are best friends. After we had the basis to a story, we were divided into groups of three, and we each finished the essay however we liked. It was an enjoyable day and it helped us how to think when starting to write an essay.

Back to Basics!

It's January, and I am very happy to say I survived Christmas! A few hiccups along the way but before i knew it, We were sitting back in our wine uniforms!!
Tomoro is the young scients (GASP) and i can safely say, All the TY's are so so excited for the day!! Not to mention the excitment of seeing the few ty girlies who got through to the competition!!
And today is thursday.. which means our activity afernoon :)
AND our timetable for the afternoon has changed to massage classes, band practice and... drum roll... ZUMBA!!!! I LOVE zumba and am so excited for it :D
overall i am happy to be back at school and excited for the next term of ty :)

Moulin Roouuuuge!!!

Yesterday was our home ec fashion show. as part of Ty home ec, each group are given a plain white t-shirt and white jeans and told to make an outfit from it! So today, after long home ec classes and lots of meetings to try finish our outfit, Today our model, Anita, walked down the runway in our school hall. our theme was Moulin Rouge, and Anita walked down to Christina Agulera's song Lady Marmalade! Outfit consisted of a pink corset, a black bow around her waist, a long black skirt which was floor length, with a mini pink skirt underneath. Thinking Back on our progress, we have come a long way, from changing our ideas many,many times, and from being told our outfit was rubbish, to seeing our outfit complete! we were all so happy that it turned out so well! and we were told this morning that we had come first in our class!! We were all so happy that our hard work had paid off!!

holidays are coming, the holidays ARE coming!!

Its the middle of December, and that can only mean one thing, Christmas is coming! this year i have been a little like The Grinch, and refused to say the C word  until only a few days ago, and now that it is the middle of December, I can talk about Christmas!! the Ty's have been getting into the Christmas spirit, by sending christmas videos to schools all over the world, from here in ireland, all the way to Ausrailia!! We have been having classes to sing carols, and yesterday, for Tutor time, i can safely say that one christmas song was our favourite. Of course its an irish classic, The Pogues, Fairtale of New York! This song has so many memories from school and Christmas over the years, and it is clear that this is Irelands favourite Christmas song!

Here it is! have a listen!

'My Sister's Keeper' Book Review

The novel I have studied is ‘My Sisters Keeper’ by Jodi Piccoult. This novel is based in the United States and is based around a teenage girl, Kate who has had Leukaemia from a young age.        
   In this novel, we come across many characters, the main ones being Kate and her family. The story is told from the point of view of Anna, Kate’s thirteen year old sister, who was brought into the world to help her sister to survive. Anna is my favourite character in this novel. Throughout the novel we read of the family’s troubles, up’s and down’s, and mostly, how Anna feels about the whole situation.         
         There are many themes in this novel such as love, family, sadness, sickness and hope, but the theme that interested me was the theme of conflict. Conflict develops at the start of the novel and continues throughout. The strongest element of conflict in this novel is when Anna goes to see a lawyer behind her family’s back, and asks for the right to her own body.       
           At this point she is fed up of always being used to help her sister survive. We read of how every time her sister Kate goes into hospital, she somehow always ends up there too. Shortly afterwards, her parents find out about the lawyer she hired and Anna and her parents have a row in the kitchen.   
           I liked this novel as I could relate to the setting, the home life and everyday lives were similar to mine. The family live in a standard house, in a normal house, in a basic neighbourhood. The children went to school and the family did things together at the weekend. They struggled with money sometimes, but managed to keep their heads above water. The culture in this novel is similar to my culture and therefore I could relate to it.      
          I liked the writer’s style in this novel. We see the point of view from a young teenager and we see how life is in her mind. At different stages in the book, we are told the novel from different points of view, for example when Anna goes into the lawyer, we read a chapter from his point of view and we see how he saw Anna and what he thought of her case. In one part of the novel the point of view switches from Anna to her father. We read of how he feels towards Kate’s illness.
            The writer uses a lot of dialogue in this novel, and a lot of conversations take place. She also writes paragraphs to describe how Anna is feeling and what exactly she is thinking. 
           Overall, I think the writer has a mixture of both optimistic and pessimistic outlook on the novel. The main vibe throughout the novel is negative, with Kate’s illness being the main plot to of the novel, but she also writes of the positive elements such as the happy moments the family has together. However, the ending is dramatic, but it also describes to the reader how the family feel and how they move on with their lives.            I really enjoyed the novel and I think it would be a good novel to read with our class and to study

And the Nominees Are...

I would like to nominate Caitriona Eves as best Student Blogger for her amazing TY blog. for those who haven't read it, all I'll say is that every blog is a poem that rhymes. here's the link to check it out for yourself!


http://tienies.blogspot.com/