An Straitéis le plé ag Seimineár i mBÁC
January 19, 2011
Comórtas Díospóireachta Uí Chadhain
January 14, 2011
Irish Classes in Dublin 15
January 13, 2011
The "Cúpla Focal" Irish conversation classes will start again on Wednesday 26th January 2011, in the Corduff Resource Centre, Corduff, Blanchardstown, Dublin 15.
8 week courses:
Mornings 10 a.m. to 11.30 a.m.
Evenings 7.30 p.m. to 9 p.m.
The classes are offered free of charge
Tea/coffee available for €2 per person
Call Monica for further information on 01 8219021/8219750
Irish taught well in only 50pc of schools
January 13, 2011
The Government’s 20-Year Strategy for the Irish language cited research showing that Irish was taught to a good or very good standard in only half of primary schools inspected.
In one third of classrooms, Irish was taught through the medium of English. Pupils in just over half of lessons inspected were able to express themselves satisfactorily in Irish. A recent report from researchers at the University of Ulster and the University of Limerick suggests that Irish is now the language of the elite. The report found that non-speakers of Irish are twice as likely to be unemployed as Irish speakers. The report found that 42pc of Irish speakers work in senior professional, managerial or technical jobs.
Irish Independent
13 Eanáir 2011
Language activists blast FG’s plan to make Irish optional
January 12, 2011
Controversy is likely to rage over move to scrap compulsory Gaeilge after the Junior Cert
Fine Gael is set for a war with Irish language activists as it sticks by its plan to scrap compulsory Irish at the Leaving Cert. The party, which is set to lead the next Government, is committed to making Irish optional after the Junior Cert. Enda Kenny has frequently stated that compulsion has failed as the political engine to revive the language. If he presses ahead with his plan, he would be slaughtering one of the sacred cows of Irish education. Tens of thousands of students who see little value in learning Irish will welcome the move, but language activists warn that it could have a catastrophic effect.
Conradh na Gaeilge, the Irish language movement, warned that making Irish optional could cause a dramatic decline in the number of students taking the subject. Julian de Spáinn, general secretary of Conradh na Gaeilge, said the measure could de-motivate students right through the school system. “You could have parents telling their children in second class in primary school not to worry about the subject, because they do not have to study it at the Leaving Cert. That attitude could spread through an entire class.” Activists also fear that tens of thousands will give up Irish because languages are perceived to be difficult subjects. “Pupils will give up Irish at the Leaving Cert, because they will feel that they will be able to pick up more points in the Leaving Cert by doing an easier subject,” said Julian de Spáinn.
In Britain, compulsory modern languages were abolished in second-level schools in 2002 and this prompted a sharp decline in the number of pupils taking them. Participation at GCSE level, the British equivalent of the Junior Cert, plummeted from 80% to 50%. While languages declined in free schools in Britain, they continued to be compulsory in fee-paying schools. According to Conradh na Gaeilge, there is a danger that Irish could become the preserve of an elite. Making Irish optional has been Fine Gael policy for over half a decade.
Enda Kenny, himself a fluent speaker, has said that most students leave second-level without any reasonable command of the language, even though they have received about 1,500 hours of tuition. Describing compulsion as “a blunt tool”, Enda Kenny argues that those who continue with the language should share classes with students who want to be there, rather than those who wish they were somewhere else.
Although he is a passionate linguist and an enthusiastic Irish speaker, Dr Kevin Williams, senior lecturer at the Mater Dei Institute of Education, supports moves to scrap Irish after the Junior Certificate. Dr Williams said: “By all means, we should insist that young people have some experience of learning Irish. But it is misguided to insist that after the Junior Cert all young people spend a further two years studying a subject in which some have no interest or for which they show no aptitude.” In spite of the best efforts of teachers, he said reluctant learners were unlikely to derive much profit or pleasure from compulsory language subjects. ‘I have come across young people who, after 11 or 12 years of being forced to learn the language, know hardly a single word of it. Once I addressed a senior pupil by the Irish version of his name and he informed me that he had no idea of what I was talking about.”
Dr Williams said: “I heard of Irish fans in the USA in 1994 during the World Cup assuming that the broadcast in Irish of the match between Ireland and Norway was in Norwegian.” If Fine Gael abolishes compulsion at the Leaving Cert, it will be one of the most radical changes in the language’s development. A lot will hinge on Fine Gael’s likely coalition partner, Labour. Labour’s Education spokesman Ruairi Quinn was non-committal when I contacted him this week. “We have no specific proposals on the issue,” he said. Although it plans to abolish compulsory Irish at the Leaving Cert, Fine Gael supported the Government’s new strategy for the language, which was launched last month. The Government’s 20-year-plan proposed that other subjects, apart from Irish, could be taught through the medium of the language in primary schools.
To take one example, under this plan a teacher in an infants class in a primary school would teach art through Irish. Teaching extra subjects through Irish in primary school would require extra training for teachers. In recent years, the Government has focused on trying to give greater emphasis to the spoken language in schools. From 2012, students will be awarded 40% of their marks for the oral part of the Leaving Cert. Although this move has been welcomed by Irish teachers in mainstream schools, Conradh na Gaeilge has expressed concern that the syllabus has been dumbed down.
