Local teacher trades places with Irish counterpart

IRISH EYES ARE SMILING—Cerene Hanika, who teaches at Round Meadow in Calabasas, poses with students in her classroom in Belfast, Ireland. Hanika traded places with teacher Deborah Pollock, moving to Ireland for a semester to teach second grade. Irish children must wear uniforms to class every day and greet their teacher with the classic “Good morning, Miss Hanika.” A local elementary school teacher and her Irish counterpart traded places for a semester to experience life and education in another country.

Cerene Hanika, a secondgrade teacher at Round Meadow Elementary School in Calabasas, exchanged fall semester classes with Deborah Pollock, a secondgrade teacher at Downey House School, a preparatory school in Belfast, Ireland.

For Hanika, life in Ireland has been delightful and teaching children in another land somewhat magical, she said.

Hanika’s day starts with the children chanting a hearty good morning to their teacher. Rather than learn from books, Irish students copy down the teacher’s work from the chalkboard into writing tablets, Hanika said.

“We go to French lessons, drama lessons and, my favorite, hymn practice where they sing old English hymns and look adorable,” Hanika wrote in an e-mail from Ireland.

American education for Pollock has been equally rewarding. “There are quite a few differences within the curriculum,” Pollock said. “Here in California the language arts scheme is more structured, giving the teachers plenty of guidance in relation to what the children should be learning from the story each week. At home it is the teacher who decides what areas will be looked at and we then have to pull ideas from a range of sources.”

The math curriculum also differs. “. . . The children at Round Meadow study one particular topic each week,” Pollock said. “At home the children will work through samples of several topics each week as they are introduced to new ones and also as review of topics previously taught.”

Outside of school, Hanika has been soaking up Irish culture and lore. She has visited castles and the rugged coastline, and attended a party called a “flough,” which is Gaelic for “bogside,” she said. The flough party, hosted in a thatched cottage, provides a means for the Irish to celebrate their heritage and move beyond the historic animosity between Catholics and Protestants, Hanika said. Professors, artists and other progressiveminded people attended the party and shared poetry, music, ghost stories, tea and cake.

“The whole evening reminded me of the ‘throng’ at Bilbo’s tea,” Hanika said.

“One thing I have noticed about Round Meadow is how actively involved the parents are,” Pollock said. “At Downey we do have the PFA who run several events during the year but we do not have parents volunteering in the classroom. I have seen the benefits to this as the parents are able to see what their children are learning and the children are excited to share their school experience with their parents.”

Students in both classes have reaped the benefits of sharing their teachers by sending and receiving letters and pictures from each other.

Pollock plans to bring some teaching methods back to Belfast next month. “I have been very excited about the Step Up to Writing scheme,” she said. “I have found that this style of teaching encourages the children to take on much more ownership of their work and express their ideas,” Pollock said.

Hanika wouldn’t mind importing the opportunity to learn a second language starting in kindergarten. She also likes the practice of allowing older children to serve as “prefects for the younger ones and keep everyone in line.”

Hanika also appreciates tea breaks. “Each break everyone has tea and then after school, the school secretary comes around with a tea tray,” Hanika said. “Mine is always made especially for me since I like cream and sugar.”

Hanika and Pollock were chosen for the program through the Fulbright Exchange Program.

“It is a great opportunity,” said Rose Dunn, principal of Round Meadow. “We learn about the other country. We have opportunities to learn from another perspective what seems to be going well and what we might improve.”