Examiners on trend with music and fashion
Meitheamh 7, 2013
Little Mix, Michelle Obama and Kilkenny hurler Henry Shefflin all got a mention.
Music, technology, celebrities, and tweeting dominated this year’s Junior Cert Irish papers as examiners made a concerted effort to produce a current and culturally relevant exam.
Students opened up the higher level paper 1 and were greeted with a large picture of Little Mix, the 2011 winners of The X Factor. The girl group were used to test Irish grammar.
Although there was much online chatter over the inclusion of a comprehension piece on tweeting (#gtúit) as Gaeilge, teachers felt that some of the vocabulary used – including the word líonrú (networking) – would be unfamiliar to many teens. “I’ve been teaching Irish for over 20 years and I had to look the word up in an online dictionary,” said Robbie Cronin, ASTI subject representative for Irish and a teacher at Marian College, Ballsbridge, Dublin. Manchán Magan Paper 1 also featured a language test built around a TG4 programme hosted by travel writer Manchán Magan.
On higher level paper 2, the contemporary relevance continued, with students required to write about a video they saw on YouTube, or about a band or musician they like or to compose an angry missive to the editor of the local newspaper protesting over a referee’s decision in a sports game.
The response to paper 1 was mixed. A reading comprehension question about a lonely monkey in the Congo was probing but fair, according to Séamus Ó Fearraigh, TUI subject representative for Irish and a teacher in Gairmscoil Chú Uladh, Co Donegal, but some students criticised a question that asked them to write about the sad eyes of the monkey.
Mr Ó Fearraigh said that some of the essay topics – such as “How I Spent my Last Birthday”, “Fashion for People Today” and “Why friends are Very Important in People’s Lives” – would be challenging enough for people to write about in English, let alone Irish. Plain prose The response to paper 2 was more favourable, said Mr Cronin. “It received very positive feedback from both students and teachers. Generally the hardest parts for the boys I teach are the unseen prose and poetry pieces, which can be incomprehensible – not so this year,” he said.
There were no shocks or upsets in the ordinary level paper, where celebrities also featured: US first lady Michelle Obama and Kilkenny hurler Henry Shefflin – regarded by some as the greatest hurler of all time – both made an appearance. Questions were asked about Ms Obama’s children, her family, and her upbringing.
“The topic was current because the Obamas were in Ireland last year and Michelle Obama is due to make a return visit with her children,” said Mr Ó Fearraigh.
But not all students were happy. One boy took to Twitter to moan: “Why can’t I do honours Irish?! They got Little Mix while pass got Michelle Obama.”
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