Garry Kasparov’s visit to Ireland, March 28th-30th, 2014
March 25, 2014
In October 2013 Garry Kasparov announced his candidacy for President of FIDE (Fédération Internationale des échecs or World Chess Federation). He plans to unseat 18-year incumbent Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, from Kalmykia, in the election that takes place in August 2014 during the Tromsø Chess Olympiad. To this end, the Irish Chess Union is proud to host Garry Kasparov on this historic two-day visit to Dublin from March 28th. Mr. Kasparov’s visit shall be focused on meeting Ireland and delegates from neighbouring countries to whom he will give details of his presidential programme as well as listening to issues from their home countries. He will also meet Ireland’s chess playing school children and a special meeting of Ireland’s finest and most dedicated chess enthusiasts.
During his visit he will greet chess playing children from Gaelscoileanna throughout Leinster for the annual Comórtas Fichille Cúige Laighean which will be held in the Mansion House on Friday, March 28th. During this tournament some of our young junior stars will be honoured. These are the under 12 Bernadette Stokes team who came home triumphant from the annual 4 Nations chess tournament last summer (Ireland, England, Scotland, & Wales); 13 year old Diana Mirza, Irish Women’s chess champion; 8 year old Daniel Dwyer, Bunratty Minors Champion and 8 year old Admira Kecskemeti, under 12 chess champion of Northern Ireland.
An Tánaiste, Eamon Gilmore will attend, as will the Deputy Lord Mayor Dermot Lacey to honour chess playing children. This event will be entirely in Irish and we certainly hope for a few “foclaí” from Mr. Kasparov. Irish and Russian will be the only languages spoken in the Mansion House during this event. Fiachra Scannan and Daniel Dwyer will speak in Irish and Russian on behalf of the children. The secretary general of the ECU, Sava Stoisavljevic will meet the FIDE Delegates to discuss their involvement in European chess. Jan Callewaert (Belgium), president of the Kasparov Chess Foundation, Europe and a candidate as FIDE Deputy President in Kasparov’s ticket will also attend.
Garry Kasparov’s vision: “to elevate the game of chess from grassroots level; to spread the game in education as a cultural touchstone as well as a successful commercial sport.”
Pupils from Gaelscoil Bhun Cranncha feature in Tourism Ireland video with Col. Chris Hadfield
March 25, 2014
Watch the video here!
John Spillane páirteach sa cheiliúradh i nGaelscoil an Ghoirt Álainn
March 25, 2014
WorldWise Global Schools – 2014 Grant Call
March 24, 2014
Irish Aid’s WorldWise Global Schools is inviting applications for funding to support post-primary development education initiatives in the upcoming academic year (September 2014 – May 2015).
What is Development Education?
Development education is an educational process aimed at increasing awareness and understanding of the rapidly changing, interdependent and unequal world in which we live. WorldWise Global Schools seeks to increase the engagement of students and teachers with development education by providing funding and support to post-primary schools, school networks and NGOs who work with schools to integrate a global justice and development dimension though curricular and extracurricular activities. Further details of our programme can be found online at www.worldwiseschools.ie and support in Irish is available to participating schools.
2014 Grant Call
If your organisation or a school you work with is interested in applying for a 2014-2015 annual grant, please register for an application at www.worldwiseschools.ie/funding. You may also register by calling 01 6852078 or by emailing info@worldwiseschools.ie. Note that the deadline for receipt of applications is 16 April 2014.
Gael Champa 2014
March 24, 2014
Gael-Champa is a summer sports camp as Gaeilge, providing cultural, educational and sporting activities for children through the medium of Irish!
The camp caters for children from English speaking schools as well as Gaelscoileanna. Activities include Gaelic football, hurling, rugby, volleyball, soccer, basketball, swimming, drama, céilí dance and much more.
Gael-Champa is back this summer! Secure your place online at ;
A Fun-Filled Seachtain na Gaeilge at Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin
March 24, 2014
We had a fantastic Seachtain na Gaeilge here in the Cultúrlann for the whole community both young and old and for both learners and Irish Speakers alike. We kicked off our event on World Book day with the fantastic “Little Festival of Books.” This is the 2nd year we have organised this festival in association with Derry City Council. Children from the city’s 3 Gaelscoileanna came to the Cultúrlann to celebrate books. Lúrapóg Larapóg put on a fantastic show for children performed by children. This excellent performance featured Singing, storytelling, dancing and music and all the children were able to take part. In the afternoon, Gearóidín Bhreathnach, the renowned Donegal Storyteller caught the pupils imagination with a selection of stories and legends, both newly written and long standing. We hope to make this book festival a yearly event.
We also saw the hard work of Club Óige Setanta, Triax and especially the hard work of local Gaelscoil students and the Sollus Highland Dancers pay off when they held an Irish language Flash Mob during Seachtain na Gaeilge. This colourful Flashmob happened in Foyleside to the great surprise of shoppers and it featured Irish Dancing, Hip Hop Dancing and Highland Dancing and a fantastic rendition of the Irish version of “Wake me up”. This performance both surprised and delighted passersby and it certainly sparked their Irish spirit.
Linda Irvine, the Irish Development Officer with the East Belfast Mission also dropped in on the Cultúrlann during Seachtain na Gaeilge to give a presentation and have a discussion about the Hidden History of Protestants and the Irish Language. We also launched an exhibition called “The Living Language” which gives insight into the same topic. This discussion gave learners and Irish Speakers a chance to gain an insight into an aspect of Irish that isn’t known by the public at large and it also gave them the opportunity to discuss problems and possibilities with Linda herself.
