Teaching Irish

Scanlas The 2nd

So 14 years in school and we can't speak Irish fluently. Fairly absurd.

Why don't they teach Irish (and all languages for that matter) like they do with linguaphone. 45 minutes a day for six months and you aren't far off being fluent. There's the solution right there.

Lemegeton

Scanlas The 2nd wrote: »

So 14 years in school and we can't speak Irish fluently. Fairly absurd.

Why don't they teach Irish (and all languages for that matter) like they do with linguaphone. 45 minutes a day for six months and you aren't far off being fluent. There's the solution right there.

that would require the department of education to be run by competent intelligent people. i have been saying this for years. schools do not teach you how to speak irish

shubj

I am 23. Grew up in Ireland so learnt Irish until I was 11. Moved to England and forgot it all. Now I am back I really want to learn it again. I have no idea is there an evening course? I have a 3 month old baby so I would need to fit around her. Leitrim/Sligo area.

Dravokivich

shubj wrote: »

I am 23. Grew up in Ireland so learnt Irish until I was 11. Moved to England and forgot it all. Now I am back I really want to learn it again. I have no idea is there an evening course? I have a 3 month old baby so I would need to fit around her. Leitrim/Sligo area.

You might get more info on that in the regional forums section here:

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=77

strokemyclover

Nah, I prefer being beaten over the head with the oar of a boat in our fine Gaelteact regions of Ireland to learn our native tongue

seriouslysweet

Depends on your teacher, mine is really good and honestly we all like it.

orourkeda

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_mDTLphIVY

Micilin Muc

As an Irish teacher for adults I can say that there is a very low standard of Irish amongst primary and secondary school teachers. Too few third level students fail first-year Irish in any university/college.

It's a vicious cycle because it's very difficult to raise the standard of Irish of Irish-language undergraduates when they come into the colleges with a low standard to begin with. It's too easy to get a degree in Irish.

Pherekydes

Scanlas The 2nd wrote: »

So 14 years in school and we can't speak Irish fluently. Fairly absurd.

Why don't they teach Irish (and all languages for that matter) like they do with linguaphone. 45 minutes a day for six months and you aren't far off being fluent. There's the solution right there.

Lots of people I know can't speak English fluently.

Why don't they teach Irish the way other countries teach their own languages?

Agricola

Yeah theres too much baggage associated with learning Irish in school. Its been 10 years since I did the LC and from the sound of things it hasnt changed much. Why the hell it cant be taught like a foreign language I don't know. They should just cut the poetry and literature and get down to brass tacks.

"Hello, where is the train station"

"Hello, I need to get to the airport to catch a flight out of this country so I can get a job"

jgr12

I dont think it should be taught in primary schools at all unless its a gaelscoil, all i remember from primary school was reciting lines out of a book was no help whatsoever when i started in secondary

Mr Benevolent

Might as well teach knitting for all the use it'll be to anyone.

Actually, knitting would be more useful than Irish.

AnonoBoy

Scanlas The 2nd wrote: »

There's the solution right there.

Scanlas The 2nd for Taoiseach!

Megatron_X

In my opinion, the reason why most children who go to All-Irish primary schools actually like the language is because, for the most part, there is a higher standard of Irish required to teach there. Since they are then taught to a proper standard and there is no inadvertent tainting of children's opinions, they tend to take to the language.

Usually though:

1. Bad curriculum
2. Unfortunately, students with bad Irish and left with a bad taste in their mouth
3. Students grow up to be teachers with bad Irish and bad experiences
4. These teachers with already bad Irish teach students who now have worse Irish and a horrible taste left in their mouth
   
5. Those students pass their opinions onto their future kids
6. Repeat.

El Horseboxo

I've a friend that is teaching gaeilge in a primary school. The girl can't even hold a proper conversation with me in the language. She's so basic i have to talk to her like i was talking to a child. I didn't learn anything in school as the methods were so bad. I was just lucky my dad was a gaeilgeoir. Between him speaking gaeilge to me and my ma speaking spanish i struggled with English into my early teens.

fluffo

Megatron_X wrote: »

Usually though:

1. Bad curriculum
2. Unfortunately, students with bad Irish and left with a bad taste in their mouth
3. Students grow up to be teachers with bad Irish and bad experiences
4. These teachers with already bad Irish teach students who now have worse Irish and a horrible taste left in their mouth
   
5. Those students pass their opinions onto their future kids
6. Repeat.

I don't really agree with you there. Why would the student who is bad at Irish and has had bad experiences with Irish go on to teach it?

