An Irishwoman’s Diary
November 1, 2011
MY first starring role came this year when I was asked to take part in a small film, Cuireadh Chun Cainte , which is currently being screened at second-level schools all around the country.
The half-hour film aims to guide students through the newly structured oral Irish exam. Current Leaving Cert students will do the exam for the first time in the spring next year. The newly devised oral Irish exam will represent a maximum of 40 per cent in the Leaving Cert Irish exam as opposed to the maximum 25 per cent a student could hope to gain in the past. During September, a DVD of the film was sent to every second-level school in Ireland. The offer of the part in the film came out of the blue, when I was contacted by an executive at Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge, the central steering council for the Irish language community, which co-ordinated and orchestrated the film’s making along with Irish teachers’ representative group, Comhar na Múinteoirí Gaeilge. As a former examiner of the Oral Irish exam at Leaving Cert level, I drew a little on my own experiences in the mid 1980s when I arrived to play the part. As in any exam situation, the arrival of the examiner into a school creates a maelstrom of emotions, and consequently, our film, Cuireadh Chun Cainte , could be seen as a story of fear and loathing, of trial and retribution, of birth and rebirth!
Students sit in terror outside a door, waiting to be called in by the examiner, a complete stranger, for a conversation. In my experience, it is the arrival of the examiner at a school which creates that crucial tension when students can become nervous, excited or even monosyllabic. My character had to be stern yet approachable, friendly without being overly familiar. Cuireadh Chun Cainte , which literally means “an invitation to talk”, is the story of what happens when students are asked to converse in Irish, read poetry in Irish, pose questions, talk about themselves and generally exhibit their levels of fluency in Irish. The film was made in a southside Dublin secondary school. The phonetics and clarity of the words were uppermost in our minds at all times. Éamonn Ó Dónaill, director of education at the Irish training and language consultancy, Gaelchultúr, was the film’s linguistic consultant. He was on set at all times to monitor the various dialects that cropped up. As someone who comes from the small Gaeltacht of An Rinn in the Déise in west Co Waterford, which has its own dialectic character with words, grammatical characteristics and phonetic idiosyncrasies that are found only in this one corner of the world, I was curious to know how my pronunciation of certain words and phrases would be viewed: but all dialects were treated respectfully and allowed breathe, as long as the meaning was clear at all times and the dialogue was understandable. “Sally, not Hally,” offered Tristan Rosenstock, a member of the production team, Red Shoe Productions, at one stage. “As in Lay Down Sally ,” he explained. “Maybe you’re thinking of Halle, as in Halle Berry,- quipped a voice at the back. “Always,” joked Marcus Lamb, the professional actor who plays the part of the film’s narrator.
I had to think myself into the part of the examiner as I felt that I should play a complex character, a driven educationalist, an everywoman of sorts, whose mission is to separate the wheat from the chaff, the brains from the brawn, the swots from the shirkers, the scholars from the dullards. Like me, those who play the young students in the film were also inexperienced actors. I’m convinced that Honí Ní Chuaig and Ben Ó Mathúin, both secondary pupils themselves, who play the students with speaking parts, will, in time, become stars in their own right. In their roles, they had to read, recite, converse and ask questions of the examiner. A discussion early on in the shoot helped me understand the intensity and commitment to the project of our director, Paschal Cassidy, and our producer, Maggie Breathnach, when they stopped the cameras rolling in order to make a definitive decision about my reading glasses. Should they be left on or off, they wondered. It was a kind of existential dilemma. The said spectacles can embody so much that is educative and traditional, reductive and manipulative in our psyches that it took some moments before filming continued. Mainly, the glasses were left on the table beside me for the duration of the shoot. Since making this film, I find myself watching actors such as Natalie Portman, Kirsten Scott Thomas and Nicole Kidman in a whole new light. I listen to hear how they deliver their lines. I’ve noticed how they rarely look into the camera but at the actor opposite. They impress, each appearing by turn tense, sympathetic or stressed. I find myself wondering how many takes it took to capture a particular scene, and how many times Portman had to say her lines before her director, camera man, sound man and producer all nodded happily as one and she was able to breathe and move onto the next scene. I wonder if she found it difficult to walk naturally towards a table, while steering some young person, and still manage to deliver her lines perfectly, glitch- free and in a natural and fresh way. There will be a special screening of the film at this year’s Oireachtas na Gaeilge 2011 on November 4th at 6 pm in the Gleneagle Hotel in Killarney when the red carpet, undoubtedly, will be rolled out for the stars.
The Irish Times – Catherine Foley
Gaelscoil Éadan Doire gets Permanent Recognition
October 28, 2011
Gaelscoil Éadan Doire was founded in 2008 with 21 children and two teachers. The opening of the school doors for the very first time on the first of September proved to be a very joyous and proud occasion for everyone involved, and the school has come on in leaps and bounds since then. The Department of Education and Skills granted the school permanent recognition from the first of September 2011, and GAELSCOILEANNA TEO. would like to congratulate the school community on their success. We wish Gaelscoil Éadan Doire all the best for the future!
An bua ag Coláiste Feirste san Ardchúirt
October 26, 2011
Parents of girls at top school get 50% of grant scheme
October 26, 2011
Parents of girls at top school get 50% of grant scheme
PARENTS whose children attend a prestigious all-girls school are claiming over half the total Department of Education’s remote area grant scheme.
