Paper Crane is a Russian educational club, which is celebrating its fifth anniversary this year. It educates children and adults, in preserving and promoting the heritage of Russian traditions and the language itself, in bringing together all enthusiasts interested in the past, present, and future of Russian culture.
While the benefits of preserving Russian culture for Ireland’s Russian community are obvious, this practise can also benefit the country as a whole by encouraging further integration of the Russian-speaking community into Irish society, while Irish people will have the opportunity to become acquainted with Russian language and culture.
Teachers and tutors at the Russian educational club are all qualified specialists with degrees in such areas as teaching, music, drama, computer technologies, and administration. Their voluntary work gives great results; the students successfully participate in various competitions and win prizes in them.
There are several groups of children, between the ages of two and 18, attending the club. They are taught the language, the ability to read and think in Russian, and they are introduced to great Russian literature and arts. Paper Crane is doing its best to develop bilingualism in children who live and study in Ireland. Official statistics confirm that bilingual children show deeper profundity in all areas of learning and development.
The Russian language is one of the subjects children can choose for the Leaving Certificate. Unfortunately, the language itself is not taught within the school system. Only transition year students in some schools around the city and county have the opportunity to study it. To bridge this gap, Paper Crane gets support from the Post-Primary Languages Initiative by sponsoring a group of those students who would like to take Russian as a non-curricular language at their Leaving Certificate exam, so there are no charges for these classes. This project is developed and maintained by the Department of Education and Skills, and Paper Crane is very proud that the overwhelming majority of 2013 students received A1 grades at their Leaving Cert exam.
Adults can also study at the club. There are courses of Russian (all levels ), offering an excellent opportunity for gaining a basic knowledge of spoken and written Russian for everyday situations, developing new skills. There are also courses in English (all levels ), photography, drama, and breakdance.
Special attention and tuition of Russian is given to adopted children (from Russian-speaking countries of the former USSR ) and their parents.
The club arranges various festivals, celebrations, competitions, and outings throughout the year and it welcomes all newcomers.
For more information, contact Paper Crane at 083 339 2530 or 086 257 5785, or drop in to the club any Saturday (starting on September 7 ) between 11am and 2 pm at Scoil Bhride, Shantalla, Westside.
