Study in Ireland for FREE with SEDA’s new scholarship programme

The scholarship programme, which is expected to fully launch next month, is de-

signed specifically for international students who wish to study in Ireland, but do not have the sufficient funds to do so. It will cover the full cost of a typ-ical one year course in SEDA – either English language or Business Studies – however the student will be expected to pay for accommodation, travel, visa fees and other costs themselves.

Any international student who wishes to come to Ireland and improve their English can apply. Also eligible are current SEDA students who want to stay in Dublin for an extra year. In-ternational students who are living in Ireland, but are not enrolled in SEDA, can also apply for a chance to get a free course at the college. Applications are accepted for both English language and Business courses offered by SEDA.

It is expected that there will be two

scholarship awards per year – in De-cember and in June. The scholarships will be awarded to the most outstand-ing candidates amongst all the collect-ed and eligible entries. The decisions will be made by a panel consisting of academics, SEDA’s staff and relevant community members. If there are two applicants who are equally outstand-ing, the panel will award a scholarship to both of them or in some cases will distribute the scholarship between the

two applicants evenly.

The scholarship pro-gramme is expected to fully launch next month, so make sure to check out SEDA News as well as SEDA’s website and Facebook page for updates!

SEDA News, Issue 22, September 2013 Copyright: SEDA College | www.news.sedacollege.com

SEDA College will soon launch a scholarship programme for people who wish to learn English in Ireland, but cannot meet the cost of the course. The scholar-ships will be awarded every 6 months and will cover the full cost of one year’s course at SEDA. Any international student who wants to come and learn Eng-lish in Ireland may apply!

We interview teacher

Stephen Cloak who travelled

the world and settled

down in Dublin.

FlightFest, Arthur’s Day, Culture Night,

Oktober-fest and

more!.

Making sense of Gaelic football

and hurl-ing.

Test your English with SEDA’s cool new

Facebook apps!

GAELIC SPORTS

FACEBOOK APP

YOUR STORY

FESTIVALS

PAgE 6

PAgE 7

PAgE 8-9

PAgE 3

Students enjoying SEDA’s Latin Party in the Mercantile Bar. For more pics see pages 10 & 11. Photo by Leopoldo Carrasquero.

2

NewsWelcome to the September edition of SEDA News!

The summer may be over, but the days are still warm – by Irish standards. There are also plenty

of things to do in Dublin this month. In fact, September and October are known as the Dublin Festival Season because there is so much going on. Here are some of the highlights. First of all, don’t miss Flight Fest on September 15 – some 35 planes will fly over Dublin City Centre in an aerial parade. Aviation enthusiasts will be delighted because they’ll get to see huge passenger planes like the Airbus A380, vintage planes and even World War II bombers! Read all about it on page 3.

Those who haven’t seen St Patrick’s Ca-thedral, the Book of Kells or Christchurch can save their money and visit all these places for free during Culture Night on September 20. Most of Dublin’s cultural attractions will be open until late (11 pm) and will have free entry! Just make sure you plan your visit in advance and pre-pare for long queues – everyone likes to do stuff for free!

September 26 is Arthur’s Day – a fes-tival celebrating the creator of Guinness beer, Arthur Guinness. The festival start-ed only four years ago and most Irish peo-ple are a bit sceptical about it, but it has its supporters too – find out what SEDA teachers thought about this event on page 3 (and more info is available in our Going Out pages).

If you’re not heading to the original Oktoberfest in Munich you can enjoy a smaller local version – the Dublin Okto-berfest which will take place in the Dock-lands from September 19 to October 6. There will be real German beer and food and music performed by a real Bavarian live band... the only drawback is – you’re not in Germany! There are lots of other festivals and great gigs on – read all about them on pages 8 and 9. Another huge event this month are the All Ireland hurling and Gaelic football fi-nals on September 8 and 22. 80 000-seater Croke Park will be packed and you can expect a general festival atmosphere in the streets (and pubs) of the capital. Last month SEDA News journalists Bianca Daga and Leopoldo Carrasquero visited Croke Park for one of the hurling Semi Final matches to soak up the atmosphere and try to understand the rules of the game. SEDA News would like to thank GAA (organisation running the games) and GAA’s Inclusion Officer Tony Watene who organised the visit and took the time out of his busy schedule to talk to our journalists and show them around.

Make sure you read Bianca’s article on page 6 and if you have any questions (or if you want to write an article about some-thing you find interesting) contact us on news@seda.ie Also please get in touch if you have any suggestions for SEDA News and don’t forget to send your photos!

SEDA News editor

Viktor Posudnevsky

Mexican students miss tacos from homeSo far there have been very few

Mexican students at SEDA, but the college’s popularity in this

Latin American country is slowly growing. This year SEDA exhibited at several education fairs in Mexico attracting a number of Mexican stu-dents this summer, including Chris-tian Perez and Luisa Martinez from the country’s capital Mexico city. The students, who spent four weeks in Ire-land, found time to chat with SEDA News.

“I really liked it here, especially the people and the pubs,” said Luisa. “But I’m still getting used to Irish food. I re-ally prefer Mexican cuisine!”

