1 - Getting Started ~5 mins
You already belong to more communities than you think. Your year group. A club. A parish. A family group chat. An online space where people share the same interest as you. In this lesson you will map those connections at three levels: local, national and global. By the end you will have a saved list of six to ten communities you actually belong to, with one sentence each on what connects you. You will come back to that list in the lessons that follow, so it is worth writing properly today.
2 - Key Terms ~5 mins
Three levels of community sit under one definition. Read each row carefully before you sort anything.
| Term | What it means for you | Real example |
|---|---|---|
| Community: people connected by a common interest, a shared activity, or a specific place | Every community you list today must name what actually connects you, not just a label | A parish GAA club joined by place and a shared sport |
| Local: connected close to where you live or study | Your town, school, club, estate or parish sit here | A school year group or a local Tidy Towns group |
| National: connected across Ireland, or through Irish identity beyond the State | Country-wide organisations and the Irish diaspora belong here | Irish citizens living abroad who stay linked through family, language or sport |
| Global: connected across borders by interest, identity or cause | Online and international communities count when the link is real for you | A worldwide climate-action network or an international peer community online |
Halfway. Worth restating how the course is graded, because it shapes what is worth keeping: Portfolio in Action 60%, answered from the evidence and reflections you are building now, and a written examination 40%, answered from what you understand. Both are set by the SEC and both are at common level.
The practical consequence for Module 2: everything you produce from here is doing two jobs at once. It goes into the portfolio, and it is also the material you will be revising from. Work you cannot explain later is worth less than work you can.
3 - Sort and List Your Communities ~35 mins
Part 1: the sort (about 12 minutes). Ten community cards are waiting on the screen. Nothing is marked wrong while you talk a card through, so put each one where you would defend it and be ready to say what connects the people in it.
Part 2: your own list (about 20 minutes). If you do not yet have a Strand 2.1 folder in your Digital Portfolio, create one now and name it Strand 2.1: Community. Open a new document in that folder called Communities I Belong To. List 6–10 communities you actually belong to, mixing local, national and global where you can. For each one write:
- the community name
- the level (local, national or global)
- one sentence on what connects you (interest, activity or place), not a vague claim that you "are part of it"
A connection sentence that only you could have written is the standard. "I play corner-forward for the under-18s every Tuesday and Saturday" beats "I like sport". Online and diaspora communities count when the link is real for you. Save the document before you move on. You will open it again in the next few lessons, and it sits in your Digital Portfolio as evidence for community work that feeds Portfolio in Action.
Local, national or global?
4 - Think About It ~10 mins
Talk these through with the person beside you, or work through them quietly on your own.
- Does an online community count the same as one you meet face to face? What would have to be true for it to count for you?
- The Irish diaspora is named as a national community even though its members live in other countries. What does that tell you about how "national" works?
Required now: under your list in Communities I Belong To, add one sentence answering: which community on your list would most surprise someone who only knows you from school, and why? Save again before the summary.
5 - What You Covered ~5 mins
You should now be able to:
- define community as people connected by interest, activity or place
- sort communities into local, national and global levels, including online and diaspora examples
- point to your Communities I Belong To document with 6–10 real communities and a connection sentence for each
Next lesson you will audit the positive influence of one community you belong to, with concrete evidence rather than warm summary.
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