Tips for Irish Oral

miabella

Here's a thread for anyone worried about the Irish oral!:cool:
I'll post the topics I've covered and that mainly come up every year.
Feel free to post any I havn't thought of.

Me Fein
-data breithla,ainm,

Mo chlann
-Ce mhead? Inis dom faoi do chlann(cupla abairt faoi gach duine)?

Ait chonaithe
-Mo theach, Aiseanna sa cheantar,(gruaigre, siopa, banc)
-fostaiocht sa cheantar.

An scoil
-ce mhead abhar?
-abhar is fearr leat?cen fath?
-aiseanna sa scoil. Spoirt?Saothlann Eolaiochta?
-na rialacha?
-Clar ama
-am lon?
-da mbeifea i do priomhoide, ceard a dheanfa?(modh cionniloch)

An bhlian seo chugainn?
-Ollscoil;cursa;pointe
-Post?

an samhraidh seo chugainn?(Ba mhaith liom, Beidh me)
-saoire, post?

Caitheamh Aimsire?
-spoirt
-Ceol?
-Idirlion?

An deireadh seachtaine?/Saol soisialta
-staidear?
-scannan?
-fon poca?buntaiste/mibuntaiste
-fadhbanna ag daoine oga

An bhlian seo chaite(Bhi, thainig, chonaic, Rug, Rinne, Shiuil)
- An raibh tu sa Gaeltacht?
-Post? pe san uair
-Saoire?thar lear

Hope it gives you an idea.

mmcnicholas

where could i get an examiner for a mock oral irish exam?

Seinas

mmcnicholas wrote:

where could i get an examiner for a mock oral irish exam?

Ask your teacher to give you a mock oral exam, most of them do it anyway. Ask him/her do they have a free class at a time you have a free class. If not, they usually use some of your lunch time...then again, its only 15 minutes

AdMMM

Most teachers think it's crucial to offer you a mock oral beforehand! We've been getting classwide ones every day of the week for the last two weeks and we'll be getting a few proper ones during the week of the oral

me2gud4u

má tá aon cheisteanna ag aon duine a bhaineann leis an mbéaltriail bheinn sásta cabhair a thabhairt daoibh agus freisin má tá suim agaibh tá gearmáinis agam chomh maith!Tá fáilte roimh aon saghas rud, ceist gramadaí nó a leithéid!go n-éirí libh ar fad!

Steve01

If you're looking for the A, here are the first words you should utter when you enter the room:
'Dia duit a striapach'

She'll be impressed by your vocabulary and give you extra marks.
And if the examiners a guy, even better

me2gud4u

i would advise against doing that!

JC 2K3

Topics don't "come up" in the Irish oral as they do on the written test. You can talk about whatever you like as long as you keep a natural conversation going.

For example, you go in wanting to talk about music, but the examiner asks you if you like sport:
"An dtaitníonn spórt leat?"
"Taitníonn spórt liom. Is maith liom bheith ag féachaint ar chluichí shacair agus rugbaí, ach b'fhearr liom go mór an cheol mar chaitheamh aimsire....."

AdMMM

I know it's long shot, but would anyone be willing to post up what they have prepared for their oral exam? I'm constantly being told not to worry about it because it's meant to be a test about what I already know but I can't help but fear that I don't know enough and can't find anywhere that will help me prepare because they all assume that I can already put together reams of material!

Corruptedmorals

Em, me, my family, my school, Leixlip, my house, pastimes- music etc, college, job etc, part time job, environment, politics, leaving cert system.

Learning off those lovely phrases that imply fluency atm.

Aard

Had an Irish mock oral today, and it went great. Just keep talking until the examiner tells you to stop; it's an artificial convo after all. You might have good irish but too many ums and ers and you'll probably be marked down faster than somebody who isn't as great but keeps the flow.

Call Me Jimmy

write each letter of the alphabet on the little red corvette with yer tongue.

Selphie

Corruptedmorals wrote:

Em, me, my family, my school, Leixlip, my house, pastimes- music etc, college, job etc, part time job, environment, politics, leaving cert system.

Practically the same, except Cork rather than Leixlip. There's a couple of conditional tense questions too that you'd do well to have prepared... what would you do if you won the Lotto/were Principal/were Minister for Education, that kinda stuff.
This might help??
http://www.skoool.ie/skoool/homeworkzone.asp?id=666

yurmothrintites

Be careful because they ask questions like how do you make a cup of tea, look out the window and what do you see and trick questions. Also, Inis dom faoi do chlann wont be asked as it should be inis dom do do mhuintir? so unless you have kids yourself be prepared for that!

Selphie

yurmothrintites wrote:

Be careful because they ask questions like how do you make a cup of tea

Seriously??? Is "mála tae" tea bag as Gaeilge so???

JC 2K3

Cup of tea? LMAO

And there are no trick questions.

genericgoon

It would have to be a cruel examiner to try and trick you. Most would (hopefully) try to be as helpful as possible while still challenging you. Not trying to find you out with trick questions.

