Latest news with #GaelLinn
Irish Independent
16-05-2025
- General
- Irish Independent
Award for Summerhill College students for promoting the Irish language
A treasure hunt, concerts, debates and quizzes in Irish are just some of the activities set up and run by the student committee in Sligo that was recognised for its promotion of the Irish language. Run by Gael Linn, 'Gaelbhratach' is a national initiative that encourages primary and secondary school students to speak Irish outside of the formal classroom setting. Students from Sligo attended the ceremony which marked the 11th year of the scheme in post-primary schools. A total of 130 flags have been awarded to post-primary schools this year – almost double the figure from last year. Flags were awarded in recognition of students' efforts to inspire and empower their school communities to speak Irish. Commenting on the awards, Edel Ní Bhraonáin, Bainisteoir Gaelbhratach said: 'Gaelbhratach gives young people of any age or background the opportunity to use and develop their Irish language skills outside of the traditional classroom setting. The programme aims to put the student voice at the centre of their learning through the Gaelbhratach committee. "The student-led committee plays a central role in guiding Gaelbhratach initiatives throughout the school year, empowering students in Sligo and beyond to take active ownership of their language-use and learning while promoting Irish in meaningful, self-directed ways. 'The scheme is going from strength to strength, with 65 schools being awarded a flag for the first time this year. It's inspiring to see young people's growing passion for the language. The most rewarding part of the scheme is hearing feedback from both students and teachers about how they've woven the language into their daily lives and the positive impact it has made.'
BBC News
16-03-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
English-medium schools 'distraught' at Irish language scheme axe
The end of an Irish-language scheme for English-medium schools is devastating, a school principal has told BBC News Bronagh's Primary School in Rostrevor is one of more than 80 in Northern Ireland which takes part in the Scoil Spreagtha by the language organisation Gael Linn, Scoil Spreagtha supports English-medium schools to teach 15,000 pupils in 82 primary schools were involved in the scheme and 80 schools were on the waiting list for it. But Gael Linn has said the funding is not in place to continue the scheme after the end of this school year in June all-Ireland Irish language body Foras na Gaeilge recently said it had to make savings of more than €800,000 (£669,000) and that would mean funding cuts to some groups operating in Northern Ireland.A number of language organisations subsequently staged a half-day strike in protest at the principal of St Bronagh's Primary School Jody Mussen said the Scoil Spreagtha scheme allowed non Irish speaking teachers to help pupils with Irish."The big benefits that we have seen from that are increases in self-confidence and self-awareness," he said."It's raising the profile of language in our school and we very much see the Scoil Spreagtha scheme as a gateway to allowing our kids to access new language and encourage the use of other languages."They're using other languages and coming in to showcase the bits of French or Spanish or German or Mandarin that they're learning."Mr Mussen said the scheme had been really beneficial to the school."It's devastating that all the hard work that went into the Scoil Spreagtha scheme and the promotion of the Irish language could potentially be pulled." A previous scheme to teach languages in primary schools was axed in 2015 due to Department of Education cuts at the time.Séamas Mac Eochaidh, from Gael Linn, said Scoil Spreagtha had been funded for two years as a pilot scheme."Now, with the fact that there are wider Irish language cuts we do not have the opportunity to roll the scheme out again and develop the pilot we have done," he said."So obviously the indirect impact that the wider Irish language cuts have had on this scheme means that we're not able to develop it."Mr Mac Eochaidh said the schools who took part wanted to encourage their pupils to develop a second language while at primary school."The manner than we do this is very much positive and creative in what we do, and the schools and teachers are more than welcoming to the work," he said."But the opportunity won't be there if this scheme does not exist."The majority of these schools are completely dependent on the scheme." 'Distraught' Gael Linn had been offering the scheme without ever having a full-time staff member to run it and that has become unsustainable given the interest in it."Because this is Irish language based, it is in the education sector but people tend to think it's passion over profession," Mr Mac Eochaidh said."It's not just about a passion.""In order for this scheme to develop and reach the demand that's there we need to have human resources behind the scheme."Mr Mac Eochaidh said schools had been "distraught" over the news that the scheme was due to end, but he hoped that more funding could be found."We're ready to roll this out as a three-year, five-year, seven-year project," he said."It's just a matter of the funding being made available."We know what we're doing with these types of schemes, we just need the support to do so." 'Hugely successful' Pól Deeds, deputy chief executive of Foras na Gaeilge, said the Scoil Spreagtha scheme had been hugely successful."But Gael Linn can't continue to carry the responsibility for this rapidly growing project without proper staffing and resources," he Deeds said they were "working with both governments to find a solution to this".He added: "We met MLAs from Stormont's education committee and we've been putting together a case for Gael Linn to be properly funded to deliver Scoil Spreagtha."The Department of Education, I think, needs to take this on as one of their strategic priorities because it is so effective."It is delivering on things like helping to address educational attainment and encouraging the use of languages."
