Paper Crane is a Russian educational club which has celebrated its sixth 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 great support from 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 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 academic years students got an A1 in the Leaving Cert exam.
Adults can also study at the Russian educational 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 and develop the skills if students have received tuition previously. There are also courses of 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. Very soon Paper Crane is planning to open its own library and all the books (about 1,000 in total, CDs, DVDs ) are donated by the Russian Cultural Foundation. The access to the library will be for all.
For more information phone Paper Crane at 087 2501263 or 086 284 6463, or drop in to the club on any Saturday (starting on September 13 ), between 11am and 2pm at Scoil Bhride, Shantalla.