“You can find Mexican restaurants in Dublin, but the food is not the same as we have at home be-cause they cook with local ingre-dients,” said Christian. “I would give a lot to eat a real Mexican taco right now!”The two friends study industrial design in UAM, one of Mexican’s best universi-

ties. They said they met Carmen Ge-labert, from SEDA’s marketing and

student sup-port, at a fair in Mexico and were in-trigued by her presen-tation about SEDA and Ireland. “I think the majority of M e x i c a n people first

think about London when they want to learn English,” said Luisa. “But

actually Ireland is a great option be-cause it’s cheaper here and you don’t need to apply for a visa beforehand. I think SEDA should advertise more in Mexico!”The trip to Dublin was the students’ first ever trip to Europe. Apart from improving their English at SEDA they also got to see Belfast and Galway and even travelled outside Ireland – to Bar-celona and Birmingham (Christian collects transformer toys, and there was a transformer collectors’ conven-tion in the English city).“We really enjoyed the trip and wish we could have stayed longer,” said Lui-sa. “Maybe one day we’ll return!”

Internship programme picking up pace

SEDA students nail City & guilds test get your SEDA hoodies!

More than 150 students have now applied to take part

in SEDA College’s internship pro-gramme, and the majority of ap-plicants got placements with Irish companies. Many of those who ap-plied in the summer months have had to wait for an internship op-portunity longer than usual due to the holiday season. Because of the holidays too many students were

looking for work, and as a result most companies that typically of-fer work experience to SEDA stu-dents were full. However, now that Irish students are going back to their courses employers need new interns, and SEDA students have a better chance of securing a posi-tion. The college now works with a network of some 60 companies that

are based in Dublin and offer un-paid work experience to students.

The companies range from IT businesses to distribution centres and hotels. All internships avail-able are unpaid, however some ap-plicants are offered paid employ-ment upon completion of the work experience. Internships can be full-time or part-time, so students can

either do them during their holi-days or combine the work experi-ence with their studies in SEDA.

All SEDA students whose course is at least 6 months long are eligible to take part in the programme. In order to apply for most positions students need at least Intermediate standard of English. However, Ele-mentary and Pre Intermediate stu-dents can also apply. All applica-tions are completely free of charge.

The purpose of the internship programme is to give SEDA stu-dents an opportunity to improve their English in a real work envi-ronment, and gain work experi-ence in an Irish company. The pro-gramme was launched by SEDA in November last year.

If you would like to apply for SEDA’s internship programme or have any questions about it email internship@seda.ie

SEDA News: Ireland’s first newspaper for international students. Circulation: 1000 copies. Design by Isabelle PortesSEDA College,68-72 Capel Street, Dublin 1.Ph: 01 473 4915; news@seda.ie; www.news.sedacollege.com; http://www.facebook.com/mySEDA.Ireland

A new batch of brand new SEDA branded hoodies has

now arrived and is available for purchase. The stylish jackets will keep you warm and dry during the autumn months and they cost only 20 euro a piece. Get yours at SEDA’s reception or marketing de-partment on the college’s second floor. Students can also get their own SEDA College kits consist-ing of a SEDA-branded rucksack, notepad and pen. The kits are

available for just 5 euro (or 4 euro if you buy one together with your study book).

Well done to all SEDA stu-dents who passed the latest

City & Guilds exam that was organ-ised by the college! Out of 12 people who took the test 10 passed, with four students receiving a First Class pass, which is the highest possible re-sult they could achieve. Meanwhile, SEDA is planning a graduation party for all the students who passed the Cambridge ESOL exam in the sum-mer. Internationally recognised ex-aminations like City & Guilds, Cam-bridge ESOL and IELTS are a great

way to test your English and they can also be very handy when applying for a job or a third-level course. SEDA College regularly organises (or fa-cilitates) these exams – stay tuned for information on the next test dates!

3

Arthur’s Day: great festival or a marketing trick?

Barry McCormack:“Like most Irish people, I think Arthur’s Day is a very clever and cynical marketing ploy. There was an infamous Youtube video from a few years ago, which showed a huge crowd of drunken people smashing glasses in a circle while two guys ran around naked covered in blood... It was like the last days of Rome, but with corporate sponsorship. I didn’t take part, honest. My advice to students is: stay inside and bolt the doors or run for the hills!”

Carmen Rodriguez:“I think it’s an event created to sell more Guinness, an extra St Patrick’s Day. The best thing is the gigs, the bad thing is you don’t know who’s playing where (at least it was like that last year)... Last year I went to Grogan’s and the Mezz and tried to get in Whelans but couldn’t: Mumford and Sons were playing there. I’d never seen so many people in the city centre, it was a bit crazy! As for advice on where to spend the day, I always tell my students to go to pubs outside the Temple Bar area because I don’t think that’s the real Dublin, except 2 or 3 maybe, so I’d say the same for this day. And definitely don’t go to Dicey’s!”

Stephen Cloak:“I think it was a good idea to celebrate the Guinness Brewery. The Iveagh trust, set up by the Guinness family, built my grandfather’s house. I loved granddad’s house as a child with its peculiar smell of brewing Guinness in the sitting room. If the festival wants to be successful now and into the future, it needs to build on the heritage of the area where it is situ-ated. Like the Iveagh trust before it, I think the festival needs to have a balanced community focus, taking care of those who live close to the Brewery, while integrating this into its global brand. As for celebrating Arthur’s Day, I have to be honest, the last few festivals have passed me by, as I was travelling or living outside of Ireland when the festivities were held. I recommend that the students have fun and enjoy at least one pint of the rare auld stuff!”

Thursday, September 26, is Arthur’s Day - a celebration of Arthur Guinness, the man who created the famous “black stuff”. SEDA News asked three of our teachers what they thought about the day and if they could give any advice to students.

