Irish Modh Coinniollach Questions

leaveiton

What kind of things can you say for the modh coinniollach questions that they ask you in the Irish oral? I'm perfectly fine with the modh coinniollach itself, but I never ever know what to say when they ask something like "What would you do if you were president/principal/Taoiseach." It's not the Irish that trips me up, it's the actual ideas! There aren't really any sample answers done out in my book, so I'm really not sure what to say. I'm fine with questions like "What would you do if you won the lottery", because that's easy enough. I'd really appreciate any ideas (in Irish or in English, I can translate them if I need to) because my teacher isn't much help really, and I want to prepare something for that type of question in case I get asked. Thanks!

Togepi

You can always say you honestly wouldn't change anything. But here's a few ideas anyway:

For the principal one you could say you'd change the uniform/get rid of the uniform/introduce a uniform, give less/no homework, make Friday a half-day, etc.

Taoiseach - you'd create jobs, put more money into education, make college cheaper, etc.

President - I don't really know. You could say you'd, take a lower wage? I dunno, that one's tricky. If you can think of somewhere you'd visit I'd go with that, I'm not really sure what else you could say for a president.

If they ask you one you're not sure of, definitely say you'd change/do nothing - you'll still get the marks!

mcpaddington

Dá mbéinn Taoiseach na tíre seo rachfainn ar pub crawl. I have big plans as you can see .

leaveiton

Togepi wrote: »

You can always say you honestly wouldn't change anything. But here's a few ideas anyway:

For the principal one you could say you'd change the uniform/get rid of the uniform/introduce a uniform, give less/no homework, make Friday a half-day, etc.

Taoiseach - you'd create jobs, put more money into education, make college cheaper, etc.

President - I don't really know. You could say you'd, take a lower wage? I dunno, that one's tricky. If you can think of somewhere you'd visit I'd go with that, I'm not really sure what else you could say for a president.

If they ask you one you're not sure of, definitely say you'd change/do nothing - you'll still get the marks!

Thanks, that's really helpful! Hadn't even thought about something as simple as saying that I wouldn't want to change anything, so that'll be handy in case I get really stuck!

mcpaddington wrote: »

Dá mbéinn Taoiseach na tíre seo rachfainn ar pub crawl. I have big plans as you can see .

Well my teacher's advice is "If you really can't think of anything to say, say something funny"

SeanMadd

I think the examiner is more interested in your ability to actually respond to a modh coinniollach question using the appropriate verbs than your actual ideas. That's what my teacher said anyway! For the president, I would say:
-D'athróinn an pá do na polaitheoirí
-Chuirfinn polsaithe nua/plean fiuntach i bhfeidhm, maidir leis... foréigean, coiriúlacht.. etc.(The whole 'put in a worthwhile plan' can be used for various answers, just adapt it).
-Chaithfinn níos mo airgid ar an.. coras oideachas..
-Labhraíonn amach faoi.. (idk, anything!)

leaveiton

SeanMadd wrote: »

I think the examiner is more interested in your ability to actually respond to a modh coinniollach question using the appropriate verbs than your actual ideas. That's what my teacher said anyway! For the president, I would say:
-D'athróinn an pá do na polaitheoirí
-Chuirfinn polsaithe nua/plean fiuntach i bhfeidhm, maidir leis... foréigean, coiriúlacht.. etc.(The whole 'put in a worthwhile plan' can be used for various answers, just adapt it).
-Chaithfinn níos mo airgid ar an.. coras oideachas..
-Labhraíonn amach faoi.. (idk, anything!)

Thanks! I know it's more about the verbs, but it's hard to think of what verbs to use when I don't have a particular sentence in my head. They're all really good ideas, thanks!

rainbowtrout

leaveiton wrote: »

Thanks! I know it's more about the verbs, but it's hard to think of what verbs to use when I don't have a particular sentence in my head. They're all really good ideas, thanks!

Yes, just the same as above, they don't care what you are talking about once you are talking.

Keep it simple, not so simple that you can't show off your ability with the language, but don't come out with something that you can't follow up if the examiner decides to continue discussing the topic.

E.g. the changing the uniforms topic if you were principal, be prepared for the examiner to say something like why would you do that, do you think students would prefer not to wear uniforms or whatever.

You could also go in another direction and say something like you would set up a breakfast club in the school, simple enough to say, so students would have one healthy meal a day and it would provide a social aspect... no doubt you will have prepared material on social problems so it would lead nicely into it.

dambarude

The worst MC question is the one about the president IMO. There's very little he can do. But I wouldn't worry about the practicalities or realities of the job, as everybody above has said the Irish is more important.

A good phrase that might get you a few seconds to think if asked something in the MC could be: "Níl a fhios agam céard go díreach a dhéanfainn" - I'm not exactly sure what I'd do.

