Making the great escape to the Gaeltacht
August 2, 2013
Famous faces recall their Gaeltacht experiences
Ruairi Quinn, Minister for Education
I only attended Irish college once — as a 12-year-old with a couple of my older brothers. It was based in what is now today known as Trabolgan Holiday Centre in Cork but the facilities at the time were so primitive it reminded me of a prison camp. I recall two of my brothers escaping from the camp and they got as far as Whitegate Oil Refinery before they were caught. I’m always reminded of the film The Great Escape whenever I think of my time in Irish college!
Siobhán Bastible, News presenter, TV3
The Gaeltacht for me was invaluable as I was about to attend an Irish-speaking school, Coláiste Íosagáin, in Dublin, coming from an all-English primary school.
I was 11 when myself and my cousin Jennifer were sent to Coláiste Ciarán in Carraroe, Co. Galway. My parents were enthusiastic about us learning to speak as Gaeilge and all of my six siblings had gone to the Gaeltacht at one point or another.
I do remember struggling to speak for the first week but it gradually got easier. We were in a house of around six other girls. I was always late for breakfast and missed the Rice Krispies, my cereal of choice! The ‘full Irish’ didn’t appeal to me!
There was a social element to Coláiste Ciarán, but at the age of 11, my cousin and I didn’t avail of it. We were simply too young — the other girls were mostly in their teens and had a ball, according to the talk at the breakfast table some mornings.
Like most of my generation, I’ve travelled in Europe, Asia and America… but to appreciate other cultures, we must also understand our own.
and one who missed out…
Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, Independent TD
I would love to have gone to the Gaeltacht when I was younger. Unfortunately, this was the preserve of the more well-off. When it came to a choice between feeding us and teaching us Irish, my parents were forced to do as many before had, and that was to choose food. Pity it had to be that way, still is. A bit like brown bread, the poor only get to eat it when the rich didn’t want it.
www.irishexaminer.com
Foilsithe ar Gaelport.com 02 Lúnasa 2013
The Irish Examiner
Getting lucky as Gaeilge
August 2, 2013
If you’re going to try and make Irish appeal to the i-Pod generation, then Micheál Ó Foighil, bainisteoir at Coláiste Lurgan in Indreabhán, Co Galway, seems to have found the very answer.
This is cutting-edge Gaeilge, brilliantly tailored in what Micheál describes as ‘New Age Irish’: typical three-week summer courses running from June to late August but with an emphasis on music, performance and making Irish trendy and applicable to the teenage market.
It’s no surprise, then, that the college in south Connemara has in the last 18 months become something of a home-spun internet sensation on YouTube. This summer, the students’ version of Daft Punk’s dance hit ‘Get Lucky’ — ‘An Ádh Nocht’ in Irish — clocked up an incredible 62,000 hits, registering 10,000 hits alone within just 24 hours of being posted. (Their ‘Cup Song’ has had almost 250,000 views).
In short, it’s ‘Gaeilge Rap’, performed and filmed by Blanchardstown student Ian Mac Gabhann and with the Irish lyrics subtitled at the bottom so viewers can sing along, with the song recorded in the Coláiste’s own state-of-the art studio.
The team in Indreabhán have also launched an Irish language video app.
www.irishexaminer.com
Foilsithe ar Gaelport.com 02 Lúnasa 2013
The Irish Examiner
Leaving Cert must be transformed, says minister
August 2, 2013
Education Minister Ruairi Quinn has signalled that the Leaving Certificate will be overhauled just like the Junior Certificate, as the education system was criticised as “unsustainable” amid fears of a “slide into mediocrity”. Mr Quinn said the “proliferation” of CAO courses was for the benefit of colleges, and not students.
“Just as the Junior Certificate is being abolished, the Leaving Cert must also be transformed,” he told the Mac Gill Summer school.
“The pressures on our Leaving Cert students are immense. This is, in part, caused by the proliferation of CAO courses — not designed to give students greater choice, but to create greater competition between courses — to the benefit of the colleges, not the students. This trend unfortunately continues.”
He said in 2000 there were 44 higher education institutions in the CAO offering 387 level 8 honours degree courses, but for the coming year, that figure had risen further to 919 courses in 45 institutions.
He said: “Some of the divisions between courses are questionable to say the least.”
The minister also said while changes to the Junior Certificate would be “uncomfortable” for some, choices needed to be made.
He said students needed to be able to make a choice and subjects, such as history, could not be compulsory. Some historians have made strong arguments for ensuring a prominent role for history in the secondary cycle.
Earlier, Mr Quinn said: “If you make history compulsory, why not make science compulsory, if you make science compulsory why not make geography compulsory? You have a compulsory curriculum. I think young people should be able to make a choice, I mean, in the replacement of the Junior Cert there will be an examination in a new format of examination for eight subjects as distinct from the 11 they do currently in the Junior Cert and we want young people to actually exercise choice.
“I don’t think compulsion is the way to go.”
President of Dublin City University, Prof Brian MacCraith, said one model Ireland could emulate was that of the Finnish government of the early 90s, which ploughed money into its education system following a severe recession.
He also claimed the current Leaving Certificate was inadequate for priming students for third-level and beyond.
