Cúrsaí Gaeilge an fhómhair le Gaelchultúr i gCeatharlach
August 28, 2012
Cén áit is fearr leat ar domhan?
August 28, 2012
Remembered: my first day at school
August 28, 2012
Starting primary school can be a scary business, which is why that first day can linger in the memory many decades later. Ten very different people look back at their first day in “big school”
RUAIRI QUINN
Minister for Education and Skills
The Minister has strong memories of his first day at St Michael’s in Dublin. “I started ‘big school’ after the Easter holidays of 1952. St Michael’s was a small school in those days, with fewer than 130 pupils. On my first day, my father brought me in at around 11am after the school day had started. We walked through the connecting corridor of rooms in the garden basement of that fine old house that still stands on the corner of Ailesbury Road and Merrion Road. I remember the smell of Jeyes fluid from the brushed timber floors.
“We were greeted by Fr Maguire, the school principal. After a few words, my father left. Fr Maguire tapped on the window of the door of the junior classroom and the teacher welcomed me into a room with about six twin desks. I was given a slate and a piece of chalk and asked to sit beside Tim Crowe. I remember the smell of mala or plasticine and Tim’s friendly greeting and sniffy nose. He remains a friend of mine to this day.”
MARY O’ROURKE
Former tánaiste
“All I can remember of my first day is being terrified, absolutely terrified, and finding it a very alien place,” says the former minister for education, who went to school in Athlone. Part of the terror came from the intimidating Mercy nuns: “They were in full regalia with great long veils and starched wimples and great breastplates of white, starched again. They scared the life out of me.”
But O’Rourke was also scared by the sheer noise of so many children in one place. “We had a big gravel school yard and the din on the first day was terrible. I vividly remember the shouts and roars, and how everyone seemed to have a pal but I didn’t seem to have one.”
She wasn’t used to being left to fend for herself. “I was the youngest [in my family] so I suppose I was a bit petted.” But there was salvation at the end of the day when her mother appeared to take her away on her bicycle. “She had a little seat on the back for me and I can still feel myself holding on to her jacket. There’d be no safety straps. I remember seeing her face looking through the railings. And then I was rescued, and away off with me.”
Mary O’Rourke’s autobiography Just Mary will be published by Gill Macmillan in October
JOHN BUTLER
Writer and director
By the time John Butler started primary school, he’d already survived a first-day trauma when he began Montessori school the previous year. “On that day, mum had wrapped digestive biscuits in cling film and a jam sandwich and I ate it straight after breakfast. I’d have spent all the time with mum up until that point, so eating the food was probably me acting out, trying to rebel.”
There was no secretive biscuit eating when he started primary school. Instead, his new school opened the young Butler’s eyes. “There were so many kids, about 180 in each year. Growing up is about accepting that the scale of things is constantly increasing, and [starting school] is the equivalent of going away to another country and realising the world is a huge place. You realise that these kids, they’ve all got parents, all got families, and you think, wow, we live in a big, big world. I loved it. I didn’t have much trauma about primary – my back was broken by play school. I’d already been taken to a strange building and left there by my mother.” John Butler’s novel The Tenderloin is published by Picador.
JULIE FEENEY
Singer and composer
Julie Feeney has a strong visual memory of her first day in what she describes as “a beautiful country school beside a forest” in Abbeyknockmoy, Co Galway. “I remember sitting in the little red chair, with its red seat and back, and yellow tubes. Tiny little chairs. I remember that very well. And I had an old-fashioned wooden desk. We had a thing called Teach Róisín – a little wooden house in the classroom. You could go into it and there was a little kitchen in it. Maybe three or four children could fit, and it was magical for us.”
She wasn’t scared at all. “My mother was the school principal in the school and I knew she was going to her job. When your parent is the principal it’s very familiar. There wasn’t any fear.”
She was, however, a bit nervous about some of the pupils. “The big girls, the ones in fifth or sixth class, I was a bit scared of them. If I met them now I’d probably still be a little bit afraid of them.”
Juliefeeney.com
JIMMY MAGEE
Sports commentator and broadcaster
“I can’t remember one unpleasant day at school,” says the broadcaster. “Like every other child I was scared when I started – I don’t know what I was scared of. The teachers were very nice.” Magee went to “a small country national school” in Cooley, Co Louth, but it seemed big enough to a boy unused to being around lots of children. “I was the only one at home for a while and I remember thinking some of the children were very bold.”
