College promotes online learning as Gaeilge
January 7, 2013
TG Lurgan is aiming to boost interest in the Irish language with a new music video app, Colette Sheridan reports
AN Irish language music video app has recently been launched by Coláiste Lurgan, an independent Irish language summer school based in the Connemara Gaeltacht. TG Lurgan is available for free downloading on Android and iOS and can be accessed in the App Store or Play Store. It enables users to enjoy and share music videos as Gaeilge.
It was developed on a voluntary basis by Coláiste Lurgan, providing a wide selection of contemporary Irish language music videos alongside tutorial videos for learning Irish. The next version of TG Lurgan will include a facility whereby members can upload their own productions as Gaeilge, allowing people to enjoy and learn from them.
In 2012, Coláiste Lurgan launched Abair Leat! — the world’s first social networking site dedicated to the Irish language. It’s all part of Coláiste Lurgan’s aim of popularising the use of Irish and broadening its base. As the manager of Coláiste Lurgan, Micheál Ó Fóighil, explains, the app — cited as the Irish language equivalent of MTV and Vevo — allows users to create their own playlists, making people’s favourites even more accessible.
“While the songs themselves provide first class entertainment, they are also an excellent vehicle for language learning. Song and verse have always been a very powerful memory aid, putting essential words and phrases not just on the tip of your tongue, but also into your long-term memory.
“Learners relate to Irish language versions of songs they enjoy listening to as entertainment rather than work. Learning the lyrics helps learners to expand their vocabulary and to speak simple essential phrases in a quick non-tedious way. Any exposure to the Irish language outside of the class situation is a huge plus. Quite a lot of people have learned the lyrics as Gaeilge. It’s quite an effective language learning exercise.”
TG Lurgan recently passed the one million plays milestone since uploading its first video on the Vimeo platform two years ago. Among the most popular productions so far are ‘BEO Lurgan’, an Irish cover version of ‘Some Nights’ by American indie pop band, Fun, with over 80,000 views. Other hits include ‘An Chóisir Rac’ — an Irish version of ‘Party Rock’ by LMFAO with 45,000 views and ‘Lady Ga(eilge)’, a medley of Lady Gaga songs clocking up 40,000 views. TG Lurgan also features many original compositions, such as ‘Damhsa Amhráin’, ‘Céili ar an Trá’, ‘An Buachaill Ceart’, ‘Can Os Ard’, ‘Seans Deirneach’ and ‘An Bráisléid’ to mention just a few.
Ó Fóighil says the songs are used in some Irish language classes, “not just in Ireland, but all over the world. Quite a number of them are Irish versions of contemporary popular music.” The Irish language students record the songs during their sojourn at Coláiste Lurgan during the summer.
“We put up the songs in a kind of karaoke version. There are now over 400 videos altogether. While making them, we improvise a lot.”
The Irish language “is never going to go out of fashion, as long as we have a country. But Gaeilge has been very poorly presented by the Department of Education. It’s such a pity it’s not presented by the department in a more appealing way that can actually resonate with people. I suppose the Department of Education would be the biggest obstacle to the progression and learning of Gaeilge.”
Both young and older people are “positively disposed” towards learning Irish. “After spending 14 years in a classroom learning Gaeilge, there’s something wrong with the way it’s presented if people aren’t curious about it afterwards. This has been said over and over again. But nothing has really changed in the way the language is taught. It’s not a question of resources. Money is being spent but there’s damn all to show for it.”
If Ó Fóighil worked in the Department of Education he would make Irish “much more appealing with an emphasis on spoken Gaeilge. No one expects (school leavers) to speak the language. That’s a huge flaw. Not only are they unable to speak it, but when they try to, they have no confidence. They can see no relevance in it… It’s not that more money is required. It’s just that the language needs to be taught in a way that people can connect with.”
