Comment by Rose Maurer on August 21, 2013 at 3:55pm

Thanks Ger! I have always needed a challenge, and this will undoubtedly be the greatest one so far. Fortunately I have infinite patience, but 6time will tell :-)

Comment by Bit Devine on August 21, 2013 at 6:29pm

Always thought that taking one of the immersion courses would be a great way to learn again. The only problem is that they run about two-three weeks...You are just getting comfortable with it by then...if you are lucky...and then you go home....and with whom can you practice?....

Comment by Rónán Gearóid Ó Domhnaill on August 22, 2013 at 2:08am

I was watching a documentary 'Amú i Meiriceá' and they showed  an American who spoke fluent Irish although he had no Irish roots or connections. Apparently he was a  bit of  a terraway in his youth and the judge gave him the choice of prison or learning Irish. 

Comment by Gerard Cappa on August 22, 2013 at 8:02am

The judge should have sent him to the Gaoltacht.

Comment by Kelly O'Rourke on August 22, 2013 at 9:22am

Haha, Gerard.  Very Punny!

Comment by mickey mcadden on August 24, 2013 at 8:51pm

Rose Maurer wrote :

"Long story short, and it would doubtless create a huge backlash, is that all Irish pupils be obliged to study through the medium of Gaelige, without the present choice which is available."

Indeed it has.

You probably already know that in the ROI students must pass Gaelic in order to get their secondary school papers, whether or not the student is Irish or needs the language.

To force them, as you propose, to learn all their topics in Gaelic is a monstrous injustice far worse than what now passes as normal.

To find a future today more Irish people leave the Island than has been the case since the famine. Surely you do not think, as Devilera did, that forcing the Irish children to choke on a language that is useless outside of Ireland, and in a way that fails the most of these human beings in topics that they will need in their lives outside of Ireland, will achieve anything other than create a generation of morons incapable of the most menial work in the UK, EU, USA, Oz and the rest of it?

In fact I seem to recall the relish with which the administration of punitive measures was taken when we as children were beaten for not learning the backwards useless and stupid language that they resurrected from some made up fairy story written by one of the English ascendency of the Victorian era, to wit;  Dr Douglas Hyde and his Roscommon clique!

The mindset of some on this board echoes the very same sentiments to the extent that I do believe there is here very few with a scientific mind and many indoctrinated in the esotericism of consciousness provided in literature devoid of any practical test or application.

We should encourage Irish children to learn Math, Science, Technology, Linguistics ( the Irish have a musical gift with languages ) and make the other topics optional, especially Gaelic.

Gaeilgeoir Comment by Bernie Joyce on August 25, 2013 at 8:25am

Here are a few selected verses of an Irish poem from a Connemara poet.

An bhFuil Mo Ghairdín Glas? - uaidh Jackie Mac Donncha

Cé mar tá mo spéirbhean álainn

a dtug mé grá di ar feadh mo shaoil?

An bhfuil an gairdín síorghlas glas i gcónaí

mar a bhí i m'aisling, b'in mo mhian?

Cén chaoi a bhfuil mo Ros na gCaorach

ar chiumhais na hÉireann, údar bróid?

An bhfuil Peaitín Pháraaic ag tabhairt feasa fós

théis aifreann an Ghoirt Mhóir?

---------------------------------------------

Ó Gaineamh Séidte

Comment by Kelly O'Rourke on August 25, 2013 at 1:51pm

Mickey,  No one wants English to disappear from Irish society.  It is the primary means of communication in the country and it gives the Irish an advantage in business over other European nations.  It is clearly here to stay.  I can tell you feel very strongly about the language being "made up," but the people who live in my village and speak it daily do not feel that way. 

As a teacher, my question is, how can they take this language as a class for twelve years, and come out with no knowledge of it?  That IS a waste of time.  I'm wondering if anyone here has any insight as to where the educational system is getting this so wrong?  Or does the blame lie elsewhere (as I am never quick to blame teachers!)?

Comment by Bit Devine on August 26, 2013 at 11:12am

Kelly,

I can tell you that if the classroom is the only place in which they are utilizing teh language, it will nit be retained easily. It needs to be used in social settings and in the home for it to take hold. That is true for any of the lessons students learn. Most students have a retention level that is directly tied in to an endresult. So they learn something, take a test on it, pass the test and dump the lesson.

In my home, I heard spanish daily, it surrounded me like a cloak. My Irish came when my Gran would call weekly or would visit, twice a year from Canada. When my mother's father was alive, he would speak to me in the Sicilian dialect of Italian when I was small. I learned Cherokee because my first mother-in-law taught me in exchange for improving her English. My children have a smattering of all of these languages because  they were all barometers for how much trouble they were in.

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