Chocolate Flowers from the Beauty Customer Service class

Another one of the vocational courses which some of you study here at Abbey is the Customer Service course. You can take this class for Tourism or for the Beauty Industry.

We talked to Anna, one of your teachers who is working with you on the Customer Service for the Beauty Industry course. She had a lot of things to say!

She says:

• I like that the course emphasises that customer service is dealing with people in a respectful and assertive manner and all of that in the context of business. It makes the difficult business terminology easy to understand.
• Students can learn to make a business more profitable by convincing existing customers to come back and gaining new customers without using ultra-aggressive marketing techniques.
• It’s definitely not boring as the material is dense and the pace fast but the main idea is easy to follow. I’ve noticed that students can find examples of the behavioural patterns studied in what they’re personally experienced.
• The role-plays are always very successful. Students enjoy these role-playing sessions and at the same time apply the knowledge they’ve acquired!
• It means the students are confident enough to take an active part in the class and are motivated to complete the course with high marks

Don’t forget to get your Halloween costume ready for Thursday October 29th!!! You can win a free course so get cracking

3-DAY WEEKEND TIP!!

Yes, it’s the last mini-holiday before Christmas!! Time to party!

Jazz and music-lovers should get down to Cork for the Jazz Festival with 120 acts over 4 days! Musicians from all over the world come here for this annual festival. Some events are ticketed but you can also hear music on the streets and in bars everywhere.

Or you could cheer on the 12,500 people who will run on the Dublin Marathon which is known as the Friendly Marathon on Monday! They’re crazy and they need your support! It takes place in the city centre from 10 am.

If you’re in the West, try the Galway Races. It’s the last race of the season so get your skates on!

Energetic people could head down to Kerry for this action-packed outdoors weekend with Outdoors Ireland; kayaking, hiking and lots of fun!

Chocolate Flowers

Halloween Pumpkin

It’s time to get dressed up and take a break from your study!!

Halloween in Ireland is a great excuse for partying and wearing strange costumes:)

In Celtic times Halloween was the Samhain festival – the Feast of the Dead. The Celts believed that this was a time when spirits could cross over from the Underworld to mix with humans. It was also the begining of winter on their calendar.

This Halloween you have the chance to win a FREE COURSE here at Abbey College.

All you have to do is wear a fabulous costume to school on Thursday October 29th !!!

Bring a friend with you and some snacks

Talk to your teachers for more details.

WEEKEND TIPS

Start the dress-up theme early this weekend with a visit to the Dublin Viking Festival in the city centre from today until Sunday.

Or continue with your love of German beer at the final weekend of the Paulaner Oktoberfest until Sunday also down the river from Abbey College at the IFSC.

Pumpkin photo by euart

The Real Temple Bar

One of the most popular English exam classes at Abbey College is the IELTS exam preparation class. We posted about the IELTS exam here before so let’s learn a little about the classes.

IELTS is an evening course here too; so you can work part-time during the day or explore Dublin and still have time to study.

The IELTS class is for students at Upper Intermediate level so you should talk to your General English teacher first before you apply. Maybe you need some practice first:)

The students come from many different countries so you will learn a lot while talking about politics, culture and other topics you need for the exam.

We talked to Colm is our main IELTS teacher; and this is what he has this to say about your classes:

• In a typical week we cover all of the exam parts. We do two or three readings every week, and one piece of writing from Task One or Task Two. I use videos and CD s to practice the listening.
• We do a lot of work on IELTS vocabulary; building up what the students know already. They’re interested in phrasal verbs and spoken English too but you need formal English to be ready for this exam.
• For serious exam preparation we do a Mock Exam every month – that might sound scary but it’s really important to be sure you’re ready before you take the real thing!
• Students should understand that this English exam is different to an exam like the Cambridge FCE which is more flexible.

But don’t worry – it’s not all about study and exams for the poor IELTS students. They went out on a trip to Kilmainham recently and are planning another history trip to the Museum at Collins Barracks soon.

You can take the exam in Dublin at the UCD Applied Language Centre. Your teachers will give you everything you need; all you have to do is study!

WEEKEND TIP

Do you like beer? The annual OktoberFest Beer Festival is taking place on George’s Dock, IFSC. It started yesterday and will continue until the 18th of October. Lots of fun to be had!

And if you want something quieter and cheaper; try the Botanic Garden’s in Glasnevin where the largest Sculpture Exhibition in Ireland is taking place from now until October 16th. You can get there by bus or car. Click here for directions.