SEDA student to play at the National Concert Hall with an Irish orchestra

Hailing from the town of San Cris-tobal, Mariell had just finished high school in Venezuela before coming to SEDA College in order to improve her English last year. She said she learned music at school, having studied music theory, cello, guitar and piano. She was looking to join an orchestra in Dublin and found The Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM) Intermediate Orchestra – one of Ireland’s biggest orchestras for teenagers and kids – which was only happy to take the talented musician on board.

She now plays the cello in the or-

chestra and is preparing for two big concerts in the coming months. The first one will take place on Sunday, 2 February, at the Blessington Church at 3 pm, and the second one will be in Ireland’s biggest concert hall – the Na-tional Concert Hall (Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2) on Sunday, 2d of March, at 6 pm. If you would like to enjoy some classical music make sure to book the tickets for the shows!

“I came to Dublin to improve my English and also to get to know new cultures,” Mariell told SEDA News. “It’s great that here in Ireland I can meet a

lot of people of different nationalities, so I can improve my English and learn more about the world where I am. Also other plans are to play with my orches-tra and know a lot of places!”

“I think Ireland is a beautiful country, Dublin is very nice and it’s a very cultural city. You can find a lot of things to do here! The only thing I don’t like is the weather because it changes a lot!!”

The RIAM Intermediate Orches-tra was formed in 1988 and the aver-age age of its members, who come from all over Ireland (and beyond),

is fourteen. Under conductor James Cavanagh the Orchestra has proven to be one of the most accomplished and versatile groups of its kind in Ireland. It has travelled abroad on many occa-sions to countries such as Switzerland, Norway and Germany, participating in a variety of youth music festivals. The Orchestra has also performed in almost every county in Ireland. It also regularly performs as part of the Edu-cation and Outreach Programme of the National Concert Hall.

SEDA News, Issue 26, January 2014 Copyright: SEDA College | www.news.sedacollege.com

Mariell Belandria plays the cello in the Royal Irish Academy of Music orchestra – one of Ireland’s biggest youth orchestras. She is now preparing for two big performances in February and March.

Morocco: a trip to another continent

Anna Tanakova

from Rus-sia is the winner of SEDA’s lat-

est course competition

All you wanted to know

about Post-graduate courses in Dublin

BACK TO SCHOOL

WINNER

TRAVELLINGPAgE 7

PAgE 9

PAgE 3

SEDA student Diego Cabero in the offices of Moqom, a Dublin IT company where he did his internship earlier this year

Students became Santas for a day as they brought presents to the residents of Belvilla nursing home in Dublin - see page 4.

2

NewsInternship programme

invites applicationsSEDA’s internship programme is

back in action after the Christ-mas holidays and applications

are welcome on internship@seda.ie. Students wishing to apply for unpaid work experience positions in Dublin companies just need to send their CV and an internship coordinator will get back to them. All long-term SEDA college students can apply (provided they have a good attendance record) and taking part in the programme is absolutely free. The internships nor-mally last for several months and can be done part-time. Upper Intermedi-ate level of English is required to apply for most positions, however there are opportunities for lower levels as well. You can find out more about the pro-gramme on SEDA’s website:

http://sedacollege.com/en/services/internship

Some of the current open vacancies are:

• Bentley Systems – a globalengineering software/services compa-ny – is offering a 3 to 6 months’ Cor-

porate Sales internship in Dublin City Centre. The Corporate Sales Intern will be primarily responsible for call-ing campaigns to recruit users/pros-pects to attend the company’s events and also surveying prospects in order to identify potential accounts. The po-sition is an excellent opportunity to gain an appreciation of a software sales role. Interns will assist with lead gen-eration, recruiting for Bentley events and conferences, utilizing CRM sys-tem to research accounts, log, and track all activities including meetings, leads, opportunities, quotes, and closed sales.

• CoachTourismand Transport Council of Ireland based in Swords, Co. Dublin are look-ing for an Administra-tive Assistant intern. The successful applicant will provide administrative support to the CTTC, Na-tional Director. On com-

pletion the intern will have attained skills in administration, team working and time management, and external communication. The intern will be answering the phone, dealing with all incoming correspondence, assisting in preparation of reports, assisting the National Director with members queries, assisting in the preparation of trade events and research in transport related matters

Number of non-EU students on the rise

Teacher Margaret gets a grade... in kickboxing

The number of non-EU students in Ireland increased by approximately 20% in 2013, according to the latest data from the Irish Immigration and Naturalisa-tion Service (INIS). At the end of 2013 INIS estimated the number of non-EEA national students registered to study or in training in Ireland to be 39,600, up from 31,400 a year earlier. The students made up 33% of the total number of non-EEA nationals with permission to remain in the State.

