EIL Intercultural Learning

A photograph of Chiho from South Korea and his host brothers from Waterford signing and playing music together.

A photograph of Chiho who's from South Korea and the family from Waterford who are hosting him while he studies in Ireland

Volunteer saying goodbye to her host mother in Ghana

On Saturday the 10th of October 2009 The Tipperary EIL group had their First of many to come Group Outings. The day was bright and fresh as the International bus departed for Cobh to visit and explore the Cobh heritage centre. All aboard the Bus were in high spirits and excited to be together in a group as many of the students had not met since the official orientation. On arrival to the Heritage centre all students were full of anticipation and curiosity. Here all had the opportunity to explore and absorb some very interesting facts and parts of Irish History.

A photo of a host family from Nerja enjoying a meal.

Hard to believe that five weeks have gone by since I first set foot into this house and met my host mother and father for the first time. It`s funny how different everything seemed back then, how unknown and unfamiliar everything was. Suwa really has become like a second home for me; a second school, second family, second room, second set of friends. While I know that I`ve only just scraped the surface of the Japanese culture, I really feel like I`ve managed to gain some insight into what it means to be `Japanese`, differences and similarities.

A photo of Ali from Germany with a member of his host famliy from Clonmel who he stayed with while he studied in Ireland for 6 months.