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Conference on Teaching Through Irish

February 15, 2010

CLIL and Teaching Through Irish

Conference in NUI Galway on Saturday 27th February

Organized by Scoil an Oideachais in NUI Galway and Gaelscoileanna Teo.

How can you teach another subject through Irish, incorporating the best of methods and an exciting approach to teaching language and content together?

With 40% of marks being allocated to the oral in the Leaving Cert Irish exam from 2012, it is now more important than ever to reassess how Irish is taught in schools, and to place an emphasis on the spoken language.

What is CLIL? Content and Language Integrated Learning.  CLIL is a pan-European method for teaching subjects and language together. It is being used to great effect all over the EU, and it has huge potential for Irish language, Irish teaching and for Irish schools.

This method can have students speaking the language without them even being aware of it!

International speakers and experts in the area of CLIL and language acquisition will speak at the conference.  David Marsh, University of Jyvaskyla, Finland, will give the background to the growth and success of CLIL in Europe,  Do Coyle, University of Nottingham,  will discuss the issues related to training teachers in this method. Muiris Ó Laoire, IT Tralee, world renowned in the area of language and language acquisition, will speak on CLIL in the Irish context. Áine Furlong, IT Waterford, will show practical ways of creating materials and resources for the CLIL lesson; Yolanda Ruiz de Zarobe, University of the Basque Country, will discuss the CLIL experience in relation to a minority language in the Basque Country;  Carmel Mary Coonan, Universita Ca’Foscari di Venezia, Italy, will talk about CLIL in the classroom, and Olive Ní Chonghaile, Mercy College, Tuam will describe her own experience of putting CLIL in practice in a Secondary school here in Ireland.

Could you teach part of your second subject through Irish?

Find out how at this one-day conference in Galway!

This conference will provide the opportunity to share with colleagues around the country, to invigorate your teaching with new possibilities, will explore new ways of teaching Irish, by incorporating the CLIL methods – which are known to work in other European countries.

This conference is aimed particularly at second level teachers of the Irish language, especially those who also teach a second subject. It will also be of interest to those who teach Irish in Irish colleges, eagraíochtaí Gaeilge, aon duine gur spéis leo an Ghaeilge and teagasc na teanga.  The cost for the day, including lunch and refreshments is €55. For more information and online booking, see www.conference.ie or call Sinéad at 091 492861  or Nora at 01 8535191