Diversity Week By: Katie, Myles and Ryan

Diversity Week 2016 What is Diversity? Diversity means understanding that each individual is unique, and recognising our individual differences. These can be along the dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio- economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or other ideologies.

During Diversity Week we had four people come to our school. On Monday, Ciarán and Laura Ryan came to our school to talk about Religion. On Tuesday Sinéad Burke came to talk to us about her life as a “Little Person”. On Thursday Khan Kiely came in to talk to us about dyslexia and what it’s like to be dyslexic. And on Friday Thuy Do came in to talk about Vietnam and about their culture and their religion.

Monday On Monday Ciarán and Laura Ryan came to talk to us about Jesus and the garden of Gethsemane. Ciaran used to be in the Defence Force. They said that they go to Jerusalem every year and that they are quite interested in religion.

Monday Part Two Ciarán and Laura do tours of the Garden Of Gethsemane. They say that it gets quiet busy but it’s also enjoyable. They told us quite a lot about Jesus and how he died and how he lived. It was really interesting. Laura made a slide full of pictures of the different times they went to Jerusalem. Then just before we finished Ciarán sang us a song while he was playing the guitar. They were great speakers.

Tuesday On Tuesday Sinéad Burke came to speak to us about the struggles of being a “Little Person” and how things have been difficult all her life. She told us that it is hard when she wants to use public restrooms because she might not be able to lock the door or finds it hard to get up to the toilet.

Tuesday Part Two She told us that if she wants to stay in a hotel she is constantly calling room service for help reaching things in the hotel room. She is also restricted to different rollercoasters because of her height. She does a lot of modelling and interviews people. She has met a lot of well known people. Sinead likes fashion and has a fashion blog which is minniemelange.com. She also has an Instagram accountwhich is also minniemelange.

Thursday On Thursday Khan Kiely came to talk to us talk to us about having dyslexia and dyspraxia. She owns her own book shop. She also runs book fairs in schools. She has a son who has dyslexia and dyspraxia. They do this thing which help him learn spellings. She said you can spell the word, then you can draw it in the air and then you can write it.

Thursday Part Two Khan also has dyspraxia she said it was quite hard to learn the steps of dances until her teacher pulled her to the side and she taught her how to do it and Khan never forgot the steps. It was quite a good speech and easy to understand and great for the kids who have dyslexia.

Friday On Friday Thuy Do came to talk to us about Vietnam and her life there. She told us that it was an amazing place to go on holidays. She also told us that it is quite a religious place and that they take their religion very seriously. They love their food. The food that they usually eat are spring rolls, rice, dumplings, noodles etc.

Friday Part Two Thuy Do told us that the water there is very clean. In one city there are over eight million people, that’s nearly twice as many people that are in the whole of Ireland! She showed us a plate that was made in Vietnam (handmade). Their last president was buried in a glass coffin and is kept in a dark room.

What we learned We learned that it is not nice to make fun of people who are different to us. We have also learned not to Judge a book by it’s cover. We hope you enjoyed our Diversity power point.