Broken down by education sector, 39% of students are pursuing Higher Educa-

tion (Degree Programme) study, 21% are engaged in further education (non Degree) courses, 27% (almost 11 000 students) are taking language courses and 13% other (e.g. secondary school).

The number of applications for Irish citizenship that were processed by Ire-land’s Department of Justice is also increasing. Last year the Department processed over 30 000 such applications, up from 25 000 in 2012. 18 citizenship ceremonies were held in 2013 and were attended by 18 000 people who were granted Irish citizenship.

SEDA students who act loud at classes and complain a lot – you better take note: teacher Marga-

ret is not a stranger to some serious butt

kicking. The Dublin-born teacher is usu-ally friendly and easy going, but you’d best stay on her good side: she can also pack a punch (and a kick) – and now she

has the proof. Last month Marga-

ret Beatty was award-ed her first grade in kickboxing – a yellow belt. Margaret told SEDA News she has been training in the Tallaght Martial Arts gym for the last three months along with her niece Nicola, who was also award-ed a yellow belt last month. The ladies are determined to keep training and they will be needing some practice soon – you have been warned!

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

Margaret and Nicola with their belts

Revenue warns of email scamThe Revenue Commissioners (official body

that looks after tax collections) is warning about an email scam as hundreds of Revenue customers received fraudulent emails in the last number of weeks. The emails purporting to come from Revenue seek personal infor-mation from taxpayers in connection with a tax refund. These phishing emails are headed ‘Notice of Tax Return’. The body said these emails had nothing to do with its service as The Revenue Commissioners never send emails requiring customers to send personal

information via email or pop-up windows.“Anyone who receives an email purport-

ing to be from Revenue and suspects it to be fraudulent or a scam should simply delete it,” said a spokesperson. “Anyone who is ac-tually awaiting a tax refund should contact their local Revenue Office to check its status. Anyone who provided personal information in response to these fraudulent emails should contact their bank or credit card company immediately”.

If you are looking to improve your conver-sational English and meet new people then attending one of Language Exchange Ireland events can be a good option for you. Language exchanges are organised twice a week: on Mondays in Dtwo (Harcourt Street, Dublin 2) and on Thursdays in the Turk’s Head (Parlia-ment Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2). The ses-sions resemble speed dating: you are assigned a table number on arrival, opposite a native

speaker of the language you are learning. You will speak English for 5 minutes and then the other language for 5 minutes and then move on to the next table. The cost is €5 euro and it includes finger food. The exchange caters for all levels and currently supports the following languages: Spanish, French, Portuguese, Ital-ian, German, Japanese, Chinese. You can find out more by searching “Language Exchange Ireland” on Facebook.

Improve your English at Language Exchange

3

Russian student wins SEDA course as her town dances with leprechauns

Anna’s essay“I want to learn English in Dublin because I am attracted to Ireland! Even as a child, looking through educational cartoons in English I realized that I want to learn it. For eight years I dreamed to visit Ireland – wonderful for me it is, one of the first in the list of desires. Also I like to communicate with people from other countries to learn their mentality, to share information and experiences. But I understand that this must be improved in learning English as conversational I have a decent, but often do not know how to express some thoughts. Develop, create and travel! These are the main priorities in the enrichment of my world and I hope this contest in some way helps me in this. God and Saint Patrick be with you!”

Well done to Anna Tanakova from Russia who won SEDA’s latest student competition! Anna won a free course at SEDA and we all hope to see her in the college later this year.

Anna Tanakova from the town of Abakan in Southern Siberia emerged as the winner of SEDA’s latest photo com-petition. Participants had to send in an essay explaining why they would like to come to Ireland to learn English and attach an original photo of themselves.

The contest was organised by Natasha Rumiantseva, an English teacher from Abakan, who spent a month doing an

upskilling course in SEDA College last year. Natasha was so impressed with Dublin and the school that she is now promoting it among her students, she said.

The teacher’s friend who runs a dance school in Abakan organised Irish danc-ing classes ahead of the competition. After learning the moves the students went out into the streets of the Siberian

city, flash mob style, to perform an Irish jig before puzzled passers-by. One of them was dressed as a leprechaun and the performance caught attention of the local journalists, so a report about the dancers appeared on Russian regional TV.

“I had a great time in Dublin and have been telling about it to all my friends,” Natasha told SEDA News. “I really miss Ireland and hope to return here one day – maybe even this com-ing summer!” SEDA hopes to attract more Russian students in the New Year as Ryanair is expected to start regular flights between Dublin and Moscow or St Petersburg in spring.

SEDA News wishes to congratulate Anna Tanakova on winning the compe-tition. Well done and see you in Dublin!

News

Wish your friend a happy birthday with SEDA News! Send your greetings, postcards and photos to news@seda.ie we will publish them in the next issue of the paper.