Robbie Cronin, the ASTI’s Gaeilge subject representative and teacher at Marian College in Dublin, opposes the FG plan to abolish compulsory Irish at the leaving Cert. “We should concentrate on getting the teaching of Irish right, and see how the new focus on oral Irish works, before making it optional,” he said. “It would be a terrible shame if Irish became an elitist language that is only learned by a few students at the Leaving Cert.”
Irish Independent
12 Eanáir 2011
Feachtas Table Quizzes
January 7, 2011
Call for real leadership for Irish language to flourish
January 5, 2011
Scoil Lorcáin – Féile Eolaíochta
December 23, 2010
No recognition for new gaelscoils, despite the publication of the Government’s language strategy
December 23, 2010
The Department of Education and Skills this week identified just four areas in which additional primary school provision will be required for September 2011. Although there is a strong demand for Irish medium education in all of the recognised areas, GAELSCOILEANNA TEO. is disappointed by the Department’s failure to acknowledge the many additional areas around the country in which founding committees are working tirelessly to ensure Irish-medium provision for their children. The organisation is particularly disappointed by the continued lack of Departmental recognition for Gaelscoil Ráth Tó, which opened without the Department’s support in September 2010. The school’s teacher and pupils paid a visit to the offices of the Minister for Education, an Tánaiste Mary Coughlan, last week with letters petitioning her to grant the school official recognition. The school receives no departmental assistance or funding, despite the proven demand for Irish-medium education in the area.
The Department of Education and Skills’ policy in relation to Irish-medium education does not conform to the guidelines laid down in the Government’s Twenty Year Strategy for the Irish language which was published on 21st December. The Strategy aims to improve the education system, but the Department doesn’t appear to be honouring its obligations to the gaelscoileanna or providing proper support. Prior to this, the Department showed an understanding of the gradual nature of growth in new schools and the schools’ significant role in the wider community. Demographics is now the only factor influencing the Department’s new schools policy; the parents’ right to choose does not appear to play any role in the plan for additional educational provision in 2011.
GAELSCOILEANNA TEO. is calling on the Department of Education to recognise Gaelscoil Ráth Tó, as well as the many founding committees currently working throughout the country. We also demand that the department acknowledge both the demand and the right of parents to secure Irish-medium education for their children.
GAELSCOILEANNA TEO. is the national co-ordinating body for schools teaching through the medium of Irish. It helps parents and local groups to set up new schools and supports the established all-Irish schools. These schools welcome pupils from all linguistic, cultural and social backgrounds. There are 172 primary schools and 39 secondary schools outside of Gaeltacht areas currently providing education through the medium of Irish.
Vow to triple our Irish speakers
December 23, 2010
Government unveils its 20-year strategy. There is a strong focus on promoting Irish in the Gaeltacht amid warnings that the language will die out there in 15 to 20 years if action is not taken.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen admitted yesterday that even €1bn in strategic funding would not be enough to get everyone in the country speaking Irish.
His comments came at the launch of the State’s first ever 20-year plan for the development of the language, which aims to triple the number of daily Irish speakers from 83,000 to 250,000 by 2030.
Mr Cowen admitted the availability of funding for the strategy — just €1.5m next year — had been affected by the economic crisis. But he said the strategy’s success would depend on the people.
“If we had €1bn, it wouldn’t give us the result that everyone is speaking Irish,” he said.
The strategy’s key points include broadening the number of Irish language speakers and improving the Irish-language training of new teachers by giving them more time in the Gaeltacht. It also backs the existing practice of keeping Irish as a compulsory school subject up to Leaving Cert level.
There is also a strong focus on promoting the use of Irish in the Gaeltacht, amid warnings that the language will die out there in 15 to 20 years if action is not taken. As part of the strategy, Gaeltacht communities will have to prepare a language plan and will lose their Gaeltacht status (and the possibility to claim Irish language grants) if they don’t.
“The greatest reason for hope is, in my opinion, the number of young people who are interested in the Irish language. My own children attended a gaelscoil and it is wonderful to see their pride in the language,” Mr Cowen said.
The 20-year strategy has cross-party support, which means that both Fine Gael and Labour are committed to implementing it if they get into power.
However, Fine Gael Gaeltacht spokesman Frank Feighan, who is learning Irish, said his party was sticking to its policy of abolishing Irish as a compulsory Leaving Cert subject.
“There are a lot of people like myself who spent 13 years in school who just have the ‘cupla focal’. We need a lot of confidence and I think this plan is the framework for 100,000 people like myself,” he said.
In Government buildings in Dublin yesterday, Community and Gaeltacht Affairs Minister Pat Carey said the Irish language had survived the effects of colonisation, famine and cultural globalisation.
“For the Irish people, the language represents an unbroken chain that stretches back over 2,000 years. Today we are launching a modern plan for the Irish language in this millennium — a plan to ensure that chain will not be broken.”
Irish Independent – Michael Brennan