The scheme was designed originally for islanders and those unable to access second level education in their locality. However, the main beneficiaries of the scheme are the parents of students at Coláiste Íde, the all-Irish country house-style boarding school in Dingle, Co Kerry. The majority of the 142 students at the school are able to avail of the grant towards their fees. The grant, not means tested, offers up to EUR5,000 euro per student, according to figures released to Radio Kerry. The grant scheme, administered by the department, was introduced in 1967 with free post-primary education and was designed to give pupils from islands and other remote regions an opportunity to be educated. The grants are based on distance and pupils who live over 25km from “suitable free education”. Coláiste Íde is the only all-Irish boarding school in the State and is in demand among second-level children who had their primary education in Gaelscoileanna. According to figures obtained by the local radio station, 99 of the 142 students in 2010 at Coláiste Íde qualified for the grant aid and drew down a total of EUR472,375.
Over the past five years, parents of boarders at the school have qualified for over EUR1.9 million in state aid to cover the fees. This was over 50% of all monies paid out by the Department of Education under the grant, which was paid in respect of pupils at 26 other schools since 2006. The EUR836,876 total cost of the scheme last year included payments relating to 14 other schools – six in Cork, four in Mayo, three in Galway and one in Donegal – and the next highest payment was EUR163,251 for students at the all-Irish Coláiste an Phiarsaigh in Glanmire, Co Cork. A spokesperson from the National Parents Council has called for a review in the light of special needs cutbacks affecting most schools. Coláiste Íde is housed in an elegant Georgian home on the shores of Dingle Bay on almost 110 acres of park and woodland. It offers stables and other facilities. Yesterday, a spokeswoman for Coláiste Íde said what parents claimed was not a matter for the school. However, the grants did not cover 100% of costs as the fees at the school were EUR6,000 in addition to other costs, the spokeswoman said.
On its website, the school advises parents: “A remote area grant, which presently covers the basic boarding school fee, may be available for children who are unable to get an all-irish education in their local area. Please ask the school for details.” Yesterday the Department of Education issued a statement indicating the scheme may be reviewed in the forthcoming budget. “All areas of Departmental expenditure, including the Remote Area Grant scheme, are subject to the Comprehensive Expenditure Review (CER) initiated by the Government. The Department is not in a position to comment on any aspect of the CER until decisions have been made by Government in the context of the upcoming Budget.”
Irish Examiner – Anne Lucey & Niall Murray
Tionól teagaisc i Ma Nuad
October 26, 2011
Job Opportunities with the PDST
October 26, 2011
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SERVICE FOR TEACHERS – (PDST) REGIONAL ADVISORS
SECONDMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR TEACHERS AND PRINCIPALS/DEPUTY PRINCIPALS
Expertise in Literacy and/or Numeracy desirable
The PDST is a cross-sectoral support service established by the Department of Education and Skills to provide professional development support to primary and post-primary teachers and principals/school leaders on a wide range of educational topics. The PDST currently has a number of full time secondment opportunities for the position of regional advisor. A panel may be formed from which future vacancies at regional advisor level may be filled. For full details on job description and application form please refer to www.pdst.ie. The closing date for applications is Thursday 3rd November 2011 at 5.00pm.
Brian Friel’s “Buaiteoirí” (“Winners”) in the Axis
October 25, 2011
Buaiteoirí (Winners le Brian Friel) presented by Splódar
Dráma a rachaidh go dtí an croí ionat… Heart-wrenching and haunting theatrical experience presented by Splódar. Ceann de mhórshaothair Brian Friel. Friel’s masterpiece is surely the Romeo and Juliet of Irish literature as the illstarred lovers find societal and family pressure too much for them. Mag agus Joe a bhfuil an bás i ndán dóibh. Ach tá níos mó den ghreann agus den scléip sa saothar seo ná mar atá i ndráma Shakespeare. Strangely, this tale of tragedy with hilarious humorous sequences awakens feelings of optimism rather than despair and draws us deftly into the charged and changing world of the young lovers. Experience it in Irish, the language of love. See Neasa Ní Chuanaigh and Iorras Ó Gallachóir as the ill-starred lovers. Hear the beautiful vocal backing of composer Ailie Blunnie and Anúna soprano Aideen Rickard. Dráma cumasach! Dráma den chéad scoth! Bígí ann!
Dráma na Bliana. Léiriú na Bliana!
Seimineáir ag spreagadh daltaí scoile chun na Gaeilge
October 21, 2011
Una’s chess book up for award
October 20, 2011
DULEEK chess champ Una O’Boyle can now extend her Wonder Woman status beyond voicing the character on TG4, as her Irish chess book ‘Ficheall’ has been short-listed for Irish language Children’s Book of the Year (Gradam Réics Carló) 2011.
Called ‘Ireland’s Queen of Chess’, the chess Olympiad and Women’s Candidate Master teaches the game in local Gaelscoil Scoil Aonghusa, and the book – the first ever as Gaeilge – is the culmination of five years’ work, which saw Una having to create whole new words for chess terminology. ‘I can’t actually believe I made the shortlist, but am absolutely delighted,’ says Una, who learned the art of the game from her late father Enda. ‘Chess players are a gorgeous bunch of people and I love seeing the children chatting away about chess in Irish as though it were the most natural thing in the world.’ Her late dad’s passion for the game rubbed off on Una, and she was something of a child prodigy.
‘I used to love beating the adults, but lost interest for a while, until I picked it up again in my twenties,’ she adds. ‘I was asked by Ireland’s Grandmaster Alex Baburin to teach in Irish, as no one else was doing it, and that’s where I got the idea for the book.’ ‘Ficheall’, which means chess in Irish, has already received worldwide acclaim in the chess-world, with one American expert saying ’ This is super awesome. I’ve looked at all the chess books for children and there is nothing close to this in English. Please, please and please do an English translation’
Drogheda Independent – Alison Comyn
Ray Mac Mánais, Oideachasóir agus Oirfideach
October 19, 2011