Andressa Karen

““Happy birthday teacher! We wish you the best in everything, and best wishes for

your baby as well!” Your students

5 January

“Best wishes for your birthday!”

26 January

25 January

SEDA News wishes a very happy birthday to these people born in January:

“A very happy birthday from your col-leagues!”

Thiago Palmeira

14 January

“Happy birthday from all SEDA’s marketing team!”

Vanessa Martins

Jennifer Phillips

Anna Tanakova can’t wait to come to Dublin!

4

Students bring a Christmas cheer to Belvilla nursing home

Twenty-five-year-old Jun hails from the city of Ul-san in the South East of

South Korea. He has already lived in Dublin for three months, study-ing at SEDA’s Upper Intermediate class. “Coming to Ireland was my first experience of travelling outside my country,” Jun told SEDA News. “I wanted to work as well as study and I was very happy when SEDA offered

me this internship op-portunity”.

So what will he do in his new role? “This is the first day of my internship, so I don’t really know!” laughs Jun. “But I sup-pose I will be supporting SEDA’s East Asian stu-dents – especially those from South Korea. I will also be helping SEDA’s staff organise events and student activities. I sup-pose I will have to answer a lot of questions about the visa process, insur-ance, PPS numbers and so on”.

There are now dozens of South Korean students in SEDA, but Jun says his countrymen (and wom-en) do not like to stay too

close to one another. “Most Korean people want to improve their Eng-lish, so they don’t really want to be hanging out with other Korean peo-ple,” he said. “So in my case, for ex-ample, I didn’t want to share a house with other Koreans.”

Jun says that he likes Ireland well enough and enjoys the SEDA expe-

rience, but misses his family, friends and girlfriend. In his spare time he enjoys playing football and other sports. However, Jun was unable to find a football club in Dublin that would accept him and now only watches the beautiful game on TV.

“I would love to get involved with organising student activities and I think some sports or outdoor activi-ties would be really interesting and helpful to most SEDA students,” he said. “It would be nice to play foot-ball, or go hiking or swimming. It would be great to get out of the school for a while”.

Jun said he hoped to make new-comer Asian students feel more welcome at SEDA: “When I came to Dublin I felt a little embarrassed and nervous about everything and I thought of myself as a little baby because I needed help with every-thing! I was also worried about a lot of things, including communication with people from other countries. But after three months here I found that there was nothing really to be afraid of. So I would advise Korean students to be more brave and confi-dent and then you will improve your English fast!”

You can contact Taejun Hwang on taejunjay@gmail.com

Jun will teach Asian students to be more confident in Ireland

News

In true Christmas spirit, SEDA College students vis-ited a local nursing home and put on a colourful show for its residents. They also brought presents for every one of the “grannies” and “granddads” and brightened up an otherwise gloomy Decem-ber day.

Asian students coming to SEDA College now have someone to look after them: Taejun Hwang – or just Jun – the new intern from South Korea. Jun will be working with SEDA’s student support team helping Asian students find their feet in Dublin.

Last month SEDA College stu-dents made a return visit to Belvilla nursing home, locat-

ed in Dublin’s South Circular Road. The purpose of the visit was to wish a very happy Christmas to the home’s 40 residents. Students prepared a show full of dance, song and merri-ment and also brought presents for every one of Belvilla’s “grannies” and “granddads”.

The visit was organised by the col-lege’s administration for the second year in a row. All classes at SEDA took part in preparing the presents, which included warm scarves, gloves and pyjamas, blankets, colourful mugs, scented candles and post-cards. Every class then chose two representatives who greeted the nursing home residents on behalf of everyone else.

The students also rehearsed a show of music and dance especially for the “grannies” and “granddads” who rarely leave the nursing home and have very limited entertainment op-tions.

SEDA College provided a charter bus which brought the students to Belvilla on a cold, wet and windy December afternoon. Some 20 resi-dents, along with nurses and other staff, gathered in the nursing home’s common room to watch the show (the others were resting in their beds).

The entertainment began with “All I want for Christmas is You” and a tap dance performed by student Jua-na Machado Navarra. Professional dancer Juan Carlos Moron – from Venezuela – then vowed the crowd with a passionate flamenco. Rus-sell Gomez picked up the pace with his acoustic guitar, playing Rock-ing Around the Christmas Tree and other season classics, with the rest of the students singing along. Wil-liams Vegas – another Venezuelan student and a great voice – sang the solo parts.

Some of the grannies were danc-ing by the time Alejandro Lopez and Keyla Fabiola Dos Santos showed off their salsa moves. And at the end of the afternoon both students and the elderly residents sang “Jingle Bells” and “Rudolph the reindeer” together.

