Category: A Look at Learning

• July 4, 2022

  Gallery Trip

  Last Friday 1st July we went out to the National Gallery. The trip had a number of aims – firstly to introduce the idea of finding different locations on a map. We had three separate meeting points – the DALC centre at Mountjoy Square, the Spire in O’Connell Street and finally the front gates at […]
• April 8, 2022

  A Week to Celebrate Learning!

  It has been a wonderful few days of workshops and learning trails as here in DALC we launched Dublin’s first Learning Neighbourhood as part of the Dublin Learning City festival. On Monday, we had a visit from Dublin’s Lord Mayor Alison Gilliland. Mary Maher, our director, spoke about the potential for learning in the North […]
• March 10, 2022

  Geopolitics in the Adult Literacy Classroom

  In facilitating most of our classes we start with a check in. It is a chance for the students to express how they are feeling about the learning today or perhaps talk about what we covered last week. This week the topic of Ukraine came up and led to a very good discussion – why […]
• January 20, 2022

  “Zooming in from the Corridor.” Teaching ESOL Remotely

  My name is Esme and I teach ESOL (English Speakers of Other Languages) in the centre. During the course of the pandemic I have been teaching students remotely. This year I have students from Romania and Somalia and last year I had students from Syria, Mauritius, Romania and Somalia. Some of my students have never […]
• January 19, 2022

  “Making students feel comfortable and welcomed.”

  Over the years, many of our students told us that the hardest part of coming back to education was walking in the door. The first person they meet can have the most impact. Our receptionist Colette plays a hugely important role in helping returning students to feel at ease when they walk in that door. […]
• November 10, 2021

  The City is a Literacy Landscape

  Occasionally with our Friday morning group we have taken the classroom outside. The aim is to use our literacy and digital skills to take pictures of words and signs all around and send them to each other using WhatsApp. What kinds of pictures did we take? Everything from parking meter signs that show days of […]
• October 20, 2021

  Icebreakers and Group Games

  Icebreakers and group games are a great resource in the educator’s toolkit and can serve a number of purposes when working with all kinds of groups.  Usually, icebreakers are used when a group meets for the first time, yet we have been using them regularly in our literacy groups to: Help develop confidence with listening […]
• July 26, 2019

  The Fear is Real

    When we are faced with a daunting task, when we have to complete something under pressure or in public, it can be the fear that gets to us first. We may immediately think it is that the task itself that is difficult. We may adopt a ‘I just can’t’ attitude. Whether it is filling […]