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Caribbean and Irish pupils speak as Gaeilge over Skype

March 13, 2014

Separated by thousands of miles, but not by a common language.

History was made yesterday when a gaelscoil hooked up for the first time on Skype with a primary school in the Caribbean, and they both conversed as Gaeilge. Ireland and Montserrat, also known as the Emerald isle, are the only two nations in the world which hold public holidays to mark St Patrick’s Day, and it’s believed it was also the first Skype link between the two islands. Many surnames on Montserrat are Irish as most of its population are descended from Irish slaves who were sent there in the 17th century and married black slaves working on plantations. The idea for the Skype link-up came from freelance journalist, Graham Clifford, from Fermoy, Co Cork. He was on the tropical island yesterday ensuring the transmission went smoothly between Gaelscoil de hÍde, in his hometown and St Augustine’s primary school which is on the outskirts of Monserrat’s capital Plymouth.

Graham’s daughters Molly and Aoife attend the gaelscoil and were able to say hello to him along with their classmates. In both schools, the children dressed up to mark the occasion. To the delight of teachers in Fermoy the Montserrat children sang ‘Ó ró sé do bheatha abhaile’ in almost perfect Irish. Their charges replied with ‘Trasna na dTonna’ (Across the Waves). Both sets of children then spoke to their counterparts of their lives and the type of education they’re receiving. “To see the children on both islands chatting away and singing and dancing for each other was something else. Here on Montserrat they are aware they have Irish heritage, but through this interaction they got to see it in action,” Graham said. “We’ve been organising this call for weeks and in that time they’ve been learning Irish songs and dances, decorating their school in green, white and orange and learning about Ireland. Even if I meet one of the children walking down the street or strolling along the beach on the island they’d roar out ‘Céad míle Fáilte’,” he added.

St Augustine’s principal Claudia Skerritt said it was a wonderful experience for her pupils and would “make the St Patrick’s Day celebrations on Montserrat all the more special”. Their parish priest, Fr George Aggers, who is originally from Cobh, said the children “were very excited and thankfully remembered the ‘cúpla focals’ I taught them.” Gaelscoil de hÍde principal Sean Mac Gearailt said his pupils and teachers were thrilled with the link-up. “I hope we will do more of this with St Augustine’s into the future whereby the pupils can exchange on Skype, through emails and letters. ” he said. “It will help us to exchange ideas and learn more about each other’s history, education and resources. It worked a treat, it was fantastic. There was great credit to the teachers over there to teach their pupils Irish. It just goes to show we have a shared heritage and language, even though we are thousands of miles apart.”

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