It was then time for presents, which were handed out with plenty of hugs and kisses. The students visited eve-ry ward and made sure that every single “granny” and “granddad” got a treat (even those who were sleeping in their beds).

At the end of the event the stu-dents – many of whom confessed they missed their own grannies and granddads back home – were prob-ably happier than the residents. A true Christmas spirit was in the air in Belvilla that day.

5

6

Staff of the month: Alicia Petit

Tell me a little bit about yourself and why you came to Ireland.

I’m from the town of Cabimas in the Zulia state of Venezuela. It is the hot-test state in my country, so when I got here it was a huge change for me. When I was leaving home it was about 45 degrees Celsius and when I got here it was 3, so I was freezing!I decided to come to Ireland because I wanted to improve my English and maybe do a Master’s degree in future. I saw the adverts of SEDA College and I checked out the school’s social media and really loved all the things that I saw. I arrived in SEDA on the 16th of April and started as a Pre Intermediate stu-dent, but now I am in the Intermediate group. I’m really loving the experience so far, all my teachers are super great!

What did you do back home and how did you get involved with the student

support team here at SEDA?

Back home I was a journalist. I used to work as a reporter and then as a newsreader on a local TV channel. I also worked in newspapers. When I got here my spoken English was good enough already, so I started help-ing my fellow students with finding a place to live, making phone calls and things like that. I then became part of the Venezuelan student support team and started working in the reception.Afterwards the college administration asked me to organise some student ac-tivities, so from October I started do-ing that. So far it’s been super great! I’ve had some really good moments – for example, some of the students come to the reception and give me chocolates just to say thank you because I helped them, and that feels really great!

How do you plan the student activi-ties and how do you come up with ideas for them?

It’s a kind of a team job. For exam-ple, sometimes I may come up with an idea, but to make it happen I need the help of other people who work in SEDA. Sometimes another person has the idea and I develop it into some-thing real. For example, to organise SEDA’s Christmas party in December I worked with so many people, and all of us here at SEDA contributed to mak-ing it happen. I just put all the pieces together, but everyone works on these activities.

What new activities are you planning for 2014?

I can’t tell you all the plans yet, but we have some really exciting events com-ing up soon!For example, we are going to do a cul-tural exchange that I think is going to be really really good for our students. Each classroom is going to pick a country and do a presentation about it in English. This event is going to take place between February and March. I’m really looking forward to it!For those who like sports and especial-ly football, just hold on a little because we have a lot of plans for you too! And for those who like reading we are now trying to set up a reading club that will be operational in the coming months.

Can students suggest activity ideas

to you?

Sure! They can always talk to me at the reception – I’m here pretty much eve-ry afternoon. But if I’m not they can email me on alipetitsoto@gmail.comWe’re always willing to take students’ ideas and work with them because at the end of the day we’re doing all this to make them feel comfortable, inter-ested and also to help them improve their English. If you have an idea you’re very welcome to contact me and I’ll be more than happy to take it on board!

I can see that your English improved a lot since April – what helped you to learn the language so fast? Any tips for other students?

I love watching TV and I watched lots of TV series back at home from the time I was a child. Now I keep doing the same, but on my laptop because I don’t have a TV here in Ireland. The TV is a great great help if you’re trying to learn English. For me, my best English teachers ever have been Rose, Rachel, Phoebe, Chandler and Joey from Friends. I watched the whole 10 seasons! Right now I’m watching The Big Bang Theory, Revenge, Grey’s Anatomy and a lot of other shows. It’s really good – the series give you vocabulary, pro-nunciation and you also learn a little bit of grammar because you learn the structure of sentences, so it’s been a great help to me!

How are you spending the winter holidays in Venezuela?

I’m actually working in the SEDA of-fice in Maracaibo because it’s just opened this month. I will also be go-ing to the SEDA office in San Cristobal to support them in one of the student fairs. So I only got to rest in December when I visited my family – after that it’s been work, work, work!

Do you have any New Year’s wishes for SEDA students?

First of all, God bless you all – this is the most important thing. I wish you health, prosperity and to always be in good spirits. I wish you to start the year with lots and lots of energy and keep it up until the very end of the year!

Alicia Petit works in student support and also organizes activities for SEDA stu-dents. The many exciting events that happened in SEDA over the past few months – meet ups, zumba classes, excursions, Christmas parties etc – have all been developed by her. Alicia is now on holidays in Venezuela, but she has lots of plans for new student activities in 2014, she tells SEDA News.

Your story

Baseball in Ireland

Highly popular in the United States, the Caribbean and Asia, base-ball is a sport that is gaining populari-ty in Ireland as well. The Irish baseball league is growing every year, seeking to develop its activities among the Irish (and everyone who lives here).

