My college course... (A 3rd-level student's insight)

Louisew97 wrote: »

I'm mainly thinking of business and Spanish but also considering spanish as part of tsm at the moment .if you could give me some information on subjects lecturers pros/cons and anything else that would be great gracias

I graduated last year in TSM French and Spanish, so I can tell you about Spanish. What I will say to you is that if you're going to study a language in college, particularly Trinity, you really do need to know what you're getting yourself into. I won't lie. I do have a bit of a bee in my bonnet after my experience and I really did not know what studying a pure language degree entailed.

When you're studying languages in Trinity, the first year comes across as being quite balanced with grammar, language classes and 1/2 modules in literature. However, after 1st year, the overwhelming emphasis of this course is understanding, reading and producing arguments in relation to the Spanish/French literature on your course. That's great if you like literature. I like reading myself because the sheer emphasis on literature really did not help my communication skills in Spanish. Of course, it might have helped my understanding of the language, but it was my own efforts to meet Spanish people, go to Spain and having a genuine interest in learning the language myself is what has made me fluent in Spanish today-not the Trinity course, believe it or not. Sorry if I sound really negative, but I was definitely disillusioned by the course and was glad to have finished in the end. At the end of the day, if you want to learn Spanish, it's up to you to learn it and you can feel in the degree that they already expect you to have a high fluency in the language after you enter, or at the maximum, second year of college (which is tough on the beginners). I was very lucky to have been an exchange student in a Secondary school in Spain and exposed to Spanish at a young age. This definitely helped.

Now, Business and Spanish would be a different kettle of fish because you would be focusing on learning communicative Spanish for business and, also, you are expected to go to Spain for a year on Erasmus, which will do wonders for your Spanish provided you have a genuine interest and are willing to learn the language.

Edit: I should have also mentioned that there are language classes (Grammar and Translation- 2 hours a week) and oral (1 hour a week), but by third year, you will be mostly translating literary texts from English into Spanish and Spanish to English in class and for homework. The grammar points might be discussed in class. In fairness, I did find translation did help me with my grammar bur grammar translation is really the only method through which the language is taught, and, as a trained language teacher myself, grammar translation on its own does not develop communication skills. All the classes are taught mostly in English, except for the oral classes. Again, I have to call a spade a spade, for the level that you are expected to leave with, 1 hour of spoken Spanish a week is not helpful (classes can be a hit and a miss) and all the classes should have really been taught through Spanish insofar as possible. Literature study is the speciality of this course/department, except for the odd linguistics and Spanish History module.

Points:
I think it was about 390 (2010), but I've heard they've gone up since!

Class sizes:
Fluctuates year to year, 60 started with me, we're finishing with 65/66. Numbers stand around the 70 mark for this year's 1st year group.

What it's like:
Great for anyone who's interested in education. A very practical course. Depending on the semester, you would average about 5 modules per semester. One of which is professional development which focuses on both practical experiences and reflecting on your own practice. Modules cover: foundation studies, language acquisition, sociology, psychology, creativity, theoretical perspectives & the dreaded dissertation to name but a few!

For a 4 year degree, you cover a multitude. Assessments differ depending on the module but continuous assessment & an exam seems to be the most popular assessment method. ECCE is the type of degree that if you put the work into your modules you'll reap the benefits come your final year. Although modules are stand alone and there are very few continuations of modules, come your fourth year you can see the links between modules in first year to date.

First year & second year are largely spent on campus with a few work placements beginning in your second semester of first year. In your third year of the degree, you spend a semester off campus on placement. There are options to go abroad, but many of the students use it to dip their toes into whichever career path they are thinking about. Fourth year is mainly focused on you as a childcare worker, how you perceive the various modules & of course your dissertation. There is a lot of support available, especially during fourth year from both lecturers and supervisors.

Personal:
Although classified as an Arts degree, the B.A. ECCE is an education based degree. It's a perfect foundation level degree for someone who wants to work with children but is unsure of whether or not they want to go and become a primary school teacher. The degree can be tough at times, but if you put the work in you should never be too swamped with work. I think we had 22 hours at most of lectures a week over the 4 years, but you need to be able to read as you're expected to read so much during the hours you're not timetabled to be in college!

Construction management or Construction economics (Dit) or Agricultural engineering(Tralee)or Construction and project management(NUIG)?

Hi guys I'm a little confused as to what to put down on my CAO. I'd love to do Accounting in NUIM or Law too! Problem is I'm stuck between the two. I know there is a Law and Accounting course which is my first choice but this is incase I don't get the points (does anybody have information regarding transfers, website leaves a lot unanswered).

Also is there anybody in either course that has realised something about the course they didn't know before?

XxMCRxBabyxX wrote: »

Have you put Arts down so that you could pick the two that way?

I have but how likely is it that you will get the transfer? I think I read that you need to get 50-60pc in order to transfer. Are the exams hard?

XxMCRxBabyxX wrote: »

Well I managed to do it! I only know once person from my group of friends when I was in first year who didn't. If you work hard you should be fine.

Thanks everyone

Skidfingers wrote: »

Hi, Has anyone done or is doing quantity surveying? Just trying to find out what it's like and what sort jobs/salary you can get from it.

Thanks

My uncle actually happens to be a quantity surveyor. Works in Galway. His hours are very nice and I would say he has done very well out of it. He has a few cars and a nice big modern house in the countryside. Need to have your logical maths mind though.

Skidfingers wrote: »

Is he working with a construction company? I see you can also get county council and insurance brokers jobs with the course.

Construction company yep!