If you’re in Dublin on Sunday, Sep-tember 15, make sure not to miss

FlightFest – a free festival of planes and aviation. More than 30 aircraft will fly up the river Liffey (one every three minutes!) as part of this day long festi-val. Organisers say they are expecting a crowd of 100,000 spectators to line both banks of the river for the aerial display. Commercial, military, rescue and vintage planes will be flying over Dublin City Centre on the day, includ-

ing a huge double-decker Airbus A380 capable of carrying 550 passengers and the World War II-era B-17 Flying For-tresses. The festival kicks off at 12 pm,

but the flyover will begin at 2 pm. The quays along the Liffey – from Custom

House to the Eastlink Bridge – will offer the best views.Flight Fest is absolutely free of charge and more infor-mation can be found on

w w w. f l i g h t -fest.ie

Students who want to test their English and brag about the re-

sults to all their friends can now use SEDA’s free Facebook apps – SEDA Teacher and FunTestIt. Developed by Guilherme Nas-sim, the apps offer a multiple choice test on all levels – from Begin-ner to Advanced. “SEDA Teacher is a very basic app that has just 9 questions, but FunTestIt is much more advanced – it has a big database of questions for all levels of English, so you can play many times,” said Guilherme who works in SEDA’s administration. “You get a score for answering correctly and your an-swers are also timed – so the faster

you pick the right answer the more points you get. Students can also see a

high score table, which should give them some motivation to improve their English and beat their friends on the app! You can also share your FunTestIt score

and show it off for all your Facebook friends to see”.Guilherme Nassim has recently fin-ished the first year of his Computer Science course in Griffith College Dublin and he developed the apps together with a course mate, us-ing all the skills he learned during the course. “Developing the app gave me an opportunity to struc-ture my knowledge,” he said. “We

only launched F u n T e s t I t a couple of weeks ago, but it has already got about 200 users, and we see a lot of people com-ing back to it and trying to improve their scores, which is great!”You can find the apps by typing “SEDA Teacher” or “ F u nTe s t It” in your Face-book search bar.

get ready for FlightFest: an air parade over Dublin

Test your English with SEDA’s cool new Facebook apps

News

You can read more about Arthur’s Day on page 9.

By Guilherme AKIO

Guilherme Nassim

4

Losing your religion? Try the Snowball Church!Have you ever been to a church where a surf board is the altar and the preacher calls you “dude”? If you’re looking for a religion whose followers sing rock or reggae songs instead of only gospels, and where the priest just chats about the Bible with everyone instead of preaching it, then come to SEDA on a Saturday afternoon. The Snowball Church will be glad to have you!

The first cell of Bola de Neve Church in Ireland has been born! “Bola de Neve” means

Snowball in Portuguese, and the name refers to the main goal of the church: increase in size and reach over time. The church is quite popular in Brazil and is slowly gain-ing ground in other coun-tries.

Bola de Neve is a church with a difference. It has an unu-sual method of worshiping God where the leader doesn’t preach, but just talks about the Bible as if he is among old friends, and makes everybody feels equal. During this informal liturgy the congregation praise God with pop, rock and reggae or gospel songs. Many of Bola de Neve temples are surf and skate theme decorated, which is a characteristic of the church. So don’t be surprised if you see a surf board used as an altar at one of the meetings!SEDA News interviewed Vin-icius Raineri who, along with his wife Wendi, is the leader of the Bola de Neve cell here in Dublin:

What gave you the idea of creating a Bola de Neve Cell here in Ireland?

Well, you can find our Cells all around the world, in places like Australia, USA, Germany, Portugal and many

other countries. A “cell” is a group of mem-bers in cities or countries where there is no Bola de Neve temple. Normally, the cells are started by the Brazilians who live abroad and miss the church

meetings. Here in Ireland it followed the same scenario: some people used to attend the Bola de Neve in Brazil, and when they came to live here they stopped going to church

because they couldn’t find one where they felt comfortable, maybe because of some cultural differences or the lan-guage barrier.

How many peo-ple usually at-tend your cell meetings in Dublin today?

The meetings started just about 2 months ago and there are approxi-mately 8 to 20 people in each meeting.

What attracts so many young people to the Bola de Neve Church?

The Bola de Neve Church has a strong name among young people because it

has a different style: it uses dif-ferent music, clothing and mes-sages. But at the same time our church is always grounded in the Bible, which is our guide for faith on which we base our life. Regardless of musical tastes and clothing, our lifestyle is much more important, and it is a style based on the life of Jesus Christ.

Could you talk a bit about your meetings at SEDA? What are they like?

We start by doing personal presenta-tions, but it is not obligatory for eve-rybody. We present ourselves in Eng-lish (we encourage everyone to speak in English as it is a way of practicing a

little of what we learned in school, but this is everyone’s individual choice. After that we sing songs of different styles, in English and Portuguese, then we talk a little about the Bible (for now these conversations are only in Portu-guese) and we talk a bit too with God, exposing our needs, wishes and thank-ing him for everything. At the end of the meeting we spend some time talk-ing, getting to know each other and exchanging our experiences.

The cell here in Ireland meets only at SEDA or do you get together in other places?

We usually meet once a week at SEDA and on weekends we get together to go

to parks or someone’s house to make barbecues, pancakes or watch movies in English (with or without subtitles). The cell is a place where we want to make real friends, so we habitually do

things together.

Who can partici-pate in the meet-ings?

Everybody! For the moment the meetings are in Portuguese, but, like I said, we are preparing to provide an Eng-lish translation in a few weeks.

Ireland is a very multicultural country and people from other nationalities have gotten in contact with us as they want to participate. So we are praying to God and preparing the group for it!