The beginning of the “sport of diamonds” in Ireland dates back to 1989, when the Federation of Base-ball and Softball Ireland (IBFS) was created. In 1996 when the Irish team

made its international debut in the European Baseball Championship in

Hull, England. Through the years Irish baseball

had great support from the United States as there have been various ex-changes in both tournaments and in-structors. But the greatest supporter of Irish baseball was an Irish-American named Peter O’Malley, former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who af-ter collaborating in the construction

of several stadiums around the world, promised to build one in Ireland. Opened in 1998 in Condalkin, West Dublin, and called “Field of Dreams” the stadium has 2 stages (adult and minor Baseball). It is here that the most important baseball activities in the country take place.

The Irish League Baseball has 2 categories, the principal is “A” with 6 teams (Spartans Dublin, Dublin Black Sox, Dublin Hurricanes, Greystones Mariners , Belfast North Star Warri-ors and Munster). There are 7 teams in the B category. The two leagues are played from April to September, both have regular round play-off and final.

The League was inaugurated in 1997. The Dublin Spartans are the current champions, having won the league 8 times.

If you want more information about the Irish and their league baseball , or are interested in playing baseball or learning then make sure to visit: www.baseballireland.com

By Leopoldo CARRASQUERO

Dublin Spartans are the current champions of Ireland

7

Are you thinking about doing some studies in the New Year? Not just Eng-lish, but something more related to your work or favourite pastime? Dublin offers plenty further education options – from graduate and post-graduate programmes to short and evening courses, so maybe it’s high time to start doing some research. SEDA News chatted to Netania GOMES from Brazil who recently completed a post-graduate diploma course in Digital Marketing.

Why did you choose to study Digital Marketing?

I work in the marketing department at SEDA College and I think it is important to learn about the new trends. And also nowadays conventional marketing can’t work properly without at least a dash of digital. Everything now is about digital.

How did you choose the course? Which colleges did you look at?

I was looking for a part time course as I work full time. I found two colleges of-fering the course I wanted. They were Dublin Business School and National College of Ireland. The course at NCI is a FETAC Level 8 course (FETAC is a qual-ity mark of Ireland’s official body over-seeing further education and training), and it covers 4 different subjects, while DBS award their own certificate and their course covers less subjects. In the end I decided to choose NCI – because of the FETAC accredited course.

What was the admissions process like? Did you have to do an exam or some kind of interview?

It was very simple. I just visited the col-lege and had an informal chat with the course coordinator. She said she thought my English was good enough. After that

I just had to fill out an application form and pay the course fee.

Does this course allow foreign students to get a visa to stay in Ireland?

Yes, but only full-time students are eligible for a student visa – their course would have to be at least 15 hours per week. In my case, the digital marketing course did not affect my visa situation because I studied part time.

What was the course like? How many times per week and what hours? How much did it cost?

I paid 2700 euro for the course and it was 2 days per week from 6:30pm to 9:30pm. It was divided into 2 parts of 3 months each. In the first 3 months we had the fol-lowing subjects: Project Management & Measurement in Digital Marketing and Digital Marketing Landscape & Strategy. The final three months covered Social Media and Public Relations and User Ex-perience & Technology.

During the course we studied real cases of well-known companies such as Uncle Bens, Amazon, Ryanair and many oth-ers – these practical exercises were re-ally good. At the end of studies I got a Certificate in Digital Marketing, which is a Level 8 Special Purpose Award on the

National Framework of Qualifications.

Was it difficult to study in an Irish col-lege in English? Describe your experi-ence?

I can’t say it was a piece of cake, but it wasn’t as difficult as I thought. It was easy enough to understand the teach-ers, however I didn’t participate much in class discussions (I’m too shy for that), and you can get really confused when 5 or more Irish people are talking at the same time!To get the assignments done was the hardest part as you need a great vocab-ulary. Putting down complex ideas in writing was not so easy and gave me a lot of headaches, but finally I got everything done and I passed!

Congratulations! What did you like most about the course and what wasn’t so nice?I really like everything about social me-dia, so it was kind of fun to learn about using Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for work purposes. However, the module called User Ex-perience & Technology wasn’t that nice and even though I got my highest score in that subject I think more than half of the material we covered in class was not necessary for us.Another not so nice thing about any dig-ital course is that you always have to try and keep yourself up to date as everyday there are new apps, new social media be-ing created and what is a cool trend to-

day may no longer be so tomorrow. And I already forgot some of the things I’ve learned... What are you planning to do next with this qualification?

As I said before digital marketers need to keep themselves up to date about all the new tech and features in the digital world. To tell you the truth, I am not doing my homework as I should, but I do intend to start a new course in the marketing and sales area as soon as pos-sible in order to add new skills to all the knowledge I got from the course I just finished.

