April 8th, 2013

Dear R.E. Teacher / Chaplain,

I hope you  all had an enjoyable and restful Easter. The Rome Reports YouTube Channel has several videos of Pope Francis celebrating Easter services including the footage of Pope Francis washing the feet of young offenders . With term three beginning today you may be thinking ahead to ‘Graduation’ and just a reminder that there are plenty of Graduation Resources on our website. I’ve also added to the Inspirational YouTube Playlist a moving clip from the Saturday Night Show featuring 16 year old Donal Walsh who is terminally ill. The full interview can be viewed on the RTE Player and click here for an article from the Irish Examiner where Donal explains why he’s angry about teenage suicide. Another interesting story I read recently is that of Fr. Edward Salmon the President of a Jesuit school in New York who has written a powerful letter explaining why the school is allowing a gay couple attend the Junior Prom. Click here to read more. 

 

Road To Emmaus Resources

New on our website is a timely interactive resource based on the Road to Emmaus. The first page gives details of the lesson plan and the resources have been developed in line with the new Junior Cycle guidelines but the resources can be used with any year group. If your pupils have access to iPads/tablets or computers they can use the resources as their text book and interact with each lesson to complete tasks. There are six interactive lessons in total and at the bottom of each page you just click the RED link to move onto the next lesson. Lesson one is focused on the story of the Road to Emmaus from Luke’s Gospel. By clicking on various links in red you can view key word definitions, an edited version and a visual PowerPoint version of the Emmaus story and there is also YouTube videos of the story to watch.

Lessons 2-6 are adapted from resources featured in the 2012 Catholic Schools Week Resource booklet and are grouped around the Emmaus story. The themes relating to the Emmaus story are connected but they may also be used in a stand-alone manner. Each lesson will take approximately 40 minutes to complete and once students have completed lesson 1 it isn’t necessary that lessons 2-6 be fully completed. I have put a lot of time into adapting the resources to make them interactive and suited for students who have access to computers and I would be grateful to get some feedback on how you find the resources if you choose to use them.

With  every blessing for the new term.

Gary

Email: garyabrahamian@gmail.com