Visiting Irish Students

This week we were given the opportunity to gain some insight into the world of "high school" or secondary school here in Ireland. Our group took a short trip to a Post Primary School that is west of Spiddal by about 2.5 kilometers. After a brief wait, we met with the school's principal who gave us an idea of what to expect and divided us up into two groups of eight to interact with two different classes. Once in the class, we further divided into two groups of four to speak with two different groups in the classes. As the class split, it was the typical boys on one side and girls on the other, and I opted to sit and chat with the guys.  As a future educator I could only conjure up the lame inquiries such as "What is your favorite subject(s)" and "What kinds of school activities are you guys involved with?". It was no surprise that my lack luster questions we met with the answer equivalent to that of your ordinary American high school student. I've also come to understand that learning the Irish language is not very popular among the students. The vast majority would rather be taught in English, but due to a movement in the revival of the Irish language, most of the schools in the area where we are located are all taught in Irish.
We did find however that the students were very active in sports, mostly Gaelic Football, and had a diverse interest in American sports, and even a few questions about American politics and policies. It was refreshing to see students who were interested in what was going on in other parts of the world and had realistic questions for us to attempt to answer. They were also kind enough to show us their skills in music and dance. As a class, they sang a few traditional Irish songs for us, and one of the girls displayed her fantastic talent to perform the traditional Irish dance. This was overall a good experience for myself and our group. It was nice to be able to see the similarities in the American school system and the Irish school system, as well as their differences.