The meetings take place every Sat-urday at 16:00 at SEDA College. To contact Vinicius Raineri call 089 9615315 or email vini_raineri@hot-mail.com. Bola de Neve is also on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/495909010479894/

Everyone will have to pay the TV license – even those who don’t

have a TV. This is exactly what will happen in January 2015 if a new law that is being proposed by the Irish government comes into force. The law would replace the current TV license fee with another charge – the Public

Service Broadcasting Charge. The new fee would apply to all households in Ireland, regardless if they own a TV set or not. The change is designed to deal with TV license non-payers and it will also target the increasing number of people who don’t watch television, but access content via other devices, such

as smartphones or tablets. Currently only people who own a television set are required to pay the TV license fee. The fee, which stands at €160 per year, is used to fund public service broad-casting in Ireland, and the majority of it goes to sponsor Ireland’s national broadcaster RTE.

TV license fee to be replaced by new charge

The Irish spend twice as much on alcohol as on clothes

great Irish poet Seamus Heaney dies

Irish people spent 6.3 billion euro on alcohol last year – newly-re-

leased stats show. An average Irish person gave about

7.7% of their money away on drink. And while the recession made many people save on clothing, transport and communication in 2012, the Irish ac-

tually spent more on drink than the year before – by 1.2% to be exact. But while spending on alcohol showed a steady increase each year since 2009, spending on tobacco products went down by 2.4%.

News

One of the greatest Irish poets and a Nobel prize winner Sea-

mus Heaney died at the age of 74 on August 30. Ireland’s President Michael D Higgins, also a poet and a long-time friend of Seamus Heaney, led tributes to the literary genius. Ex-US president Bill Clinton, U2 frontman Bono and many other celebrities also paid trib-utes to the Irish poet. Heaney was born in county Derry in Northern Ireland and worked as a teacher before becom-ing a full time poet and writer.

He won the Nobel prize in literature in 1995. Some of Heaney’s best known works includes Death of a Natural-ist, Requiem for the Croppies and his translation of the saga Beowulf. The poet suffered a stroke some years ago, which led to health problems. U2

frontman Bono described Heaney as “a great, great poet” who changed his life. “In so many things he was a gen-tle genius, whose words challenged us with the grit and beauty of life as much as they gave us solace. He wrote with a brevity that strangely spilled to the brim,” he said.

By Netania GOMES

Bola De Neve followers like to go out together

Smile every day! The eleventh commandment of Bola De Neve

Bola De Neve meeting at SEDA

5

6

Why are the Irish crazy about gaelic sports?

Street vendors selling hats, necklaces, horns and other goods. The colours of the teams

stamped everywhere you look at. Crowds of supporters in and around the pubs, even if it is still early in the morning. From children to older peo-ple, groups of happy supporters sing-ing and walking toward Croke Park, the biggest stadium in Ireland and the 4th biggest in Europe (with a ca-pacity for 82.300 people). As soon as you leave your home and enter this lively atmosphere you know: there will be a GAA match in Dublin today.

Have you ever heard anything about Gaelic football or hurling, the sports that are so beloved by the Irish? Last month I went along to Croke Park in order to better understand these sports, so unusual for a Brazilian, like me, and also for many other foreign-ers. I was at one of the semi-finals of the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship, Clare vs Limerick. I got into Croke Park and be-fore seeing the stadium properly – the stands and the playing field – I had a chat with Tony Watene, National In-clusion Officer in GAA (Gaelic Ath-

letic Association), the sporting and cultural organisation responsible for the games.

One of the things he told me and that I found very interest-ing was that hurling and Gaelic football are amateur sports – the players are not paid and practice the sport as an extra activity to their regular job (a teacher, a bank em-ployee, a farmer…). Yet the infrastructure at the stadium is simi-lar to professional. Another interesting point: the play-ers and fans are like one family. “The supporters who come to see the games are often a neighbor, a friend or even someone from your family and that is why these games attract so many peo-ple to the stadium, even being ama-teur. It is like a big family on a typical Sunday day, hav-ing entertain-ment”, said Tony.

I could feel it. Alex FitzPatrick, 10 years old, was at the stadium for the first time. She was there with her dad, Mike FitzPat-rick. They came from Limerick to cheer for a friend. “It is different when you know the player personally and can talk with him later. My daughter is enjoying it a lot”, said Mike. Just beside them was a group from Clare whose team won the match. During GAA games the supporters

do not sit separate, based on the team they support: it’s very different from

soccer, for example, which has big ri-valries around the world. “I play hurl-ing and Gaelic football and I think it is really nice. Everybody sits together, talk and has fun. You are supporting your team, sure, but in a different way, without arguments and exacerbated rivalry”, said Dean Alford, volunteer worker at GAA.

Gaelic Footbal is the sport that is most played in Ireland now-adays and hurl-ing is at number 3. Soccer is in second place and rugby in 4th. The popu-larity of a sport depends on the

facilities that are available. “For Gaelic football and soccer you don’t need anything special, so they are more popular and cheaper. For hurling and rugby other materials are required, so they are more expensive,” said Tony Watene.

There are about 91 hurling and Gael-ic football clubs in Dublin and more

than 100 in Cork! The minimum age to start training is four years and when you are 13 you can already join the competitions.

The pre-season games start in Janu-ary. From February to April teams compete in the Allianz Nation-al League, and from June to September the GAA All-Ireland

Championship takes place. The quali-fier games are played in each of the 32 counties of Ireland (including North-ern Ireland where Gaelic games are also quite popular), but the semi-finals and the final are always in Croke Park. Ticket prices range from 20 euro for games that are not so important to 80 euro for the final match. You can also visit Croke Park Stadium and the GAA museum on days when no matches take place.

