450 Teachers attend Irish Teaching Conference
November 16, 2011
Over 450 Irish language teachers descended upon NUI, Maynooth last weekend, to attend An Tionól Teagaisc. Organised by the Second Level Support Service, An Tionól Teagaisc, was a national forum for Irish language secondary school teachers with a choice of over thirty workshops to attend.
The event began with a keynote address by Dónall Mac Diarmada, from the State Examinations Commission, who gave a thorough run through of the changes which have been recently effected on the Irish language leaving certificate examination.
This keynote address sparked many questions from the audience, and Mac Diarmad took the time to address each and every question.
During the discussion, some teachers expressed their dissatisfaction with the current model whereby students undertake a common Oral examination, and recommended that such an exam should be streamed with a choice for students of Higher or Ordinary level.
The Tionól took place over two days, with a choice of over 30 workshops on the Saturday, covering a very wide rang of topics. Special emphasis was placed on information and communication technology (ICT). Cathal Ó Mórdha spoke about how to get the best use out of an iPad when preparing for the Leaving Certificate oral exam.
Seán Ó Gáibhín discussed the interactive white board, and Dr. Marcus Ó Conaire described a current project which he has recently launched with support from An Chomhairle um Oideachas Gaeltachta agus Gaelscolaíochta, which includes an archive of teaching aids and audiovisual material online on iTunes. This material can be accessed by logging on to iTunes, selecting the category, K-12, and searching for the term “COGG”.
During the Tionól, Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge and Comhar na Múinteoirí Gaeilge launched the DVD Cuireadh Chun Cainte, a practical guide to the Oral exam for those undertaking the Leaving Certificate course.
Gaelport
Gaelscoileanna Conference
November 15, 2011
Gaelscoileanna President Mícheál Ó Broin and Minister of State for Training and Skills, Ciarán Cannon T.D. will open this year’s Gaelscoileanna conference in Tullamore on November 25th.
This will be followed by the annual Conference lecture which will be given by Dr. Gerry Shiel.The theme of this year’s annual conference is: Enriching Children’s Lives and large numbers of delegates, parents and teachers involved in in Irish-medium education expected to attend.
As part of this year’s conference many lectures and educational discussions will take place throughout the two day event which will focus on literacy and numeracy in Irish medium schools.
Representatives from schools, providers of education equipment and materials, Irish language organizations and third level institutions will attend with exhibition stands, to inform individuals of the various language learning resources available to them.
Guest speakers from universities and schools all over the country will give various lectures. Educational related workshops will be conducted throughout Friday and Saturday morning.
©Foilsithe ar Gaelport.com
Spraoi fichille
November 14, 2011
Feachtas Teanga seolta in Ollscoil Luimnigh
November 14, 2011
Gearrscannáin na Gaeilge
November 10, 2011
Public Meeting in Balbriggan
November 10, 2011
A Public Meeting has been arranged for the parents of prospective students to meet with the Founding Committee of Coláiste Ghlór na Mara & the Patron – An Forás Pátrúnachta. The meeting will set out Coláiste Ghlór na Mara’s vision for Post Primary education through the Irish language, serving North County Dublin, East Meath & South Louth. This will be the parents opportunity to learn about the campaign and the developments in terms of the opening of a Gael Coláiste in Balbriggan, due to open in 2014. Application forms will also be available for those parents who wish to register their interest in sending their child to the school. The meeting will take place at the Bracken Court Hotel in Balbriggan at 8pm, please join us to find out more.
Club nua Gaeilge i scoil i dTrá Lí
November 9, 2011
Teagasc ‘teasaí’
November 9, 2011
To Be Honest: An unheard voice in education
November 8, 2011
A parent writes : I can’t believe that children are still being forced to learn Irish in school. I spent thousands of wasted hours in primary and secondary school learning this language and now I can’t speak a word of it. If only, if only, that time had been spent learning maths, science, a modern language or even spent running around the yard I think it would have better served me in later life. I often look back with dismay at all the time I spent banging my head against this difficult and useless subject that any reasonable education system would relegate to a minority elective for those with the specific interest and motivation to learn it. Now I have children of my own. One of them, in particular, is having real literacy problems. We are slowly and painstakingly bringing him up to speed with the rest of the class in his basic reading and writing skills. We’re getting there, but as his classmates are moving ahead to read independently, he is still struggling to get through the most basic readers aimed at younger children.
Now he’s coming home with Irish homework. He’s grappling with whole new families of sounds and spellings, just as he was starting to get a grip on his mother tongue. For him, learning to spell and pronounce Irish words is like unlearning all the rules we’ve been working so hard to get into his head. I can see the poor child looking at me with utter confusion as I turn everything we’ve learned about letter sounds and spelling upside down. And for what? To learn a language he will never use. Even if he wanted to use it, he won’t have the competence because Irish taught in the classroom is a complete waste of time. This is a child who desperately needs as much time as possible spent on basic literacy and numeracy. Instead, he is now spending his time on a confusing, pointless and empty exercise largely designed to keep Gaelgoirs in jobs. When he comes home in the evening with his frankly impossible Irish homework I help him as much as I can. In fact, I’m well able to help him because believe it or not I was actually good at school Irish. I did honours for the Leaving Cert and got a B. But there’s a big difference between learning for the Leaving Cert exam and actually being able to use a subject in the real world. Despite my honours Irish, I cannot even walk into a Connemara pub and order a bowl of soup.
What hope has my son, who is already two classes behind in basic English, in getting grips with, never mind making use of, this minority language? Good luck to people who want to keep the language alive. Let them take their kids to classes after school or send them to Gaelscoils. Let the rest of us learn for the real world, please.
The Irish Times
Imní ar Eagraíocht na Scoileanna Gaeltachta maidir le cur i bhfeidhm na Stráitéise 20 Bliain
November 8, 2011