Mackleton

Anyone know any nice gnathcaite and modh coinneallach phrases? General ones please

Corruptedmorals

Modh coinniolach is the future+ alternative ending, and you'll only need it to say 'If I' not any other you,he,she. You start off by saying 'Dá mbéadh'

I'm pretty sure that to say 'If I was the principal, I would change...' is 'Dá mbéadh mé i mo priomhoide, d'athróinn....'

What do you mean by gnathchaite? Ordinary past....an aimsir láithreach?

Mackleton

gnathcaite = action done continuously in the past, ie. we did X eveyday last summer.

Stirling

Lads - I got an A1 in Higher Level Irish many moons ago and any time I see people talking about the difficult questions that can be asked I get worried. The oral is the real make or break point in languages and it has less to do with anticipating the hard questions and how to deal with them than it is about taking control of the converstion before the examiner gets a chance to ask them. If you take control of the conversation right from the off and throw in the odd phrase showing that you know the Modh C or whatever before they get the chance to ask you an awkward question about it and they're satisfied because you showed knowledge independently and more importantly initiative. I never actually got past four basic topics - as in me, my family, school and my friends and my Oral took twice as long as anyone elses in my class. The key to the whole thing is taking control - lead don't be led!!

Mackleton

God a higher A1 in Irish is very impressive thats one of the hardest subjects to do well in I think! Any tips for us lesser mortals?

Selphie

Corruptedmorals wrote:

I'm pretty sure that to say 'If I was the principal, I would change...' is 'Dá mbéadh mé i mo priomhoide, d'athróinn....'

For first person, dá mbeadh mé becomes dá mbeinn -> "Dá mbeinn i mo phriomhoide, d'athróinn....."

Hopkirk

Regarding the Ordinary Level Irish Oral,

I know the examinier doesn't know your level; so does that mean that Higher and Ordinary Students get the same Oral; i.e. Marked The same. Surely people in Ordinary wouldn't be expected to go into the same detail of expression and depth of discussion when talking about similar issues.

By the way I'm doing pass and couldn't possibly(even after nearly 16 yrs) use the Modh C. On topics like Area, Family, School, I can give out a fairly comprehendible paragraph but of course the quality isn't up to my higher level Counterparts. Does this mean I'm essentially screwed or does the Exam Commision have some way of evening this up?

Mackleton

Hey, Im in Honours Irish myself but my teacher has been an oral examiner for many years and she says that while the examiner might not initially know your level, the questions begin the same for both levels and within 2 or 3 mins she said they will know what level you are. So for honours, or for just generally good candidates she says she will check out what they are able for by asking more in depth questions, seeing if you can give a good, logical response, they arent trying to trick you or any such thing. She says that once she know the person is pass, she will focus on the basics and try and help you out. Also if you are worried that learning stuff off will sound too staged, dont because she says that if the examiner sees you have made some kind of effort then they will try their best to give you the marks. But she says for any level, the past, present and future have to be nearly perfect to get a decent mark. Re. the conditional and gnathcaite, these will only ever be asked when the candidate proves to be of a very high standard. Also she says if you dont have time to display all you could do or that you felt it was too easy then, chances are you did well. Also, something important I learned yesterday was that there is no marking curve in the orals so if they show the ability, everyone can get 100%

miabella

gnathchaite is Bhiodh..
Bhiodh orainn an rud X a dheanamh i rith an tsamhraidh an bhlian seo chaite

Tula

this probablt won't be of much help but there's some new guidelines been given to examiners stopping them from asking you directly about your family. however its a piss easy topic so i'm gonna work it in there somewhere

Mackleton

Serious? Aw Il make a point of shoving it in there somewhere, too much stuff learned off to waste Im afraid, and Im certainly not changing my routine this late in the game either. I got a list of all the questions that are "askable" so to speak from my teacher who examines orals every year if anyone wants me to post them? There are 20 odd of them so I wont bother unless Im asked...

Hopkirk

Mackleton wrote:

Serious? Aw Il make a point of shoving it in there somewhere, too much stuff learned off to waste Im afraid, and Im certainly not changing my routine this late in the game either. I got a list of all the questions that are "askable" so to speak from my teacher who examines orals every year if anyone wants me to post them? There are 20 odd of them so I wont bother unless Im asked...

Ya Post them up please!!

Wouldn't mind getting a better idea of the more specific type of questions, Instead of just a general vague area,

Spank

Mackleton wrote:

Serious? Aw Il make a point of shoving it in there somewhere, too much stuff learned off to waste Im afraid, and Im certainly not changing my routine this late in the game either. I got a list of all the questions that are "askable" so to speak from my teacher who examines orals every year if anyone wants me to post them? There are 20 odd of them so I wont bother unless Im asked...

Post please!

I'm wanting to cry. My mock orals went terrible, got around 60% for both and I have ZERO confidence speaking languages, not to mention nerves on top of that. I'm not bad at Irish really, I just freeze when in an examination situation. These orals are my worst nightmare at the moment, plan on devoting the 2 weeks of Easter to them, ugh! Although I find studying for them hard as I cringe at the thought of having to do them!

JC 2K3

Don't worry, they're only 25%. Orals are hard to work on. Focus on other aspects of the courses if you feel your oral will be weak.