10.02.2010 09:58
St. Patrick's Day

What does March 17th mean to you? Here's a clue: our 'Network Voices' section has been written by Sharon Heduvan, an Irish member of our 'Network' team.

Hello. My name's Sharon and I've been asked to give you some ideas for your lessons on or around March 17th. Why March 17th? Because it's St. Patrick's Day. And why me? Because I'm Irish!

When I was a young child in Dublin, the St. Patrick's Day parade was always a big event for me. Of course, I didn't really understand what it was all about - that it was a celebration of Ireland's patron saint, St. Patrick - all I knew then was that Mum and Dad took my sisters and me out onto the streets and there were crowds of people wearing green with shamrocks painted on their faces, and parades of bagpipe-players and dancers and marchers.

There are St. Patrick Day parades all over the world nowadays - I can understand it being celebrated in America and Australia because there are a lot of people there with Irish ancestors - but recently I even saw a video clip of a St. Patrick's Day parade in Tokyo! Last year I went to the parade in Munich - I later read that there were about 5,000 people watching the parade. There have been up to four times as many in previous years but the weather put a lot of people off last year. So - fingers crossed for St. Patrick's Day 2010.

If you'd like to see some of the photos from 2009 parade, look on their homepage:

If you're an Ireland fan, you can read more about the country, test your knowledge of Ireland, or try some Irish cooking by clicking on:

Do you do anything special in your lesson? Is there a St. Patrick's Day parade in your area? How do people celebrate in your local Irish pub? Share your experiences of St. Patrick's Day with other Networkers by writing in the comment box below.