Divine Word School of English

Finally, after three years, it was possible to get back to Italy and particularly Rome during the past week – The Divine Word School of English has revisited Rome! It was possible to meet some former students and, most importantly visit many of the Pontifical Universities and Collegios in Rome. A very positive response from University Secretaries and Collegios. Many thanks also to the former students who extended great hospitality. Next Friday, March 17 is St Patrick’s Day and we are beginning our Irish Week tomorrow with a visit to the Stadium and Museum of Irish Sports and also the Irish Writers’ Museum. All the very best Slán (Goodbye in Irish).

February has been the month of the saints – on February 1 we celebrated the feast of St Brigid and then, for the first time, we had a Public Holiday in honour of St Brigid. On that day we visited St Brigid’s Cathedral and then went on a guided walk (In the footsteps of Brigid) in the Curragh – a vast area of with many historical connections – also very famous for horses and horse racing. One of our pictures is from the Curragh and the other is one of our students holding a large St Brigid’s Cross in St Brigid’s Cathedral.



Now we are preparing for Pancake Tuesday – next Tuesday, February 21.

For this week’s post we show a little band of us here at the school. You may see the lady in the centre is holding a picture – she is Letizia from Milan, she is holding a sketch which was produced by her son, Federico. Letizia studied with us for some weeks in January before taking up a new job in Milan and her son Federico spent time with before Christmas. We hope to use Federico’s drawing in some of our printed material during the coming year.



Now that we are hopefully back in contact on a more regular basis – we will try to put up a post every Friday afternoon to give you some of our news – we wish you a good weekend.

We are coming to the final week of this term. We will finish class next Wednesday, March 31. We will then have a break until April 12. Over the past number of weeks, we have had contact with students from the countries represented by the flags in this week's image. There will be a prize for the first person who sends us (by email) the correct names of the 12 countries which are represented. Some contact was just a few sessions to help with a particular project, others joined the full on-line class programme.

For the classes, some joined us on-line from their own countries others were linked in from Dublin, Celbridge and Maynooth. I can't tell you the countries they joined from as that would give you a hint!!!

If you want to join our little competition, you can send your answers to [email protected].

For anybody living in Europe the prize will be a big Easter Egg. We will see what a winner from further away would like.

Have a good weekend!!!

The last few days at the school have been very interesting as we continued with our on-line classes. Yesterday, Thursday, and today, Friday, filming of the Amazon Prime series "Modern Love" took place here at the school.

Though it was not possible to go too close to the work that was being done, I hope the attached pictures will provide an idea of what it was like to be on a film set. Certainly those who have studied here in the past will be familiar with the location of the various pictures.

Have a good weekend and back in touch next week.

We are at the eve of St Patrick's Day. We take this opportunity to wish friends all over the world a Happy St Patrick's Day -
Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig !! ☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️

Last year at this time we had a very good number of students at the school; this is our second year in restricted circumstances. We hope that we will be back to receiving students by St Patrick's Day 2022, perhaps even before then.

Remember us on tomorrow, March 17.

Every year at about this time we have a facebook post which includes a picture of the daffodils at the entrance to the school together with those who are studying and working at the school at that time. This year will be a little difficult; we are on-line and so, instead of the staff and students - we have the router!

It is important for us to send this message to let you all know that we are still here and we hope that it will soon be possible to welcome new students to the school and also to have others back.

Have a good weekend!

Christmas is almost here but before we leave for the Christmas holiday it is necessary to wish all our friends around the world all the very best for this season. We have survived in the school until now and we hope to return at some point in January, 2021. We will keep you updated on developments and see how we can progress.

Please keep safe and well.

In Irish: Beannachtaí na Nollaig (Happy Christmas!)
We will all look after each other in 2021.