Admission rates, timetables and other info is available on www.crokepark.ie

Hurling and Gaelic football are the two most popular sports in Ireland. Despite being amateur (the players do not get any money for their efforts on the pitch), these sports attract thousands of people to the streets. The biggest crowds will gather this month for the All Ireland hurling and football finals in Croke Park (on the 8th and 22nd September respectively). SEDA News went along to one of the games in order to understand what all the fuss is about.

SEDA Sports

Gaelic games: the rules

What is the GAA?

Tony Watene, GAA Inclusion Officer

Hurling stars of the future

80 000 seater Croke Park is packed on match days

Hurling is said to be the fastest field sport in the world

SEDA News’ Bianca Daga

By Bianca DAGAPictures by Leopoldo CARRASQUERO

But how do these games work? Some rules in hurling and Gaelic

football are similar: there are 15 play-ers per team, the goal is shaped like the letter H and to score you throw the ball over the crossbar (that’s one point), or under the crossbar and into the net for a goal (equivalent of three points). A goal is signaled by raising a green flag, placed to the left of the goal. A point is signaled by raising a white flag, placed to the right of goal. Scores in GAA matches usually look like this 2-10 : 1-11 (the first team had 2 goals and 10 points, while the sec-ond got only 1 goal and 11 points. On the sum of points the first team wins). In the minor category, from 16 to 18 years, the game lasts 60 minutes and in the senior, from 18 years, 70 min-utes.HurlingYou may pick up the small ball (which is called a sliotar) with a stick (“hur-ley”) and carry it for up to four steps in your hand. After those steps you may bounce the ball on the hurley and back to the hand, but you are forbidden to catch the ball more than twice. However, you can take as many steps as you want running with the ball balanced on the stick and this is the main ability that is required to play this game. In hurling players of-

ten clash and there is always a chance of the ball (or a hurley!) landing on your head, that’s why helmets are mandatory since January 2010.According to GAA, hurling is the oldest field sport in the world. It was brought to Ireland when the Celts came, nearly two thousand years ago. The female version is called Camogie and other sports, like golf and hockey, are said to have originated from it. “Hurling is most famous internation-ally because it is different, whereas Gaelic football is part of a common group, with soccer, American football and rugby”, said Tony Watene. “Hurling is unique. You need to see it to understand. We always say it is the most skillful and fastest field sport in the world”, added Dean Alford.Gaelic FootballIt is a mix between rugby and soc-cer which has developed as a distinct game. The ball used is round, slightly smaller than a soccer ball and seems similar to volleyball. It can be carried in the hand for a distance of four steps and can be kicked or “hand-passed”. After every four steps the ball must be either bounced or “solo-ed”, an action of dropping the ball onto the foot and kicking it back into the hand. You may not bounce the ball twice in a row.

The Gaelic Athletic Associa-tion is a 32 county sporting

and cultural organization that has a presence on five continents. It is celebrated as one of the great ama-teur sporting associations in the world today. The GAA is a volunteer led, community based organization that promotes Gaelic games such as Hurling, Football, Handball and Rounders and works with sister as-sociations to promote Ladies Foot-ball and Camogie. It is part of the Irish consciousness and plays an influential role in Irish society that extends far beyond the basic aim of promoting Gaelic games.

7

In this issue SEDA News interviews Stephen Cloak who settled down in Dublin after a few years of travelling the world and now teaches English in SEDA.

Ireland’s national football team faces 4 exciting games which will decide if it can compete in the World Cup 2014 in Brazil.

Stephen Cloak was born in Dub-lin but spent most of his youth in Bray. Living in a small town

boosted his will to travel and live abroad: Spain, Brazil, Canada... Now settled in Dublin with his wife he got a job in SEDA earlier this year and teaches English to foreign students.

Have you ever lived abroad? Where?Yes, I have lived in Barcelona for a year, then I came home and after that I saved money and I went to Madrid and lived there for three and a half years and then I spent one summer in Toronto and I’ve lived for 7 months in Brazil. I worked as an English teacher in Madrid and in Barcelona I worked for LG Electronics as a customer ser-vice representative.

How many languages do you speak?I speak English, but I also speak Span-

ish – not very well, but OK, I would like to speak better. And I can also speak basic Portuguese.

Which was the best country or city you have lived in? Why?I would say maybe Ma-drid because I made the most friends there: I had more local friends in Ma-drid than in Barcelona.

What kind of music do you like?I like folk music, I play folk music like Barry Mc-Cormack (another teach-er whom SEDA News in-terviewed previously).

Have you ever played in a band?I did when I was a teenager, but we weren’t successful, not like Barry. I was more the musician who played before

the main band. In Bray I would play music to make everyone happy so the band could go in on the stage.

What’s it like to have a wife from another country?It is very interesting! It is nice and it means we eat very different takes, but

I eat more Brazilian food than Irish food. It also means most of my friends in Dublin are international. I have very

few Irish friends.

Did you expect to marry a foreign girl?No, but because I travel a lot it wasn’t a big surprise. If I was in my hometown, yes, but travelling so much, no. A Brazilian girl was a surprise because I was living in Spain.

What is your favorite place in Dublin?My favorite place in Dub-lin is Booterstown Beach: it’s always empty and it is

a nice place to look at the city. It’s also a nice place to go, to sit and think and be alone.

What do you like to do in your free time?Play music and study languages, more or less. I have a Portuguese class once a week and play music at home just for fun.