We finished off the very busy Irish week with St. Patricks Day in which we had a full day of events available to the public completely free of charge. The Cultúrlann was full with families all enjoying the Story telling, the Balloon Modelling, the Face Painting, the Music Sessions and the especially the Fanzini Bros. These 2 crazy Kerry men brought their Irish Language Circus show to the Cultúrlann and wowed young people and old with their antics.
We had a host of other events during Seachtain na Gaeilge as well and this is only a taste of the programme we had. Now we have to start planning for next year’s events.
Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin
37 Mórshráid Shéamais
Doire
BT48 7DF
New app for the Leaving Cert
March 24, 2014
Extra resource for students due to take the Irish Oral Exam at the end of the month
With 40% of the marks going for the Irish Oral Exam, an interesting new resource has been launched by www.clevercourses.ie to help Leaving Certificate students.
Sraith Pictiúr 2014 is an interactive app covering the 20 pictures included in the irish Oral Exam. Each story within the app contains audio descriptions, key vocabulary, useful phrases along with English language translations and includes 120 different sample audio descriptions from native Irish speakers to help students improve pronunciation.
Sraith Pictiúr is a great resource for students who are currently preparing and revising for the exam which will take place at the end of March.
The app has been created by expert Irish teachers and past Irish oral state examiners and the Sraith Pictiúr producers say it has been designed to help students build the necessary language skills to create their own versions of the stories to help build the necessary skills to ace their oral exam.
Tiernan O’Neill, Product Marketing Manager with clevercourses.ie, said, “Having met with many Irish teachers in recent weeks, the feedback to date has been very positive, with many also downloading the App to show their students. It also promotes ICT in education which is something we feel very passionately about”.
The Sraith Pictiúr 2014 App is available for higher and ordinary level students and is available on Google Play and iOS App stores. It is priced at between €1.99 and €4.49.
Foilsithe ar Gaelport.com
Run for Gaelscoil Mhic Aodha!
March 20, 2014
Follow in Cú Chulainn’s Footsteps in 3D
March 19, 2014
On the 23rd of January, Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh officially launched ‘In Cú Chulainn’s Footsteps’ in Croke Park, a new innovative aid designed to engage children in learning while promoting Irish culture and the language at the same time. The video game was designed and created by Irish company Duineacu.
The game, which features hurling at its centre, sees the main character travel through a mystery island solving puzzles and riddles as he goes and encountering famous places and names from the worlds of music, literature, sport and folklore as part of his tasks.
The game is a 3D adventure, driven by mouse clicks or screen taps and a school version is available which is adaptable depending on the needs of teachers.
The game features amongst others Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh, Clannad, Kíla and Sharon Shannon.
Francisco Blásquez, company owner, spoke at the launch and said “we are really happy that Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh was able to launch this game ‘In Cú Chulainn’s Footsteps’ here in Croke Park today. We are very grateful to all the people who helped us during the project and we are delighted that most of them are here with us today. We are very proud of the game and we are hopeful that there will be a good demand for the game in schools and amongst young people.
Speaking on behalf of Foras na Gaeilge, CEO, Ferdie Mac an Fhailigh said ‘games like this are extremely important in promoting the Irish language among young people and the educational aspect will give it particular importance in the school setting and for young people in the home. I have no doubt that this will greatly enhance language acquisition of pupils. As the language can be changed or the level of language and game material can be adapted to the age of the children, it will be very useful for teachers for a wide range of subjects.
Uachtarán Chumann Lúthchleas Gael Liam Ó Néill: “It is heartening to see the Irish language and various other aspects of our rich culture sitting at the heart of this exciting project.
“As a school teacher I am acutely aware of the benefits of modern innovative aids such as these when they are used in the correct way.
“I laud everyone in the project and wish it well and especially congratulate Francisco whose interest and passion for the Irish language and Irish culture is hugely impressive given his Spanish background.”
Duineacu is an Irish company based in County Meath and provides a series of advanced internet technology services and interactive/educational services and games.
Duineacu was founded in 2012 to develop these kinds of games and projects, ICF being the starting point. The company has a background in the development videogames company in Spain with a very successful track record.
In 2005 they were lauded as creators of VCS, a new technology that allows visually impaired people to move around 3D environments as a new way of integration.
Based on this technology, they developed a 3D videogame dubbed in 5 languages with the collaboration of top Spanish celebrities.
The game was supported by ONCE, the big organization in Spain for Blind People. They created as well a videogame called Piopa, in order to detect bullying in schools. The Video intro of this game was also well received.
After this, the company founders decided to create a new game based on the Irish mythology, and focused on Cú Chulainn as one of the most important epic references of Irish Mythology. In 2009 they came to Ireland to start working on the project being launched today.
Company Contact – Francisco Blásquez – 086 7878909
Company Website – www.duineacu.com
Happy St Patrick’s Day from Gaelchultúr
March 19, 2014
Irish culture was celebrated all over the world yesterday. Here in Gaelchultúr we would like to keep the celebration going, so from now until 5pm on Friday, 21 March, you can register for any of the following courses on our e-learning website, ranganna.com, for half-price:
Gaeilge gan Stró! – Beginners Level (3 months: €22.50, 6 months: €40, 12 months: €74.50)
Gaeilge gan Stró! – Lower Intermediate Level (3 months: €22.50, 6 months: €40, 12 months: €74.50)
Gramadach gan Stró (3 months: €22.50, 6 months: €40, 12 months: €74.50)
Coláiste na hÉireann/Gaelchultúr
Comhairleacht & oiliúint Ghaeilge|Irish language consultancy & training
www.gaelchultur.com | www.ranganna.com | www.siopa.ie
+353 (1) 484 5220 | 1890 252 900 | eolas@gaelchultur.com