“Many of the problems we are now facing arise from the incoherence in our approach and they become very evident at the transition points, eg, from primary school to secondary and, especially, from secondary to third level,” he said.
“Surely it should be relatively straightforward to agree on the overall outcomes desired from our education system and to align these objectives at every stage along the education continuum? In this context, it is somewhat surprising, shocking even, that, currently, there is no overall strategy in place for our education system.”
He also demanded the introduction of a new strategy for digital learning and said while some changes at secondary level were welcome, more needed to be done.
www.irishexaminer.com
Foilsithe ar Gaelport.com 02 Lúnasa 2013
The Irish Examiner – Noel Baker
Léachtóir Cúnta i Roinn na Gaeilge
August 1, 2013
New DIT postgraduate courses provide education in key skill areas
August 1, 2013
In response to ever-changing market demands, Dublin Institute of Technology has developed new postgraduate programmes in key skill areas – from digital marketing to sustainable infrastructure, from geospatial engineering to event management.
Postgraduate education is increasingly valued in the workplace and is a way to build on the expertise of a primary degree or undertake study in a different area that adds breadth of knowledge and skills to a CV.
DIT offers career-focused postgraduate education, along with a culture of excellence in teaching and research. A dynamic and interactive postgraduate community at the Institute helps to foster a sense of communal learning, whether a student is on a taught Masters or a research focused Masters.
New postgrad programmes for DIT this autumn include the MSc in Event Management (the only Masters in Event Management in the Republic) and the innovative MSc in Digital Marketing & Analytics (a 16-month programme led by practitioners from the digital marketing world).
On the engineering side, DIT is launching its MSc in Geospatial Engineering (within the new School of Surveying and Construction Management at DIT Bolton Street). The programme aims to prepare graduates to use specialised skills and deep knowledge as producers, managers and users of geospatial information.
Sustainability has become a key area in construction and engineering and the new ME in Sustainable Infrastructure is designed to provide participants with specialised skills and knowledge in technical design in this important sector.
The full list of new postgrad programmes is below. Many of DIT’s postgraduate programmes are available on both a full-time and part-time basis.
- MSc in Event Mgt (DT9143 full-time / DT9414 part-time )
- MSc in Geospatial Engineering (DT9415 full-time / DT9416 part-time)
- MSc in Digital Marketing & Analytics – (DT9333 part-time)
- Masters Qualifier For MSc in Computing – (DT265B full-time, DT265C part-time)
- MSc in Geographic Information Science – (DT9419 full-time/ DT9420 part-time)
- ME in Sustainable Infrastructure – (DT9147 – full-time, DT9148 part-time)
- Higher Diploma in Computing – (DT265 full-time / DT265A part-time)
For more information and to find out how to apply, visit www.dit.ie/postgrad/
For further information on any of the programmes, contact the DIT Press Office on 01-4027130 or email lisa.jewell@dit.ie.
Teideal Nua Réamhscoile ó Futa Fata
August 1, 2013
Déan Coinne le Doire : Turais threoraithe as Gaeilge
August 1, 2013
Feighlí le Gaeilge
August 1, 2013
O’Dowd’s Irish schools agenda causes concern
August 1, 2013
IT was with alarm that I read a recent article in your paper entitled, ‘Benefit of Irish-medium education is there for all’, by Dr Micheal O Duibh.
In it, Dr O Duibh claims that “Irish-medium education offers a system which improves children’s skills in English and Irish, making them more tolerant.” I challenge the implication that children who do not learn Irish are somehow less tolerant.
However, more worryingly, his article demonstrates one of the threats to our education system: minister O’Dowd’s preference for Irish-medium schools. These schools receive more funding than other schools by virtue of teaching through Irish.
Elsewhere in our education system, Minister O’Dowd uses the argument that a school is too small to be viable. Not so with Irish-medium schools.
O’Dowd’s long-term plans for education across Northern Ireland must be exposed. This is to prevent the Northern Irish people sleep-walking into the Sinn Fein utopia of Irish-medium, all-ability comprehensives.
Nicole Lappin
Waringstown, Co Down
SF’s language ideology is lost in translation
SURELY the Irish language should be treated as any other language (Comment, July 25)?
If a school wants to introduce it as subject – as French, or German – then so be it. But I fail to see the logic in having an all-Irish-medium school. What does the future hold for the language outside of the school?
Last week, I stayed in a town south of Dublin and travelled around. Apart from bilingual signage for directions and on public buildings, I did not see any sign of the Irish language being used. Many non-Irish people live and work in Dublin – their main working language being English. There was also a proliferation of English language colleges to enable other nationalities wanting to speak English. Some of the local people I spoke to had not looked at Irish since they left school.
In Northern Ireland, successive Sinn Fein education ministers have used their position to push ahead with this ideology.
In the year 2010/11, the minister, John O’Dowd, spent £110,000 on Irish translation services – up from £68,000 the year before. Also, CCEA spent £598,828, compared with £98,000 in 2006/07. If this principle of translation were applied to other languages of foreign nationals living in Northern Ireland, the cost would be insurmountable.
Maybe Sinn Fein need to take their heads out of the sand as the cost of translation alone is more than enough.
Hugh Morrow
By e-mail
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
Scoláireachtaí €2,000 ar fáil
August 1, 2013