What do you like most about Dublin?I like the pace of life because if you live in a big city like Madrid or Barcelona, life is very busy and in Dublin, for ex-ample, the rush hour is very relaxed. And I like the fact that in 15 minutes you can get anywhere in the city.

What do you the hate most about Dublin? I hated Dublin when I was younger, because it was too small, and that’s why I wanted to travel. But when I came home after travelling the world I actually liked the fact that it was small!

Get to know teacher StephenYour story

Ireland is full of hopes to qualify, but the road won’t be easy be-cause the Boys in Green will face

3 of the toughest rivals in the group: Sweden (at home), Austria and Germany (vis-iting). The fourth and final match will be easier: Ireland will play Kazakhstan at home. In the European qualifier rounds the winner from each group automatically gets the ticket to the World Cup, and the teams that came second will have playoffs in No-vember. Ireland is in Group C which, not surprisingly, has Germany on top with 16 points. Austria, Sweden and Ireland are tied with 11 points each, giving the tour-nament a terrifying edge. The first test for Ireland will be on September 6th at Aviva against the Swedish team that is led by the star of the Paris Saint Germain, Zlatan Ibrahimovic. A win

over the Scandinavians would give Ireland a huge morale boost before the next game – a visit to Austria

on September 10 (the Austrians will face Germany in Munich on Septem-ber 6 and they are also full of hopes

to get the ticket to Brazil).

After an away game in Aus-tria Ireland will face Germany on October 11, but winning will be hard, especially con-sidering Ireland’s crushing defeat to the Germans (1-6) last year at Aviva. The final game of Ireland’s World Cup qualifying campaign will be against Kazakhstan: this team only has one point, so vic-tory is a must. The Irish are full of hopes that after these 4 games their team will go to play offs and ultimately win the ticket to Brazil! Support the Boys in Green in the World Cup quali-fier games on September 6 (against Sweden) and Octo-ber 15 (Kazakhstan) in the Aviva Stadium! Tickets are still available and can be pur-

chased on www.ticketmaster.ie.Will the Boys in Green make the nation happy by qualifying for the 2014 World Cup?

By Yuri GALIZA

By Leopoldo CARRASQUERO

Four games away from the World Cup €5

Bangers and Mash is a traditional Irish dish that is easy to cook with very cheap ingredients. Here’s the recipe:

• 8 large potatoes, peeled and quartered• 2 teaspoons of butter, divided• ½ cup milk, or as needed• Salt and pepper to taste• 1 ½ pounds pork sausage• ½ cup diced onion• 1 packet dry brown gravy mix• 1 cup water, or as needed

1. In a medium saucepan cover the potatoes with water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain and mash with 1 teaspoon of butter and enough milk to reach your desired creaminess. Season with salt and pepper.

2. In a large skillet cook the sausage until heated through. Re-move from pan, and set aside. Add remaining teaspoon of butter to the skillet and fry the onions over medium heat until tender. Mix gravy mix and water as directed on the package, and add to the skillet with the onions. Simmer, stirring constant-ly, to form a thick gravy.

3. Place one scoop of potatoes in the center of a serving plate, top with two sausages, and cover with gravy.

BANGERS & MASH

recipe

8

Shows & Gigs in Dublin

Fleetwood Mac21th/25th September

The O2

Tickets: €65.50 - 106.00

NeoN NeoN12th September

The Button Factory

Tickets: €16.30

Fuck ButtoNs + the haxaN cloak14th September

The Button FactoryTickets: €20.00

leoNard coheN11th/12th September

The O2

Tickets: €88.50 - €110.00

BruNo Mars3th October

The O2Tickets: €44.05 - €49.65

Jay Z6th October

The O2

Tickets: €59.50 - €69.50

roger waters - the wall live18th SeptemberAviva Stadium

Tickets: €69.50 - €109.50

Bitter ruiN27th September

Whelan’s

Tickets: €10.00

the Black aNgels15th September

The Button Factory

Tickets: €17.00

BoNoBo3th October

Olympia TheatreTickets: €29.90

laura MarliNg29th SeptemberOlympia Theatre

Tickets: €29.00

No age5th October

The Grand Social

Tickets: 15.50

asideMaiNstreaM

BaNds | grouPs | siNgers

BsidealterNative

BaNds | grouPs | siNgers

coBBlestoNe PuB aNd veNue www.coBBlestoNePuB.ie

Free irish Music sessioNs 7 days a week!77 kiNg st N duBliN 7

iside

irishBaNds | grouPs |

siNgers

By Guilherme AKIO

souNdgardeN16th September

The O2

TIckets: €54.00

Billy oceaN 14th September Vicar Street

Tickets: €42.00

+ Dublin Fashion Festival 5th September 2013 – 8th September 2013 All around Dublin

Forget track suits and pyjamas – it’s time for Dublin to get a taste of real fashion! This year the annual Dublin Fashion Festival will feature on street fashion shows, workshops, industry expert demonstrations and talks, competitions and much more. DFF by Night will also be continuing the festivities late into the night with fashion shows in bars and restaurants around the city. Al events are non-ticketed, and many of the local bu-nesses will be hosting in-store events. www.dff.ie

