Would you send your kids(or will you) to an Irish speaking school

mise_me_fein

There's a lot more foreigners living here now than ever before, well in living memory and I know a lot of people are starting to see them speaking to each other in whatever, Polish, Latvian, and he does evoke thoughts.

If I have kids when I'm older I'm strongly thinking of sending them to an Irish speaking school. I think it's a good thing for the children and for myself.

Has anyone had any bad experiences regarding these schools?

Ph3n0m

Cannot speak for myself, but my cousin went to an all Irish school for his secondarty education, and he got on fine (it was the one in Clondalkin), no problems at all as far as I remember

Mrs. MacGyver

Yes, I was raised through Irish until i was 4 and then bi-lingually so i'd have no problem sending my children to an Irish speaking school. I though in one my self and think they have a great approach to learning.

mikemac

mise_me_fein wrote: »

There's a lot more foreigners living here now than ever before, well in living memory and I know a lot of people are starting to see them speaking to each other in whatever, Polish, Latvian, and he does evoke thoughts.

If I have kids when I'm older I'm strongly thinking of sending them to an Irish speaking school. I think it's a good thing for the children and for myself.

Well the best reason would be a love of the language and the fact that it will provide a great education-and it will!

But your post makes it sound that a Gaelscoil appeals to you as will be all Irish people there.
That's a valid reason as newspapers often report that non-nationals with poor English slow the progress of the class.

But maybe choose a Gaelscoil for a positive reason and not as a way of avoiding something.

I'm not knocking your post at all and apologies I've misread what you meant

mise_me_fein

micmclo wrote: »

Well the best reason would be a love of the language and the fact that it will provide a great education-and it will!

But your post makes it sound that a Gaelscoil appeals to you as will be all Irish people there.
That's a valid reason as newspapers often report that non-nationals with poor English slow the progress of the class.

But maybe choose a Gaelscoil for a positive reason and not as a way of avoiding something.

I'm not knocking your post at all and apologies I've misread what you meant

Fair point, to be honest some people don't like non nationals, it's just the way it is. I'd like Irish people to speak Irish but I'd really love for non nationals to do it too. I saw an Indian looking family protesting on the news about the issue during the week so I suppose the Indian children were learning through Irish.

Dummy

All our kids go to a Gaelscoil. Our youngest lad goes to a Naoinra and at the age of 3 is already bilingual.

Irish is spoken at home all of the time, only switching to english when we have non-Irish speaking visitors. But most of them do try to speak it and if they try, we all help. One girl who came down last Summer for 2 weeks enjoyed it so much that she is doing a night course up in Dublin.

Interesting results so far from your poll.

D

I would but I don't. Wife thinks Irish is a waste of time (she left it at the school gate when she left, like most do), as it is, there is no local Gaelscoil.

But I "help" them with their Irish homework, I'm self learning Irish so sometimes have to refer to the "teach yourself Irish" book while helping them.

If I can get to a standard where I can have conversations with the kids, then they will get more opportunity to use Gaeilge than most.

Fratton Fred

My 5 year old daughter is learning Irish and I am very proud of the progress she is making. I would send her to an irish speaking school, but she needs to learn a lot more before I feel we could do this. We are fortunate that she is in a very very good at the moment and I would be eluctant to move her though.

My wife, as was said earlier, left irish at the school gate and I can't speak the language at all, in fact I have trouble translating it from text because the speling and pronounciation is very different to what I am used to.

I believe Languages are very important and if speaking Irish fluently helps with this then I am all for it. Having said all this though, I do have a lot of sympathy for the people in Kerry who have been forced to send their kids to Irish Speaking schools against their wishes, there should be a choice.

PDN

No. I'd prefer to be able to understand what my child is saying.

Seriously, I'd prefer my child to learn languages that are going to help her work in an increasingly globalised economy - so Chinese, French, Spanish, German, Italian, etc would all seem to be more useful than Irish.

Crumble Froo

i loved learning irish in school, and in a way, i wish i'd been sent to a gaelscoil... cos of the friends i've made and the experiences i've had growing up, i'd say im quite happy with the school i went to, but in an idealistic kinda way, i wish i'd attended one. at the same time, i went ot the gaeltacht for a couple of summers, and honest to god, the summer of first year, i went with feck all gaeilge, and i came home quite fluent. i understood most of what was said, and could reply to quite a lot of that.

for me, irish is quite important,and something i strive to keep up, and not to forget, despite my living situation in another country. realistically, if i ever had kids, the nearest gaelscoil would likely be 13,000 miles away, but theoretically, i would love nothing more than for my children to understand and love and embrace their native tongue.

mise_me_fein

PDN wrote: »

No. I'd prefer to be able to understand what my child is saying.

Seriously, I'd prefer my child to learn languages that are going to help her work in an increasingly globalised economy - so Chinese, French, Spanish, German, Italian, etc would all seem to be more useful than Irish.

Well then you should look for a German speaking school.
There are a lot of Irish language schools and there's nothing to say that you can't learn German and French in these schools.

I know this African person. He speaks his native tongue, he learned French in school and then English(through French) and he speaks Dutch also.

He says learning one language at a young age helps you learn another.

I think it's practical.

PDN

I think it would be a good start if our schools taught students to speak and write English properly.

PDN

PDN wrote: »

I think it would be a good start if our schools taught students to speak and write English properly.