If you’re not ready to start a diploma programme why not choose a short/evening course to learn new skills in your spare time? Evening courses in languages, business, computing, psychology and even such things as mas-sage, public speaking, wine tasting or guitar playing are available in many colleges – from as little as 70 euro per semester. Check out www.nightcourses.com for details and hurry up – enrolment for most such programmes ends at the end of January.

Back to school: post-graduate courses in Dublin

Your story

Like any other city in the world, Dublin is not per-fect. Unfortunately, it is not

just the lovely Irish weather that can make you have second thoughts about Dublin, sometimes its citi-zens can too. Dublin is not really dangerous, but it’s no paradise ei-ther, and as they say it’s better to be safe than sorry.

A lot of students here know at least one story about those fellas in tracksuits walking around the city and frightening people with their terrible attitude. These troublemak-ers have many names – skangers, scumbags, knackers…

By the way you shouldn’t really use the word “knackers” to describe them as the K-word is very offen-sive in Ireland and cause misunder-standing: it’s kind of like the N-word in America. The term “knackers” was first used in the 1960s by James Dillon, a politician, to denote Irish Travellers: a traditional Irish itin-erant people who live like gypsies, moving from one place to another.

Nowadays, these people are rec-ognized as a separate culture in Irish society and the Travellers’ culture and traditions have nothing to do with the troublemakers that you see on the streets. However, the word “knacker” became more and more pejorative as the decades passed. Today, this word is more often used to refer to people of a section of society who have accents, attitudes and a style of dressing that

is associated with anti-social behav-iour, petty crime, poor public hous-ing etc. But if you use “knacker” in reference to an Irish Traveller you may cause serious offence...

Everyone who has lived in Dublin for at least a couple of months can recognise these troublesome youths by their shabby Reebok or Adidas gear, birdlike walk and queer high pitched accents. But recognising these troublemakers is just one thing – it’s also important to avoid them.

They might stop you for just a pack of cigarettes or a mobile phone, but it can also be much more problematic than that. I heard a lot of stories about their night time at-tacks on foreigners, so don’t be silly and don’t walk around speaking in your language loudly at night or look for fights that may not end so

good. Be safe and try to enjoy the winter – if you can!

Editorial Note:SEDA News would like to remind

readers that tracksuit is a highly

popular mode of dress in Dublin and not everyone wearing those should be considered dangerous. Likewise, a person’s accent alone (or their way of walking) is not a measure of whether a person is a thief, troublemaker etc.

SHoRT & EvENINg CoURSES

Skangers, scumbags, knackers...By Lili CHATTERBOX

These guys look very sporty in their tracksuits, but are they safe?

8

Shows & Gigs in Dublin

Maroon 516 January,

The O2American band will play one date in Dublin with

supporting act Robin Thicke. Tickets: €39.50 – 44.50.

nathan Carter17&18 January @ The Olympia

Theatre, Dublin 2.Irish country singer will perform

songs from his latest album Where I Wanna Be + more established hits.

Tickets: from €23.

the Doors alive14th February @ The Academy, Dublin 1.

One of the best Doors cover bands will play a very special midnight show on Valentine’s

Day in Dublin. Tickets: €15.00.

sepultura4 February,

The AcademyMetal icons will be paying

a visit to Dublin in February next year. Tickets: €25.

sMoKie16 February

@ The Vicar Street, Dublin 8

Legendary British disco & pop band will perform in Dublin next month.

Tickets: €30.

outlaWZ7 February @

Tivoli Theatre, Dublin 8American rappers who once

supported the slain hip hop star 2Pac will perform a show in Dublin, Tickets:

€22.50.

Finbar Furey10 January @ Vicar

Street, Dublin 8.

Irish country & folk singer will perform

songs from his highly acclaimed album

Colours along with his Number 1 hit ‘Last Great

Love Song’.

DeClan sinnott23 January @ Whelan’s, Camden Street, Dublin 2

Famous Irish guitar player, singer and music

producer will give a solo performance at Whelan’s in Dublin.

Tickets: €16.50.

the Mighty steF31 January @ Whelan’s, Camden Street, Dublin 2

Irish indie rock band whose music has an affinity with such acts as LCD Soundsystem and Arcade Fire will perform a show

in Whelan’s. Tickets: €12.00.

asiDeMainstreaM

banDs | groups | singers

bsiDealternative

banDs | groups | singers

isiDe

irishbanDs | groups |

singers

Fun lovin CriMinals16 January,

The Academy,American hip-hop/funk/

rock/comedy band will rock the Academy in Dublin this

month. Tickets: €22.10.

Chinese New Year Festival

Christy Moore With DeClan sinnott

24 & 25 January @ Bord Gais Energy Theatre, Docklands, Dublin 2.