Only for TG4, the Irish language “would be in huge trouble. Setting up TG4 was the most positive thing done for the language. The station makes the language relevant. Only for it, we wouldn’t be talking about Gaeilge at the moment. TG4 is a really significant player in presenting the language in a modern way.” And TG Lurgan aims to make it hip, cool and, most of all, accessible.
www.lurgan.biz
www.irishexaminer.com
Cúrsa Gaeilge d’Iarratasóirí Hibernia
January 7, 2013
Dianchúrsa i mBéal Feirste
January 7, 2013
New study of how Gaelic affects brain functions
January 2, 2013
Scientists are to investigate changes in brain functions among people who are fluent in English and Gaelic.
The study involving Glasgow and Edinburgh universities will require its test subjects to speak Gaelic exclusively for about 40 days.
The research aims to add new scientific evidence to suggestions that people who are bilingual have enhanced problem-solving skills and flexible thinking.
The study will include MRI scans to help detect changes in brain functions.
Scientists from Scotland, Belgium and Germany leading the research said the experiments would be entirely non-invasive.
They will be carried out at University of Glasgow’s Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, with approval of the College of Science and Engineering’s ethics committee.
Dr Meike Ramon, of the University of Glasgow and Belgium’s Universite catholique de Louvain, said brain functions changed when people performed specific tasks.
She said it should be possible to identify changes before and after someone has spoken Gaelic over a long period.
Physical tasks
Research published in August suggested bilingual children outperform children who speak only one language in problem-solving skills and creative thinking.
Researchers set lingual, arithmetical and physical tasks for 121 children, aged about nine, in Scotland and Sardinia, Italy.
They found that the 62 bilingual children were “significantly more successful in the tasks set for them”.
The study was published in the International Journal of Bilingualism.
The Glasgow-based children spoke English and Gaelic, or English only, while the Sardinian cohort spoke either Italian only, or Italian and Sardinian.
They were asked to reproduce patterns of coloured blocks, to repeat orally a series of numbers, to give clear definitions of words and to resolve mentally a set of arithmetic problems.
The tasks were all set in English or Italian.
Researchers found that the bilingual children were “significantly more successful in the tasks set for them”.
Family members
Last month, research published by the University of the Highlands and Islands suggested that generations of families that speak Gaelic use the language in different ways.
Gaelic dominates the conversations of family members aged between 53 and 71.
Second and third generations, family aged 16-37 and three to seven, mostly use English.
But the research also found adults spoke Gaelic when talking to children, who in turn would reply in the language.
bbc.co.uk
Dráma raidió dhaltaí Choláiste Feirste
January 2, 2013
Head of first Gaelscoil in Waterford city with passion for Irish language, music
January 2, 2013
Treasa Ní Eachthighearnn’s lasting memorial is that education through Irish is firmly established in Waterford city.
She was first head of Gaelscoil Phort Láirge, the first Gaelscoil in the city. It began in 1985 with 20 pupils in a basement. Classes were often interrupted by rain flooding the accommodation. The Gaelscoil is now housed in a purpose-built school with 224 pupils.
After retiring, she continued to train the school choirs.
She was passionate about the Irish language and music. Her instrument of choice was the flute, she was organist in her local church and she was a more than useful fiddle player. At the time of her death she was learning the concertina.
Her passion for music sent her up and down the country to traditional music events. She collected tunes and loved finding rare verses of songs.
Her passion for music was infectious, being passed on to her pupils. The choir of Gaelscoil Phort Láirge has always had a high standard, winning several major competitions.
She followed Waterford hurlers; to her, John Mullane was one of the all-time greats.
Treasa was born Teresa Hearne in 1943 in Clogheen, Co Tipperary, the third child and only daughter to teacher William Hearne, a Wexford man, and his wife Kathleen (Sheehan), from Cork city.
Having attended the secondary school in the Convent of Mercy in Wexford, she spent over a decade as a Mercy nun, including teaching science in Carrick-on-Suir for a period. During that time, she studied for a degree in Irish at UCC.
In the 1970s, she took the difficult decision to leave religious life. Training as a primary teacher, she taught in Stradbally, Co Waterford, then Duncannon, Co Wexford, before helping to establish the Gaelscoil.
Treasa is survived by her brothers Thomas, Billy, Eugene, Martin and Colum.
http://www.irishtimes.com/