They probably do, but some kids just don't want to know!

pow wow

PDN wrote: »

No. I'd prefer to be able to understand what my child is saying.

Seriously, I'd prefer my child to learn languages that are going to help her work in an increasingly globalised economy - so Chinese, French, Spanish, German, Italian, etc would all seem to be more useful than Irish.

It shouldn't be an either or kinda situation though. My Irish isn't great and I am doing a diploma in it part-time at uni because I think it's important to know how to speak it as an Irish person. If I have kids (BIG if lol) I wouldn't have a problem with sending them to a Gaelscoil.

I am pretty sure my LC Irish was much more useful than my LC Art was or will ever be.

DublinWriter

No, simply for the reason that I wouldn't ask a child of mine to do something that I wouldn't have done myself.

Having said that, it's been shown that children who grow up in a bi-lingual environment tend to develop greater intelligence than those who don't grow up in a bi-lingual environment.

I think the question we need to ask is that why are regular first and second level institutions failing to teach our kids Irish after what amounts to 14 years of instruction.

Coming out of the LC, I knew more French than Irish.

mmmmmmm.......

i really beleive that having irish growing up helps in later life.i live in sweden.swedish came shockingly natural to me wheras all of my british friends struggle and i credit it with having the 2 languages growing up.plus dont ye get extra points in the junior and leaving for doing it in irish??another advantage?

LayLay

I don't think I would. Irish, in my opinion, is a very had subject. Maybe, if they could get an understanding from an early age, I would. I have a cousin who goes to an Irish secondary school. She went to an Irish primary school. She loves it. It would be nice but I don't know if I will or not.

Hagar

I would strongly consider it but there are none near where we live. Thank God for TG4.

cedco1

Hi,
I would certainly recommend primary school, but learning maths and science in Irish can be tricky. Some of the Connemara Gaeltachts are excellent for that age group and not just for learning Irish.

Witcher

a friend of mine went to an irish primary and secondary, he said he thought

having to learn what the teacher is saying in irish when teaching takes up

space for the actual subject he was learning, he also said in the time it takes

you to understand whats being said, you have missed something so with

every word you fall further behind



:cool::cool::cool:

Mr. Presentable

Yes, and I do. For the smaller class sizes, specifically.

Borneo Fnctn

I would definitely send a child to an Irish school. To be able to speak Irish is a great gift to give. I didn't really appreciate Irish when I was in a Gaelscoil but now I do.

P_1

Without a doubt. Went to a Gaelscoil in primary and it set me up well for learning other languages.

Ballerina

blay1 wrote: »

a friend of mine went to an irish primary and secondary, he said he thought

having to learn what the teacher is saying in irish when teaching takes up

space for the actual subject he was learning, he also said in the time it takes

you to understand whats being said, you have missed something so with

every word you fall further behind



:cool::cool::cool:

the language barrier would have been well gone by about a year in (ie.junior infants) so that shouldnt have been a problem?

i wouldnt dream of sending my children(if i have any) to an english speaking school,theres so many benefits from the irish speaking ones

Witcher

Ballerina wrote: »

the language barrier would have been well gone by about a year in (ie.junior infants) so that shouldnt have been a problem?

i wouldnt dream of sending my children(if i have any) to an english speaking school,theres so many benefits from the irish speaking ones

im tellling ya his whole class had a problem with it! bad school i think



like what?

ejmaztec

Does anyone know what language was spoken in Ireland before the Celts arrived? That one might be a better one to learn to keep in touch with one's true Irish culture.

ejmaztec

ejmaztec wrote: »

Does anyone know what language was spoken in Ireland before the Celts arrived? That one might be a better one to learn to keep in touch with one's true Irish culture.

http://www.faculty.ucr.edu/~legneref/bronze/celts.htm

Well this is what a quick google brought up, it may be authentic.

Would you really want to revive a language that had been extinct for at least 1400 years?

ejmaztec

We could get rid of the Celts, they've been nothing but trouble since they got here:D

Thanks for the link, I'll study it with interest.

rainbowtrout

DublinWriter wrote: »

I think the question we need to ask is that why are regular first and second level institutions failing to teach our kids Irish after what amounts to 14 years of instruction.

Coming out of the LC, I knew more French than Irish.

I was in the same situation after LC, and I did German as well as French, I think the main problem with teaching Irish is that it is not taught as a spoken modern language. My memories of primary school are of rote learning completely pointless stories of the type 'A day at the seaside' rather than real day to day conversation. At least I knew when I went to France and Germany that I could ask for directions, buy things in shops, order in retaurants, real day to day stuff. Perhaps Irish should be taught as a modern language that can be used on a daily basis and leave the prose and the poetry until leaving cert when students have fluency


Personally I wouldn't send a child to a Gaelscoil when they are living in an English speaking environment the rest of the time, friends of mine went to an Irish speaking secondary school after we had all been in an English speaking primary and spend a lot of their time translating their English text books into Irish. I've been correcting Leaving Cert papers for a number of years and correct the papers through Irish (a small number) for my subject (science) and i'm finding that there are a lot of English words stuck into sentences and also students in some Gaelscoils are opting to sit exams in English, which kind of defeats the purpose.


A little off topic but a friend of mine is doing learning support in a number of national schools in the area I live in where there are a large number of foreign nationals in the school. Many of the children whom she takes for English tuition are not particularly keen on learning/speaking English, however they are quite keen to speak to her in Irish! The new Gaeilgeoirs of the future perhaps?