The legendary Irish singer Christy Moore will perform two joint shows with another Irish legend Declan

Sinnott. Tickets: from €39.50.

evita10 – 15 February @ Bord Gais

Energy Theatre, Docklands, Dublin 2.

Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s extraordinary musical EVITA features

some of the biggest hit songs ever written, including Don’t Cry For Me

Argentina.

Temple Bar TradFestWhere: Temple Bar area, Dublin City centreWhen: 30 January – 14 February

Later this month Dublin will mark the Chinese New Year – the festival will be happening for the 7th year in a row! Last year (and it has not finished yet, according to the Chinese calen-dar) was the year of the snake, while the new year will be the year of the horse. The Chinese will celebrate the New year on January 31.

The festival will see a wide celebration of Sino Irish arts and music, a photographic exhibition, lectures, concerts, the traditional spring festival carnival, A Taste of China, a business seminar, martial arts, sports and lots of fun for all the family. Many of the events will take place in Dublin city librar-ies, Hugh Lane Gallery, Chester

Beatty Library and across the country with the festival’s partner organisations includ-ing ICCS, Kildare Village, Birr Castle and UCC.

As relationships between China and Ireland grow and deepen, Dublin Chinese New Year Festival continues to seek out evidence of past Sino Irish con-nections creating new expres-

sions of intercultural contact and exchange and further developing existing intricate rich connections between our nations.

May the new year bring you blessings of great fortune. Xin Nian Hao!For full programme of the festival visit www.cny.ie

Where: Temple Bar, Dub-lin City centreWhen: 22 – 26 January

Temple Bar TradFest is Dub-lin’s biggest and best festival of Irish Music and Culture. The 9th TradFest will kick off 2014 with celebration of Irish

traditional music and culture, over 5 days and 5 nights. The festival features over 200 free events including music trail and family programme.

Throughout the festival art-ists from Ireland, England, Scotland, Spain and Latvia will perform at some of Dublin’s

iconic venues: St. Patrick’s Cathedral, St. Werburgh’s Church, City Hall, St. Michan’s Church and But-ton Factory.

Headline concerts include Stockton’s Wing & De Dan-nan, Paul Brady, Frances Black, Eleanor McEvoy and a concert “In Celebration of Frankie Kennedy: His Life & Music”.

The programme also brings street performers, face paint-ing, mobile farms, outdoor stages, live painting and much more on the streets of Temple Bar!For more info log on to www.templebartrad.com

9

Travelling

Morocco: a trip to another continent

a friend finished her course and was going back to her hometown. We really wanted to do

something special for her, something that would give her unforgettable memories. So what could it be? A trip to Morocco. Following my class-mate’s advice, we booked the plane tickets to Marrakech and a tour with

a local travel agency.

Then five girls, full of ex-citement, we arrived in Marrakech. On the way from the airport to the Riad (a traditional Moroccan house),

the place where we were staying, I understood why this city is known as “Red City” or “Ochre City”. Almost everything here has been built from red sandstone since the 12th century and up to now – little has changed.

In spite of being a big and busy city, an economic centre and a major tourist destination, Marrakech is not the capital of Morocco (Rabat is). The culture of this city is a mix-ture of Arab, Berber (indigenous Af-rican) and European influences. The official languages are Berber and Ar-abic. But for many Moroccan people

French serves as a second language and many people speak English too.

In Marrakech everything is impress-ing: the turquoise sky is set against grey rocks; kids play with monkeys and pose for pictures, girls apply mehndi (henna tattoo) in the streets, snake charmers play their flutes making snakes dance. All of this can be seen in the Jemaa el-Fnaa, a very famous square which is the centre of activity and trade. Another magic place is the Souks, an open-air mar-ketplace where you can buy lots of stuff for a very good price… if you

know how to bargain!

At the Riad – a traditional Moroccan house which we rented out – we lis-tened to local music and learned how to cook the tajine, the symbol of lo-cal cuisine. Prepared with fish, beef, lamb or another type of meat with fruits, olives, lemons and vegetables added in (as well as a variety of local condiments and spices), the tajine is really delicious! We ate it like the lo-cals, without using forks or knives (a

new experience for me!)

An adventure in the desert

Next day we got up at 7 am to leave Marrakech for Ouarzazate – Mo-rocco’s cinema capital. We travelled by van – a 200 km drive through the Atlas Mountains where we saw land-scapes of unrivalled beauty and au-thentic Berber villages. We stopped in ‘Ait Ben Haddou Kasbah’, a 16th century fortified village and a UN-ESCO world heritage site, where big films were shot like: Gladiator, The Mummy, Prince of Persia and many others. There, we visited the fortress where we dressed up in traditional clothes and each one of us got a Moroccan name, as a joke, while we drank traditional tea with the locals.