+ Oktoberfest 2013 19th September – 6th October Georges Dock, IFSCThe original Oktoberfest will come from Germany to Dublin this month, giving you the chance to ex-perience the authentic Oktoberfest festival. A mar-quee – similar to that in the Oktoberfest in Munich (but much smaller) – a German market with sausag-es, meat, pastries, Käsespätzle (cheese noodles), and 24 authentic Oktoberfest barmaids will all descend on Georges Dock near the IFSC in Dublin 1. And of course there will be lots of authentic Bavarian beer – Erdinger! Entertainment will be provided by a real German live band called Die Alpen-show. Entrance is absolutely free! www.oktoberfest-dublin.de

Free events @ Dublin Theatre Festival

By Semy MONASTIER

The Festival will feature lots of production companies from abroad: Portugal,

Australia, France, Canada, UK, Po-land, USA, and even Japan and In-dia (the plays that are not in English will have subtitles). And of course, there will also be plenty of Irish groups in a vast selection of plays. Check out the full programme on:

www.dublintheatrefestival.com

Now, if you love this kind of event and would like to take part in it there are two amazing (and free!) options. First, you could join DTF as a volun-teer! Volunteering with the festival ensures a wide range of activities from programme selling to market research to front of house duties and beyond. Volunteers are an integral part of help-ing the festival to run smoothly each year. If you are interested in joining the

volunteer team you can send an email to: volunteer@dublintheatrefestival.com for an application form.

Second, if you are curious to see how a theatre play comes to life you can go to one of the In Development events – it is a platform to present work in pro-gress to public and professionals. You will have an opportunity to see theatre pieces at a critical phase in their devel-

opment, while the artists, writers and directors will use the space to try out new ideas! Admission to all In Devel-opment presentations is free, but book-ing is essential as capacity is limited.

You can either book in person at the festival Box Office or by calling 01 677 8899.

Dublin Theatre Festival will run from September 26 until October 13. Besides official selection of plays there will be a series of talks, exhibitions tours, various events and work-in-progress showcases. Most public events are free, but require booking.

9

It all began in 1759 in Dublin at

the St. James’s Gate Brewery where Arthur Guinness started producing what came to be one of the most famous beers around the world. But this year at exactly 17:59 on the 26th day of September (254 years later) all the followers of the Guinness beer will rise a pint in memory of him and

his legacy. It’s known as Ar-thur’s Day and it began in 2009, when the current Guinness owner, a giant multi-national drinks company called Diageo, decided to celebrate the 250th anniver-sary of Guinness.

The event takes place all over

Ireland and Northern Ireland (and internationally as well!). The country

will host a lot of musical and cultural events at over 500 pubs and venues, showcasing Ireland’s creativity and talent. This year Arthur’s Day will fea-ture Irish stars like The Script, James Vincent McMorrow and The Original Rudeboys, as well as some interna-tional talent like Emeli Sande, Bobby Womack and the Manic Street Preach-ers. Tickets will go on sale on Septem-ber 4th. For more info log on to www.guinness.com

Throughout the years the Guin-ness family has been known to spon-sor many charity projects in Ireland (through their Iveagh Trust fund). This year the Arthur Guinness Fund

has evolved into the Arthur Guinness Projects. If you have an idea in mind and you want to bring it to reality you can submit your project on - www.arthurguinnessprojects.com

Arthur’s Day has been criticized over the years as a marketing ploy to increase sales of Guinness. It’s also no coincidence that the event is held on a Thurs-day (traditionally, a “student night” in Ireland). Irish

Times has said: “If St Patrick’s Day, Christmas, and Hallowe’en are festi-vals that offer an excuse for a drink, Diageo has flipped the concept on its head and made the drink an excuse for a festival”.

But come on, it’s never a bad time for a Guinness!

v

Going OutHis name is Guinness, Arthur guinness

For one night only the city’s museums, galleries, churches, historic houses, artist’s stu-

dios, cultural centres and more will open their doors until late for a free night of entertainment, discovery and adventure. There will be hundreds of talks, tours, performances and events for you to participate in and enjoy! The event is known as Culture Night and it takes place in Dublin every

year in September. It’s usually very popular with both Dubliners and visitors (especially students!) and at-tracts thousands of people who stay up late for culture. Similar Culture Nights will also be happening across the island of Ireland – this year in a record of 28 cities, towns and counties! The programme of events is too large to list here, so make sure to check out www.culturenight.ie for what is hap-

pening in your area. You will definitely be able to visit the Trinity College li-brary (with its famous Book of Kells), St Patrick’s Cathedral, Christ Church, Jameson Distillery and other famous landmarks for free (but be prepared for long queues!) If you’re looking for some outdoors fun make sure to check out Meet-ing House Square in Temple Bar. To celebrate Culture Night RTÉ Radio

1 will present a three-hour extrava-ganza concert in conjunction with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, live from that beautiful square in the heart of Temple Bar. The concert will open at 7 pm with a specially commissioned ‘Fanfare for Culture’ by Stephen Gardner.

More info:www.meetinghousesquare.ie

There are three exhibitions in Dublinia where you will see Dublin city from a new

perspective: The Viking Dublin; The Medieval Dub-lin and History Hunters. All of them are interac-tive and life-like, and you learn not only the history, but also get to ex-perience the pro-fessions of a his-torian, scientists and archeologist. The first exhibi-tion shows that Vi-kings weren’t only the bad guys who came to plunder: in fact, many of them were tradespeople and farmers. They were the ones re-

sponsible for the development of Dub-lin. They arrived in the begginig of the eighth century, and at the exhibition you can see a lot of objects and remains

of these people.The Medieval Dublin exhibition shows the city dur-ing Medieval times. Dublin used to be one of the most important cities under the British Monarchy, and we see clothes, games, markets that were common in those times. Like many other European