I'd say that those with bad experiences but who want to teach it, would be the ones who'd make it easier and more fun for the children they go on to teach and definitely would not "pass on their opinions" if their opinions aren't very favourable towards the language.

Megatron_X

fluffo wrote: »

I don't really agree with you there. Why would the student who is bad at Irish and has had bad experiences with Irish go on to teach it?

I'd say that those with bad experiences but who want to teach it, would be the ones who'd make it easier and more fun for the children they go on to teach and definitely would not "pass on their opinions" if their opinions aren't very favourable towards the language.

Sorry that was a bit vague. I'm talking about primary school teaching, where they have to teach and study Irish to work in any Irish primary school. Every primary school teacher I know has horrible Irish, they still went on to be primary school teachers though.

E.T.

jgr12 wrote: »

I dont think it should be taught in primary schools at all unless its a gaelscoil, all i remember from primary school was reciting lines out of a book was no help whatsoever when i started in secondary

I teach infants, and they love learning Irish. It's something new and it's fun for them. We use Irish throughout the day (not in a Gaelscoil) and they pick it up really quickly. Younger children find it a lot easier to pick up a second language.

The big problem is that once they leave the school, there's little or no Irish. I do ask parents to practise a bit of Irish at home (I write it phonetically and in English too) and most of them have said they really enjoy doing this. There should be more signs as Gaeilge everwhere. If we want it to be a living language, it can't just be up to schools.

Micilin Muc

fluffo wrote: »

Why would the student who is bad at Irish and has had bad experiences with Irish go on to teach it?

I'd say that those with bad experiences but who want to teach it, would be the ones who'd make it easier and more fun for the children they go on to teach and definitely would not "pass on their opinions" if their opinions aren't very favourable towards the language.

They may enjoy the language, but that still doesn't mean that they had good teachers.

I was brought up speaking Irish at home and went to a national school (English speaking). My standard of Irish was better than most of my teachers. I had a bad experience in Irish class in primary school as a result, but I've become an Irish teacher myself.

Kimono-Girl

fluffo wrote: »

definitely would not "pass on their opinions" if their opinions aren't very favourable towards the language.

not true it seems to me quite a few primary/secondary teachers do not have good irish, and even if they do,they make their negative opinion on the language very well known to students, i've heard many students from english speaking schools complain about it so many times.

Dionysus

shubj wrote: »

I am 23. Grew up in Ireland so learnt Irish until I was 11. Moved to England and forgot it all. Now I am back I really want to learn it again. I have no idea is there an evening course? I have a 3 month old baby so I would need to fit around her. Leitrim/Sligo area.

You could try a Gaelchultúr course, one of which is just starting in Sligo. In fact, it starts tonight. See this list of Irish language courses (under Sligeach)

Alternatively, Gaelchultúr has a superb online course system running at Ranganna.com. I'm doing one at the moment; most of it is done at home/online (which may suit you with the chisler), and we attend a day-long course one Saturday a month. The grammar guide in particular is second to none.

Megatron_X

jgr12 wrote: »

I dont think it should be taught in primary schools at all unless its a gaelscoil, all i remember from primary school was reciting lines out of a book was no help whatsoever when i started in secondary

If the teacher has good Irish it's great fun for kids. Sometimes though the teacher hasn't good Irish, and no matter how good they are at teaching in general people can't really teach what they don't have themselves.

I'm not a teacher but I know a handful of comletely different kids who actually enjoy it when I teach them Irish.