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Internet sites

April 4, 2016

There are now hundreds of Irish internet sites. There is a very comprehensive guide available to Irish speakers.

There are now hundreds of Irish internet sites. There is a very comprehensive guide available to Irish speakers.

‘Gaeilge ar an Ghréasán’,a site with more than 800 links operated by Sabhal Mòr Ostaig (A university college in the Scottish Gaeltacht. Caoimhín Ó Donnaile, an Irishman and a former member of the Gaelic League in Glasgow is on the staff.) If you are interested in Scottish Gaelic, go to ‘Gàidhlig air an Lìon’.

I would like to mention a couple of sites this week. Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann/The Irish Minstrels’ Association, publishes a list of poems and stories for young Fleadh competitors. But it would be helpful to any learner. A beginner is better learning a poem by heart rather than a complicated rule. For example, it is more useful to learn a poem like ‘Seán agus an Dall’ than ‘In the first declension, the nouns are masculine and end in a broad consonant. The final consonant is slenderised to form the genitive singular’. Got that? The poem illustrates the rule clearly. (Go to Comhaltas – education.)

Gaelscoileanna has a very informative site. This organisation gives support and advice to all-Irish schools and to parents. Gaelscoileanna states that a system that uses only Irish is much more effective in the acquisition of the language. But it supports Irish streams in places where pupil numbers are low. But an Irish language stream is not a poor replacement. Pupils from Irish medium primary schools in Derry do half of their timetable through Irish in St. Brigid’s College. They can take advantage of the facilities of the main school and can take part in activities where numbers are important – sport, for instance. They say that half a loaf is better than no bread, but the Irish language pupils get much more than half a loaf in a first class educational centre, as can be seen from St. Brigid’s internet site.

Read more: http://www.derryjournal.com/news/columnists/internet-sites-1-7303570#ixzz44qThMF91