Pandemic doesn’t stop local teacher from celebrating
March 26, 2021
Eight years ago this month, Georgia set up the first out of school French classes for local children in Greystones and Delgany. A small room at the local Parish Centre was the venue where a handful of children, as young as five years old, wanted to see what it was all about.
As word got around, how much fun learning French was and due to demand, Georgia added more and more classes and venues to her timetable as well as introducing Spanish.
Fast forward to today and Georgia’s language school, Greystones Languages for Children, is thriving. Not even the Pandemic has stopped her teaching and her students from continuing with their bilingual journey.
Georgia says, “It’s hard to believe that we have been teaching French and Spanish in Greystones for eight years. It is brilliant to be able to offer language classes in our community and to see children developing great linguistic skills from such an early age.
“Young children have a wonderful advantage in that they pick up languages with ease. When they are exposed to language in an engaging and interactive way, they learn so much more in this pressure free environment.
“Learning then becomes a thoroughly positive experience and by the time the child begins secondary school their foundation of language learning will provide them with a significant head start.”
When the first lockdown happened, schools and venues closed, and all classes ceased. Against all the odds stacked against her, Georgia was determined to keep her students bilingual journey moving, so instead of cancelling classes, she simply took them online.
“Although nothing beats face to face teaching, my online classes are working really well. As well as benefiting from continued learning, my students have really enjoyed working together and seeing their classmates on screen. This week we all celebrated Greystones eight-year birthday virtually, we played fun games and sang songs plus, we even had a cake.”
Article originally published at Wicklow News available online at https://wicklownews.net/2021/03/pandemic-doesnt-stop-greystones-teach-from-celebrating/?fbclid=IwAR2DYHGC5PI8PDB2z74ZG-iC12dZ9CLtbUUPpNZp2kJYK4zn9cw_BNRft-g