We were supposed to ride camels at sunset, but we got delayed taking lots of pictures, buying stuff and appreci-ating everything. However, it was an awesome experience to ride a camel toward the desert camp (where we slept) at night for one and a half hours. I had never seen sky like that – the darkness made the stars shine brighter than usual; the silence was

broken only by the camels’ steps on the sand and by the weird noises they

made with their mouths.

In the desert we had dinner, sang around the bonfire and after a frozen night, we woke up early, just on time to see the beautiful sunrise over the dunes. We then had breakfast and rode the camels again. On the way

back to Marrakech we visited the Draa Valley (an oasis of palm trees in the middle of the dry desert) and had

lunch in the Atlas Mountains.

This definitely was an incredible trip and I want to thank Juliana for be-ing a part of it. We miss you and Mo-

rocco too!!!

If you want to go to Morocco here are a few tips that will help you make the journey:• YoucanflyDublintoMarrakechwithRyanair,returnticketscostfrom 120 euro.

• BookatouroftheMoroccanNatureTrail.Icandefinitelyrecom-mend Farid Aos, one of the agency’s owners. He is a Moroccan guide who made our trip very funny. Easygoing and entertaining person he became our friend. You can get more information on: www.moroccantrail.com.

• Expensesforagroupof4:105europerperson.Includestransferto and from the airport; 2 nights’ accommodation in Marrakech (shared room en suite) with breakfast; transfer for the tour; desert trip to Zagoura Dunes (2 days and 1 night) with an English-speaking guide, camel ride and a night in the camp with dinner and breakfast.

• Spending3daysinthedesertisworthitifyouhavethetime!

• Makesureyouhavethenameandaddressofyouraccommoda-tion handy when you arrive. It is important information.

• Bringapairofwarmsocks.Desertnightscanbefreezing!

• Don’tbeshy,alwaysbargainwhenyou’rebuyingsomething.Thisway you can get great discounts.

• Youcanhavelocalfoodforjust4to8euro.

Fancy a trip to another continent? Then hop on a plane to Marrakech (return tickets from Dublin can be booked for as little as 120 euro). SEDA News writer Carolina trav-elled to Morocco last month and had the time of her life.

Cheers: drinking traditional Moroccan tea at Ait Ben Haddou

By Carolina Nobre BERNAL

“A trip to Morocco can have all kinds of fun stuff! When I thought about going to Morocco I was expecting lots of colors, different types of food, crazy traffic. I had all that! But, most of all, I had fun, excitement, and tons of culture! Moroccan people are nice, full of happiness and are great hosts. I made friends for life and became more aware – this knowledge will help me live a better life. I’m a fan of Morocco!” Marilia Savicki Lorandi

“

visiting Morocco from Dublin

Riding in the desert: picture by Marilia Savicki Lorandi

10

Photo Album

SEDA’s “Back to School” welcoming party on January 6

11

Photo Album

Wilmer and Maria Rojas’ X-mas party

Happy New Year! Alicia Petit travelling Carolina and friends in Moroccan desertFeliz Navidad from Venezuela!

SEDA’s X-mas party at Howl At The Moon

Juana Machado Navarro performing a tap dance in Belvilla nursing home

Juan Carlos Moron performing flamenco at Belvilla It’s presents time!

Belvilla staff join in the fun

12

New Year’s crossword puzzleA Bit of Fun

vCongratulations to DANIELA YVIMAS who won the

previous month’s puzzle! She can pick up her prize in the Marketing office on 2nd floor.

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: _______________________________

___________________________________

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

Note: There are no spaces in

between words

SUDOKU ACRoSS1. Gift, 4. Chimney, 6. Reindeer, 9. Decorations, 11. Beard, 15. Boxing day, 17. Elves, 18. Christmas eve, 20. Snowflake, 25. Coal, 26. Stocking, 28. Lights, 30. Rudolph, 31. Santa Claus.

DoWN2. Tree, 3. Presents, 5. North pole, 7. Candy cane, 8. Milk and cookies, 10. Card, 12. Under, 13. December, 14. Peek, 16. Red, 19. Star, 21. Frosty, 22. Work-shop, 23. Sleigh, 24. Angel, 27. Carol, 29. Toys.

1. new year in Scotland3. enumeration of final moments4. greet warmly6. famous London clock8. explosion of lights10. day of new year16. 12 o’clock at night17. promise you make19. new year month20. shows the date21. traditional New Year song

DoWN

2. there are 12 in the year3. festivity to mark an event5. couples do this at midnight7. expression of goodwill9. celebrate the arrival11. where crowds gather in New York12. noise produced by clock13. get-together to celebrate14. used for decoration at parties15. celebration drink18. move to music

ACRoSS

For more crosswords log on to: www.learn-english-today.com