But he quickly made friends with his new classmates. “I was born in New York and came home just at the start of the war because my parents thought Ireland would be a safe place. Kids would ask me what America was like and I hadn’t a clue. But a sort of mystery surrounded me. Jimmy’s from America. They thought that because I was American I knew Abraham Lincoln personally or I’d helped to build the Statue of Liberty.”
Jimmy Magee’s memoir Memory Man will be published by Gill Macmillan in September
AOIBHINN NÍ SHÚILLEABHÁIN
Broadcaster, teacher and PhD student
Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin was totally unfazed by her first day at Scoil Raifteirí in Castlebar, Co Mayo. “My mum is the vice-principal and she was my teacher,” she says. “So my first day was quite nice. I was an only child at the time and I remember standing at the front steps with mum and my school bag and dad taking my photograph.”
But a surprise awaited her in the school itself. “I was so shocked by other kids crying – I couldn’t understand why they were so upset,” she says. “I didn’t appreciate the fact that my mother was with me for the whole day while they had to say goodbye to their parents. My job was to play with the kids who were really upset. There was one particular boy who was very upset and when his dad had to leave; my mum gave me the task of looking after him. We’re still really good friends.”
DIANA BUNICI
Television presenter
Diana Bunici experienced two very different first days at primary school. The first was in her native Moldova, and she remembers not being nervous at all.
She came from a small village and knew lots of her classmates, and her grandmother worked in the school as a teaching assistant. “For me, it was really exciting and something I was looking forward to. I felt totally at home.”
But there was one surprise in store – the required daily nap. “There were mats arranged like a chest of drawers on a grander scale – each drawer was like a bed and you had your own bed assigned to you. I could never sleep and that day I was so confused – why did I have to sleep in the middle of the day?”
When she was eight, the family moved to Ireland, where she had a very different first day. “I didn’t speak English very well at all,” she says. “And I was wearing a uniform, which I’d never done before. I felt completely alien. But through the help of the students in my class and my teachers I felt at home, even on that first day. There was such curiosity because they’d never met someone from Moldova before. They were full of questions that I couldn’t answer because I couldn’t understand them, but it was kind of exciting.”
Nerves, novelty, confusion and excitement – as Bunici says, “in a way, this was a more traditional first day at school”.
Diana Bunici co-presents Elev8 on RTÉ Two
MICHAEL BARRON
Director of BelongTo, a national youth service for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people in Ireland
If a child is nervous on his or her first day, at least he or she knows that everyone else is in the same boat. But that wasn’t the case for Michael Barron, who started school several months after everyone else.
“I started late because I was sick. I had bad bronchial asthma,” he recalls. “Just one other girl started on the same day. She took a real shine to me but I found her really scary. Whenever I turned around she’d be standing there.” And there was nowhere to hide, because the school was a small one in rural Kilkenny. Barron did settle in, but still found himself missing his grandmother. “She lived with us and I was really close to her as a kid because my parents worked. When I started school I remember wishing I could be at home with her.”
Belongto.org
DARÁINE MULVIHILL
Co-presenter of the Paralympics on Channel 4
“When I started school I felt like I was already grown up,” says Daráine Mulvihill, who is co-presenting Channel 4’s Paralympic Games. “I knew the ropes.”
Gaelscoil na Cille in Ashbourne was familiar to Mulvihill. Not only had she attended a Naíonra playgroup situated on the school grounds, but her mother was a teacher in the school. She believes teachers’ kids are the least likely to cry on their first day. “I think teachers have a certain way with their kids, they wouldn’t tolerate any waterworks. When children get really upset, it could be because they’re getting vibes from their parents – they’re worried about letting them go.”
Her mum wasn’t the only familiar face. “A girl from up the road was born just a month before me and we grew up together and started school on the same day. I have a picture on the wall of my bedroom of the two of us outside the school on our first day – I have my Zig and Zag schoolbag and we both have big grins on our faces. I was dying to get in. We’re still in touch now – I’m coming home for her birthday in a few weeks.”
See paralympics.channel4.com
CONOR DURKAN
Student
This young man from Douglas in Cork was one of just three people in the country to get nine A1s in his Leaving Certificate this year, and he is about to start a degree in mathematical sciences in UCC. So perhaps it’s not surprising that he wasn’t scared of starting school. “I just remember the whole thing as a good experience and a good place to be,” he says.
