Latest News

Happy Christmas!

As we approach the end of the year, we’d like to thank our students, staff and the board of DALC for their support throughout a very tough year.
2020 brought so many challenges, changes and demanded a complete rethink of how we work. The staff & students of DALC really stepped up to the plate and it’s astounding to see the progress that our students have made in using technology over the last 3 months.

Our work could not happen without the much appreciated funding and support offered by the CDETB & SOLAS.

We thank you all, and wish you and your families a very Happy Christmas and a safe and healthy 2021.

Learning Continues in DALC

Over the past 3 months we have worked really hard to ensure that if we had to enter another Lockdown that classes would continue with minimal interruptions. We learned from the first lockdown that many of our students had access to devices at home which would allow them to take part in online classes.

Many of our students, however, like a lot of people in general, were not familiar with apps such as Zoom, Google Meet etc. We stayed in contact via WhatsApp, phone calls, emails and WhatsApp video calls. But we knew we needed to help everyone get online and help them feel confident using the tools necessary for online learning. And so began several months of hard work behind the scenes.

We’re delighted that all of our students are now fully prepared for the current Level 5 restrictions. It’s vitally important to us as a school and a community that we protect our students and staff and minimize the health risks for all. From the very first class of term in September, every student in every class was introduced to online learning. From our basic literacy classes up to our QQI Level 5 Healthcare classes, every student practiced taking part in Zoom classes, learned how to use email (with new school email addresses supplied for everyone) and became familiar with the different apps we would use if we had to go into online learning.

We’re delighted that students were so understanding and so enthusiastic. Digital literacy has been identified as a key skill for adults and we’re really impressed with the progress our students have made over the past 8 weeks.

We’re confident that when the Centre reopens after lockdown, that these skills will continue to be of great use to everyone. Despite being online for a few weeks, we’ll continue as always to be in regular contact with everyone and tutors and staff will remain available for our students whenever we’re needed.

Stay safe!

Closed due to COVID-19

DALC is currently closed due to the COVID-19 restrictions.
Classes have been moved online where possible.
Courses are being run via Zoom, Google Hangouts, WhatsApp and one-to-one phone calls.

We can’t wait to get back to the centre in September but in the meantime, we hope everyone stays safe and well.

During the closure, if you need to contact a tutor, you can contact them directly during class hours.

Adult Learners’ Festival 2nd – 6th March 2020

It’s that time of year again! We’re delighted to take part in AONTAS’ Adult Learners’ Festival this year. The theme for this year’s festival is ‘Learning For Life’ & we have lots of activities planned for the week.

We’ve chosen to focus on sustainability and climate change, topics that are in the news everyday but we will offer our students an opportunity to learn more about them.

Meet the Local Candidates – Monday 3rd February (11:30a.m.) in DALC

You’ve seen the posters, you’ve heard the news. We’re facing an election on Saturday February 8th.

DALC have invited local candidates to visit our Centre on Monday 3rd February from 11.30a.m. to meet our students and address any questions they have about our community, our education and our future.

Come along, ask questions & meet the people who will make a difference.

In preparation for the election, our classes on Tuesday 28th Feb. focused on how elections work, how we can lobby out politicians for the issues that matter most to us.

If you’d like more information, we’d recommend checking out the AONTAS Election Toolkit and The Vincentian Partnership site.

Listen to our latest podcast appearance! November 2019

Paul Flood & Derek Nibbs spoke to Dearbhaile Lawless from NearcastFM for a recent AONTAS podcast episode. Paul has attended classes here for the last 4 years and Derek has been here for over 3 years. The guys give a fantastic account of what it’s like to take those first steps back to education as an adult. https://bit.ly/2OVgIQO

The ‘AONTAS – Every Day I’m Learning’ podcast series is an informal and authentic conversation sharing the personal stories of amazing people who returned to education as an adult learner.

They’ve obviously been bitten by the podcast bug as they called out to RTE studios this morning to record their stories for ‘A Tale Untold’ on RTE Radio 1 Extra (here’s the other episodes in this series: https://bit.ly/2XTLE7L).

We’re delighted that Paul & Derek are getting the chance to tell their stories, giving their experiences of returning to education. If like Paul and Derek, you’ve been thinking about returning to education, just take the first step and give us a call today at 01-8787266.

Exciting new courses starting in September 2019

Did you know that we are now offering a Special Needs Assistant course? Our S.N.A. QQI Level 5 course will start in September 2019. The course will take just one morning per week (Friday mornings from 10a.m. – 1p.m.). If you’re interested, give Dee or Mary a call at 018787266.

If you’re an apprentice who is worried about the maths content of your training, we have the course for you! We’re offering a Maths for Apprentices course every Monday evening from 6.30-8.30p.m. starting in September. The course will run subject to numbers.

As always, we will offer a wide range of courses, both accredited & non-accredited. We’ll hold an information morning in September, so drop in, have a cup of tea and find out more about the classes on offer.

Summer Courses starting 4th June

Have you picked up the brochure for our summer programme yet?

We have lots of fun, free, part-time courses on offer in the summer programme.

Choose from Gardening, Choir, Using Your Smartphone, Geography, Mindfulness, Crochet, Art (Ceramics), Reflective Drawing, Cookery, Community Studies & T’ai Chi.

If you’d like to join one of these classes, just call Dee or Mary at 01-8787266 for more info.

Adult Learners’ Festival 4th – 8th March.

There’s great energy around the building today as we start our Adult Learners’ Festival workshops.
Today, Monday, we are learning basic phrases from the languages spoken by our students here in DALC.

We have a series of workshops planned for each morning this week:

On Tuesday we will learn about the flags and culture of our ESOL students’ native countries. Everyone will get a chance to learn about somewhere different before we go to the canteen to enjoy pancakes (of course!).

On Wednesday, Vonn will be here to teach us about patterns in art from around the world. We will explore these patterns through mindful painting. There is also the option of joining the cookery class to cook an African meal.

Thursday will start off with ‘Play Your Cards Right’ followed by the North Inner City Education Showcase in Ozanam House. And to round off the week, we will have a quiz on Friday to test our newfound knowledge of languages and cultures before we learn about Tai Chi from 11.30a.m. – 1p.m.

A very exciting week ahead – hope you enjoy it!

On Friday last, we welcomed Hafsa to speak about International Hijab Day. Hafsa is a trainee teacher currently studying in Maynooth University. It was fascinating to hear about the history of the hijab, its religious significance for wearers and also to have an open and frank discussion about people’s opinion on it.