(Gaeilge) Folúntas Poist mar Phríomhoide ar Ghaelscoil nua i mBiorra fógartha

Sarah Carey’s column, ‘Parents, not priests, driving segregation’ (March 1st, 2015) claimed that the Irish language is “the most substantial barrier to entry for immigrants” and that “up at the Gaelscoil, free from the critical eye of the Irish Times or anyone else, you’ll struggle to find a black child”. Ms Carey’s claims are unfounded and serve only to reinforce biased stereotypes about Irish-medium education.

Irish-medium schools cater for incoming children of all levels of proficiency in Irish, and none. The schools practice immersion education, a system which helps pupils become fluent in the language naturally by giving them daily experience of an Irish-speaking environment. Immersion education is suitable for, and available to, all children, regardless of their linguistic and social background or their level of ability, including those with special educational needs.

Irish-medium schools are inclusive and open to all pupils, and welcome the wealth of diversity offered by children and their families of all cultural, linguistic and ethnic backgrounds. A minority of Irish-medium schools’ enrolment policies give preference to children who speak Irish at home, who would otherwise be denied education in their native language. This, as with any other criteria in a school’s enrolment policy, only applies when the demand for places in the school exceeds the spaces available. The Department of Education & Skills criteria for the establishment of new schools, in place since 2011, has stymied the growth of Irish-medium schools, leaving many oversubscribed and unable to accommodate all applicants. The sweeping changes proposed by Ms. Carey are unworkable and to blame Irish-medium schools for the unenviable position many of them find themselves in is irresponsible and shortsighted.

National and international research has proven that the benefits of immersion education include deeper multiculturalism, greater tolerance and less racism, a broader exposure to and appreciation of the value of other cultures and better communication skills. A child who speaks little or no English is at no disadvantage enrolling in an Irish-medium school, as Irish is the language of communication for all school activities.

It does a great disservice to the parents of the 45,000 children who are attending Irish-medium schools at present to imply that their decision to enrol their child in an Irish-medium school may have been made for elitist reasons. It does an even greater disservice to those parents who have chosen Irish-medium education for their children despite having neither Irish or English as a first language, parents who appreciate that their children will start school on an even footing with other pupils who will also be learning through a language that is new to most of them, in a school where diversity is truly valued.

Le meas,

Bláthnaid ní Ghréacháin, CEO, Gaelscoileanna Teo.

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Teenage App Developer Launches Free Irish / English Dictionary App “FOCAL.ie”

March 5, 2015

Free Irish Language App launched by Dundalk Gaelcholáiste student

Free Irish Language App launched by Dundalk Gaelcholáiste student
Last night, Wed 25th Feb, at an event hosted in his school – Coláiste Lú, Cormac Kinsella (14) formally launched his mobile Irish Language App “Focal.ie”. Cormac has developed both an iOS & Android version of this App to run on smart phones, iPads and tablets.

In a confident presentation to the Co. Louth Cathaoirleach and other County councillors, the Chairman and Treasurer of Conradh na Gaeilge Dundalk branch, his teachers, school board members and parents, Cormac described how he first conceived the idea for the App, how the App worked and the benefits that this particular App delivered.

Focal.ie is a clever App that allows a user to rapidly translate any word from Irish to English or English to Irish accessing the internet resources of www.focal.ie, the National Terminology Database for Irish. Cormac explained how he developed the App to access the database directly without requiring a web browser and without advertising links, thus reducing the number of keystrokes required and delivering very fast response times. He hopes that anyone studying Irish or helping with homework will find it useful.

Focal.ie is currently the only full dictionary Irish language App available to users completely free of charge. Cormac outlined that not only was web-based www.focal.ie recommended by his teachers, but all existing full Irish dictionary Apps charged to download. As a Gaelcholáiste student he didn’t see why he should have to pay, so decided to develop a free-to-use App accessing www.focal.ie. The result is a free App now available for Android phones & tablets on the Google Play Store and for iPhones and iPads on the Apple App Store.

It has already been downloaded by 500+ Android phone users and a couple of hundred Apple customers. Answering a question, he also stated that he would donate the App to the owners of the National Terminology Database if they so desired!

Oliver Tully, Cathoirleach of Louth Co. County, congratulated Cormac expressing both his delight that Dundalk had such a budding technical entrepreneur and his amazement that someone so young had created such a technically proficient product.

Deirdre Uí Liathain, principal of Coláiste Lú, also congratulated Cormac, forecasting a glittering future for him in IT and told him how useful she finds the App, particularly as it accesses such a comprehensive dictionary resource and loves the App’s fast response time.

Graham O’Rourke, Drogheda’s Coder Dojo organiser said “Cormac’s achievement in developing this app is awesome! He is a determined and gifted young coder that has the respect of all of his peers and the [Coder Dojo] mentors”.

Other
Cormac (14), is a 2nd year student at Coláiste Lú, Dundalk and one of Ireland’s youngest App developers. A regular attendee at the Drogheda Coder Dojo for the past 3 years, he has now developed and collaborated on several Apps.

Cormac was invited to be one of the 12 founder members of the recently founded Digital Youth Council of Ireland, part of a Europe-wide initiative whose objective is to encourage coding opportunities for all students – and provide a platform for them to influence the National Digital Strategy.

At the Dublin Web Summit in November last year, he was invited by Coder Dojo, along with his friend and coding partner, Cian Martin-Bohan, to showcase their social media management “OpenShare” App.

Details on the Focal.ie App are available at
 Google Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.releae.Focalgachait&hl=en
 Apple App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/ie/app/focal.ie/id936341951?mt=8
 as well as: http://mk-software.weebly.com/focalie.html

Posted by Ciara | Filed Under News (Home), Stories from the School Community | Leave a Comment