Killing 2 Birds with 1 Stone: Teaching Council Requirements & Residential Activity

If you are already familiar with the Bronze or Silver stages of Gaisce, you will know that they both involve: doing a skill, a physical activity, some community involvement and an adventure activity. Where the Gold Gaisce differs from Bronze and Silver (aside from the length of time involved) is the additional "Residential Activity".

What is it?
The Residential Activity must be undertaken over 5 days and 4 nights in a place where the President Award Candidate is staying with mostly unfamiliar people while completing an activity. This can involve going on a Yoga retreat, going to the Gaeltacht for a course, or going to volunteer at a summer camp, such as Barretstown. It cannot be an activity where you get paid, and - as the title suggests - you must be staying with people on your course/ with a host family/ with other volunteers.

https://pixabay.com/en/beds-youth-hostel-bunk-beds-sleep-182965/ 

Organising the Residential Activity
The residential activity is one of the harder activities to get organised. While a lot of people opt for going to Barretstown, this cannot actually be completed in one go, as the camp does not last for 5 days straight. Likewise, yoga retreats often only last 2-3 days (and can be quite expensive!). Other activities which may occur to you sometimes do not completely fill the criteria. For more information, see the Gaisce website: http://www.gaisce.ie/residential-project/

Killing two birds with the one stone
I am currently half-way through my training to become a second-level teacher in Ireland, and it was only when applying for membership of the Teaching Council, that I found out that it is necessary to have spent a minimum of 2 months in the country of the language that you are teaching. As a teacher of two languages, this meant I needed to have spent 2 months in France, and 2 months in a German-speaking country. BUT. Holidays do not count. Having completed my Erasmus year in France, I was sorted in relation to French, as I had studied at university there. For German, however, I only have 7 of the 8 required weeks complete. I completed one school exchange to Sandhausen, and 2 three-week language courses in Berlin and Passau, so I only have one week left to complete.

Stefan's Cathedral in Vienna
https://pixabay.com/en/vienna-church-st-stephan-s-cathedral-1567865/ 

For this reason, I decided I might as well combine my requirements for the Teaching Council with the Residential Activity for the Gold President's Award, and booked a week-long language course in Vienna. In preparation for this, I had to take the "Einstüfungstest" or placement test online, so that they will place me at the appropriate level. In order to fulfil the "residential activity" element, I have chosen to stay with a host family for the week. In advance of my arrival, I have been sent information about my host- she is retired, born in 1936, and her interests include reading and culture.

I am looking forward to getting to know Vienna, speaking some German and also picking up some resources for my classes :D