cities in the Middle Ages, Dublin suf-fered from the Black Death and other disease epidemics, and you can see

various exhibits re-lating to medieval medicine and even toothache remedies from 700 years ago! In the final part, History Hunters, you learn how ar-chaeology works with history and science to piece to-gether the jigsaws of our ancestors’ lives and lifestyles. It takes the visitor through interactive digs and discover-ies. In the lab we learn how bugs and dirt can be the history hunters’ gold, leading them to understand habits and culture of a whole population. The whole visit takes around an hour and the tour is self-guided. You can

also take a small guide in your own language for free! SEDA News’ guide to Dublinia was the museum’s cura-tor and archaeolo-gist Sheila Dooley (Sheila has a Mas-ter’s degree in Early Medieval Irish His-tory), who has been working there for 6 years. She invites all students and tourists

to pay Dublinia a visit. Sheila told me: “We know who we are by knowing our past, and there is so much to learn about ourselves. Finding out more information and learning is part of discovering who you are. Looking at objects first hand is a way of branding

yourself and really trying to understand what life was like before us”. “Our exhibitions are very interactive and multisense and one of the main things we really appreciate is that the public have fun when they are here be-cause, let’s be honest, we all learn some-thing when we have a bit of fun. So I encourage everyone to try on the slave chains downstairs and try on the hel-mets and things like that!” So, after leaving Dublinia I can say that Dublin is much more multiethnic and multicultural than one could im-agine!

Dublinia is open to visit every day from 10am to 5pm (March to Sep-tember) and from 10am to 4:30pm (October to February). The admis-sion fee is €6,50 for students.

On Friday, September 20th, Dublin’s museums, galleries, churches, historic houses, cultural centres and more will have FREE entry until very late at night.

Housed in the historic Synod Hall at Chrischurch, Dublinia is an authentic and exciting experience. It’s much more than a museum, it’s a place for all ages to discover Dublin’s history.

By Guilherme AKIO

Enjoy Dublin’s culture for free!

Dublinia: a trip through historyBy Semy MONASTIER

Thursday, September 26, is Arthur’s Day: a celebration of Guinness and its creator – an Irishman named Arthur. SEDA News looked into the roots of this celebration which began... just 4 years ago.

Irish band The Script are among the acts playing at Arthur’s Day this year.

10

Photo Album

Sidnei, Amelia and friends

SEDA students on a trip to the Giant’s Causeway

Emir Mujica with friends

Member of the Bola De Neve church attending a summer festival

The

Bola

De

Nev

e ce

ll m

eet u

p in

SED

A

Eduardo Gonzaga met a giant leprechaun near Grafton Street

Sidnei, Amelia and friends by the seaside

Let the fun begin!

Teacher Margaret’s class enjoying the fine weather in Dublin

11

Photo AlbumSEDA’s Latin party at the Mercantile Bar, August 30. Photos by Tiago Santos and Leopoldo Carrasquero.

12

Crossword Puzzle: Numbers

Online games that will get you hooked

Do the maths and write the correct answers into the spaces.

A Bit of Fun

Send your answers to news@seda.ie, or cut this page out and give it to your teacher. If you get the answers right you can win a prize!

Your name:________________________________

___________________________________

Your e-mail: _______________________________

___________________________________Once again, congratulations to ALLINE SANTOS! She

won last month’s puzzle (for the second month in a row!) and can claim her prize in Carol’s office.

For more crosswords log on to: www.abcteach.com

Here are the answers to last month’s crossword puzzle:

By Yuri GALIZA

Strategy, action, racing, shooting… There are thousands of free online games out there and if you ever wondered which of them are worth your time SEDA News can help. Here are some great games that you can play for free in your browser – check them out!

The game is different from most strategy/action games because

in it you play as the blacksmith and not the warrior. You must produce weapons using all kinds of materials, such as copper, gold, diamond, and

you must forge them as well, by click-ing in the right places. Your warriors will ask you to make the equipment that they need so they can fight and then they will give you more materi-als, runes and recipes to make better

weapons. There are many different kinds of weapons you can craft, such as swords, bows, maces, shields and spears. This game will test your time management skills: you will have to do everything at the right time and

as fast as you can. You will spend the whole day playing this fun and enjoy-able game that was created by Flipline Studios.

In this defensive strategy game you must build towers that spawn sol-

diers, mages or archers who destroy enemy units as they pass the towers by. Your kingdom is under attack and you must defend it against hordes of

orcs, trolls, evil wizards and other fiends. You can upgrade your tow-ers, spells and summons, and you will also be able to get a mighty hero who is stronger than the rest of your army and will help you throughout the

game. This game was made by Iron-hide Games and is a must for lovers of strategy and/or tower defense.

The game has pixel graphics and it is a strategy game, but quite dif-

ferent from most. Instead of building bases you must infect people with zombie virus: that’s right, you must

infect people and then try to conquer the world by destroying whole cities and even continents by turning every-body into zombies! You can upgrade your zombies and also use special

items and special fighters, such as zombie Ronald McDonald and many others. The game created by the Toge Productions is fun to play and is also hilarious!

JackSmith

Kingdom Rush

Infectonator 2

Across

6. fifty more than fifty7. five and five8. one less than eighteen11. nine doubled14. five more than seventy-five16. twenty doubled17. two tens equals this18. six doubled19. one more than eighty-nine

Down

1. one less than twenty2. one more than ten3. ten plus three4. seven doubled5. two more than sixty-eight9. one more than twenty-nine10. one less than sixty-one12. five and five and five13. one more than fifteen15. half of one hundred