He was unfazed by the hustle and bustle of the classroom. “I don’t think I knew anybody when I started, but it wasn’t long until I got to know them. I was never a quiet child. I was always talking to other people. We spent the day playing with toys and talking to each other.”
As yet another teacher’s child, he attended the school where his dad taught. “I knew I had to be on my best behaviour because I was going into where my dad was working. But I don’t think I was that interested in learning then – I was kind of lazy.
Irish Language and Cultural weekend in the Ráth Chairn Gaeltacht!
August 27, 2012
For those interested in improving their Irish in a pleasant, relaxed environment, Gael Linn are organizing an Irish language and cultural weekend for Adult Learners in the Ráth Chairn Gaeltacht, Co. Meath from Friday 5 – 7 October 2012. This is the fifth consecutive year for the organization to run this highly successful event, in partnership with the local cooperative, Comharchumann Ráth Chairn. The weekend will coincide with the annual Éigse Dharach Uí Chatháin festival this year, and participants will have the opportunity to experience the rich cultural heritage of this living Gaeltacht at first hand. The Ráth Chairn Gaeltacht was founded in 1937 when families from Conamara transferred to the area under a land commission scheme, and is situated between Trim and Athboy in Co. Meath – just an hour from Dublin !
Among the activies planned for the weekend are conversational Irish language classes ( intermediate level ), workshops on sean-nós Irish singing, a tablequiz and plenty of ceol and craic with the local native speakers in the evenings ! Full board accommodation will be arranged for participants in the locality and the all-inclusive fee for the weekend is a very reasonable €180 per person!
Further information on the weekend is available on www.gael-linn.ie or from Seán Ó Ceallaigh at 01:6753299
Irish classes in the heart of the city
August 27, 2012
A new series of Irish language classes will begin in Dublin City next month.
The classes are being run by Scott De Buitléir and will commence on 13th September 2012.
Classes will take place every Thursday, from 6.30pm to 7.30pm, in cois Teallaigh on Kildare Street.
The course aims to develop students’ spoken Irish and will focus on encouraging confidence in a comfortable, informal environment.
The course will run for 6 weeks with an optional 4 extra classes at the end.
The cost of the course is €90.
For further information e-mail scottdebuitleir@gmail.com.
Foilsithe ar Gaelport.com
Launch of new Irish primary
August 27, 2012
GUEST speakers from the Irish language community will be present at the official launch of a new Irish Medium primary school in Cookstown this Thursday night.
Gaelscoil Eoghain, in Chapel Street, will open its doors to pupils on Monday, September 3, after Education Minister, John O’Dowd, granted approval for the school to be fully recognised and funded by his Department.
The launch event will take place on Thursday at 7.30pm at the Glenavon Hotel in the town.
Speakers will include Pilib Ó Ruanaí from Iontaobhas na Gaelscolaíochta, and Liam Flanagan (An Carn).
Entertainment and refreshments will also be provided on the evening.
www.tyronetimes.co.uk
90% for Coláiste Feirste’s GCSE pupils
August 24, 2012
Coláiste Feirste, Belfast’s fast-growing Irish-medium College, have bucked the trend of declining exam results elsewhere. This year an incredible 90% of Year 12 pupils achieved the benchmark 5 or more GCSEs with a significant rise in the number of students achieving A* and A grades in all subjects. No pupil gained less than 4 good grades at GCSE and many achieved 10 top grades. The vast majority of these pupils will be returning to 6th Form next week to continue their Irish-medium education for the next two years.
Year Head Pádraig Mac Cathail said, “On behalf of the Key Stage 4 team I would like to congratulate the students and their parents on an excellent set of results. It has been a pleasure to work with these young Gaels over the last two years, and I can say with confidence that not only have they been highly motivated students but they have developed into mature and rounded young adults. This is a great day for our school community.”
There were numerous individual successes. Déaglán Mac Conmhaoil and Nuala Meascaigh, for example, achieved 10 straight A* and A grades. Many of the departments in the school boasted 100% pass-rates including French, Drama, Motor Vehicle Studies, Health and Social Care, Science and Geography while the Maths Department doubled the number of students who achieved A*-C grades in GCSE Maths.