It would also really show off your familiarity with the MC if you bring it in to other answers - don't confine it solely to the 'dá mbeifeá' questions. For example , "ní maith liom an t-éide scoile anseo, gheobhainn réidh leis dá mbeadh an deis agam" or even just basic phrases like "bheadh sé sin go maith" or "ní thaitneodh sé sin liom".

Togepi

If you bring in a módh coinniollach phrase into almost every topic, is there any way that could be a bad thing? I was just going to use at the very start and then try to bring it in whenever I can, a lot of the time they don't ask it.

dambarude

As long as you're doing it naturally I don't see how it could be a problem. Think of how many times you use the conditional tense every day in English - it's a very common tense.

Gumbi

SeanMadd wrote: »

I think the examiner is more interested in your ability to actually respond to a modh coinniollach question using the appropriate verbs than your actual ideas. That's what my teacher said anyway! For the president, I would say:
-D'athróinn an pá do na polaitheoirí
-Chuirfinn polsaithe nua/plean fiuntach i bhfeidhm, maidir leis... foréigean, coiriúlacht.. etc.(The whole 'put in a worthwhile plan' can be used for various answers, just adapt it).
-Chaithfinn níos mo airgid ar an.. coras oideachas..
-Labhraíonn amach faoi.. (idk, anything!)

Be careful of your spelling.

do na polaiteoirí

Chuirfinn polasaithe

córas oideachais and of course it would be ar an gcóras oideachais

"labhair amach" is Béarlachas.

Luno

I thought it was scrapped?

Gumbi

M&S* wrote: »

I thought it was scrapped?

You thought what was scrapped?

leaveiton

Thanks everyone for all the responses, I really appreciate it! Some really helpful advice and ideas.

M&S* wrote: »

I thought it was scrapped?

Where did you hear that exactly? I did see someone here mention it alright but I haven't heard anything from my teacher about it, so I'm not going to take a risk and not prepare an answer.

Luno

leaveiton wrote: »

Thanks everyone for all the responses, I really appreciate it! Some really helpful advice and ideas.



Where did you hear that exactly? I did see someone here mention it alright but I haven't heard anything from my teacher about it, so I'm not going to take a risk and not prepare an answer.

A teacher in my school who had went to an inservice on the oral.

Gumbi

leaveiton wrote: »

Thanks everyone for all the responses, I really appreciate it! Some really helpful advice and ideas.



Where did you hear that exactly? I did see someone here mention it alright but I haven't heard anything from my teacher about it, so I'm not going to take a risk and not prepare an answer.

I don't understand. How can a question, much less a tense, be scrapped??

Luno

Gumbi wrote: »

I don't understand. How can a question, much less a tense, be scrapped??

Well obviously it'd be in your favour to use the tense in your oral but I've been told that you're not going to have the question asked to you in the M.C, anyone know anything else though I don't know how accurate my sources are.

Togepi

Didn't hear anything about it being scrapped but for some reason last year the examiner asked every ordinary level student the question, but none of the higher level! I thought it would've been the other way around.

QueenOfLeon

Togepi wrote: »

Didn't hear anything about it being scrapped but for some reason last year the examiner asked every ordinary level student the question, but none of the higher level! I thought it would've been the other way around.

They may have expected the higher level students to have mentioned it throughout the exam. If you feel comfortable with the rest of your topics and you're looking for ways to make it even better I would throw it in every now and again...

"I've never been abroad but if I had the money I'd go to..."
"The government isn't dealing with the recession properly, if I was a politician..."
"My school uniform is grey but I don't like it, if I was the principal/if I could I would change it to..."

For almost any topic you could bulk it out using the Modh Coinniollach. Ability to change from tense to tense without too many problems will look very impressive

Togepi

QueenOfLeon wrote: »

For almost any topic you could bulk it out using the Modh Coinniollach. Ability to change from tense to tense without too many problems will look very impressive

I'd have no trouble changing tenses, it comes fairly naturally to me... But would over-use of the módh coinniollach just to impress the examiner not lead to difficult questions?

leaveiton

M&S* wrote: »

A teacher in my school who had went to an inservice on the oral.

Ah, I see. Are they going to be examining orals? If so, that could be why my teacher never mentioned anything.

QueenOfLeon

Togepi wrote: »

I'd have no trouble changing tenses, it comes fairly naturally to me... But would over-use of the módh coinniollach just to impress the examiner not lead to difficult questions?

You should never make a statement in the oral that you're not prepared to follow up on. Analyse everything you have prepared for any possible lead off questions from it and make sure you can answer them. If you don't have other statements prepared for what else you would do if you were the principal then don't mention it in the first place!

I wouldn't call it overuse...the tense is used regularly in day to day life in all languages. Don't use it for every little thing you talk about...a mention here and there would make it look natural, not every second sentence! It would certainly make yours stand out from the people who will reel off all their sentences and restrict the Modh Coinniollach to one section prompted by the examiner.

Togepi

Thanks, yeah I'm planning on bringing a sentence in it for sport anyway, and I'm going to plan out a few other places I can sneak it in. It's easy enough to work it into the usual topics.