School Principal, Micheál Mac Giolla Ghunna congratulated the students, staff and parents. “These results follow on the tremendous A-level results last week. Today’s success is the culmination of lots of hard work over the last 5 years. I would like to pay tribute to our feeder primary schools, the bunscoileanna, who laid robust foundations for our staff to build on. Over the last number of years Coláiste Feirste has implemented an Improvement Plan that strives to ensure that each and every student achieves their full potential and with the dedication and leadership of the Key Stage 4 teachers, it has been a resounding success. We have nurtured another generation of talented and highly educated young Gaels not only for the Irish language community but for this city.
“Coláiste Feirste has come of age and the decision of the Department of Education to invest £11.9 million in our success story has been proven right. With our state of the art new building and sports facilities we look forward to more success next year and in the future.”
2013 – 2014 competition for the Fulbright Awards
August 24, 2012
The Fulbright Commission in Ireland will officially open to applicants on Friday, the 24th of August 2012. The 2013 – 2014 competition for the Fulbright Awards include a monetary grant for post-graduate students, scholars, and professionals to travel to the US to lecture, research, and study for a maximum period of one year. Further information about the application process is available on www.fulbright.ie.
All applications must be received by 3:00 p.m. in hard copy and online on 14th November 2012.
The following three types of awards are on offer:
- Fulbright Student Awards: For up to one academic year for postgraduate study or research in the United States in any discipline, including the arts. Grants are a maximum of $20,000. Applicants may stay to complete their academic program if it is longer than one year.
- Fulbright Scholar and Professional Awards: Grants available for up to €35,000 (Irish Language) and $20,000 (General Awards) for academics and professionals with more than five years’ experience to research and/or lecture in the US, lasting between and three and twelve months.
- Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistantship (FLTA) Awards: Ten-month Awards for Irish language teachers to refine their teaching skills in the US by teaching at a US college and taking classes at a post-graduate level. Grants are available for approximately €20,000.
There are a number of sponsored awards for students and scholars in specific disciplines, including:
- Fulbright-Environmental Protection Agency Award in Water, Climate Change, and Sustainable Environment (Student and Scholar)
- Fulbright-Marine Institute Award on Any Marine Science/Business Topic (Student and Scholar)
- Fulbright-Enterprise Ireland Award in Innovation (Student Only)
- Fulbright-Teagasc Award in Agriculture, Food, and Forestry (Student Only)
- Fulbright-University of Notre Dame LL.M. in International Human Rights Law (50% tuition waiver) (Student Only)
Speaking at the launch, Ms. Una Halligan, Chairperson of the Fulbright Commission in Ireland, said,
“Year after year, the Fulbright Awards attract Ireland’s top researchers, professionals, and graduates. I have no doubt that this year will be the same. The Irish Fulbright Awards offer winners the opportunity to study, research, and build relationships in the United States. The Fulbrighters gain invaluable experience that they can share upon their return to Ireland that will set them apart in their fields. I would encourage any interested applicants to visit our website for more information.”
The Fulbright Awards are presented on an annual basis to Irish students, scholars, and professionals to undertake postgraduate study and research at higher education, cultural, and related institutions in the United States. In 2012 there was a record-breaking 37 Irish Awardees.
Applications are encouraged in all disciplines.
For further information, please contact:
Joanne A. Davidson
Communications and Information Officer, Fulbright Commission Ireland
joanne.davidson@fulbright.ie
01.660.7670 / 087.258.1417
Applications open for grants to study, teach and research in US
August 24, 2012
Applications open tomorrow for awards for postgraduate students, scholars and professionals from the Fulbright Commission in Ireland.
The financial awards support those seeking to study, lecture or do research in the US in the coming year. Stays are for a maximum of a year and there are three types of awards on offer.
The Fulbright student awards are for postgraduate studies, with a grant of up to $20,000 (about €16,000).
The Fulbright scholar and professional awards enable academics and professionals to research or lecture in the US. These too are worth about €16,000 but up to €35,000 if in the Irish language.
There is also a Fulbright foreign language teaching assistantship award, a 10-month grant to enable Irish language teachers to develop their skills by teaching at a US college. Grants are about €20,000.
The Fulbright awards are presented on an annual basis. All applications must be received both in hard copy and online by November 14th.
Una Halligan, chairwoman of the Fulbright Commission in Ireland, said: “The Irish Fulbright awards offer winners the opportunity to study, research, and build relationships in the United States. The Fulbrighters gain invaluable experience that they can share upon their return to Ireland that will set them apart in their fields.”
www.irishtimes.com
MSc i nGnó agus i dTeicneolaíocht an Eolais
August 24, 2012