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Irish scheme helps school pupil learn fourth language
Irish is the latest language nine-year-old Soham can now confidently speak. The St Malachy's Primary School pupil also speaks Marathi, Hindi and English. The Belfast school is one of over 80 in Northern Ireland taking part in the Scoil Spreagtha scheme. Organised by the language organisation Gael Linn, it encourages English-medium schools to use Irish too. Soham told BBC News NI that Irish is used widely in his school. "In assembly, we talk to each other a bit in Irish," he said. "It's fun just switching from one language to another. "During the day in school we mostly use English and Irish, but in my house I use English, a bit of Irish sometimes and Hindi and Marathi." According to Soham's teacher at St Malachy's, Colette McSherry, learning a second language when young brings many other benefits for pupils. "It helps their listening skills, because they have to listen very closely to pick up the pronunciation," she said. "We find their concentration, their motivation, everything improves. "We've been doing some Irish for a while. "It's not an add-on, it's something that comes naturally throughout the day." About 40% of St Malachy's 400 pupils are "newcomers", who did not originally have Irish or English as a first language. "Those children, they are especially keen to learn Irish," Ms McSherry said. "They go home and they teach their parents phrases in Irish, their parents will use some Irish when they're speaking to me in the morning. "It's fantastic. There's a whole culture of where languages are really important and really precious." St Malachy's pupils Freya and Jayson are both aged 10 and are also learning Irish. "We learn Irish in school, like the colours and the numbers," Jayson said. "We play games and we do some stuff in PE and we do all the counties in Ireland. "It just seems fun." Freya also said that she enjoyed learning about "the colours and the numbers" in Irish. Séamas Mac Eochaidh, from Gael Linn, said that St Malachy's was one of 82 English-medium primary schools taking part in the initiative. In total, nearly 15,000 pupils are involved in the Scoil Spreagtha scheme and more than 80 schools are on the waiting list for it, he said. However Mr Mac Eochaidh said that there were concerns about the falling number of pupils studying languages, including Irish, for GCSE and beyond. "We believe that a lot of that is that children don't get the educational opportunities to learn a second language or to hear a second language or to see second language on a daily basis at the primary level," he said. "We believe that this work being done at primary level will boost GCSE numbers not just for Irish at GCSE but all languages." Funding for a primary school languages programme was axed almost a decade ago. Mr Mac Eochaidh said that bilingual learning increased pupils' enthusiasm for learning all languages. "There's been numerous examples of us being on a school visits where children have translated from one language to the other, back to the other, back to another language," he said. "We would say that the Irish language can be an initiator for that. "Everybody feels like they're on the same equal playing field, which obviously promotes that multicultural and multilingual classroom environment." 'Dire need for more Irish language schools' in NI NI compulsory language classes 'lowest in Europe' Final day for school language fund
BBC News
29-01-2025
- General
- BBC News
Irish language: Over 15,000 primary pupils take part in scheme
Irish is the latest language nine-year-old Soham can now confidently St Malachy's Primary School pupil also speaks Marathi, Hindi and Belfast school is one of over 80 in Northern Ireland taking part in the Scoil Spreagtha by the language organisation Gael Linn, it encourages English-medium schools to use Irish too. Soham told BBC News NI that Irish is used widely in his school."In assembly, we talk to each other a bit in Irish," he said."It's fun just switching from one language to another."During the day in school we mostly use English and Irish, but in my house I use English, a bit of Irish sometimes and Hindi and Marathi." According to Soham's teacher at St Malachy's, Colette McSherry, learning a second language when young brings many other benefits for pupils."It helps their listening skills, because they have to listen very closely to pick up the pronunciation," she said."We find their concentration, their motivation, everything improves."We've been doing some Irish for a while."It's not an add-on, it's something that comes naturally throughout the day." About 40% of St Malachy's 400 pupils are "newcomers", who did not originally have Irish or English as a first language."Those children, they are especially keen to learn Irish," Ms McSherry said."They go home and they teach their parents phrases in Irish, their parents will use some Irish when they're speaking to me in the morning."It's fantastic. There's a whole culture of where languages are really important and really precious." St Malachy's pupils Freya and Jayson are both aged 10 and are also learning Irish."We learn Irish in school, like the colours and the numbers," Jayson said."We play games and we do some stuff in PE and we do all the counties in Ireland."It just seems fun."Freya also said that she enjoyed learning about "the colours and the numbers" in Irish. GCSE languages Séamas Mac Eochaidh, from Gael Linn, said that St Malachy's was one of 82 English-medium primary schools taking part in the total, nearly 15,000 pupils are involved in the Scoil Spreagtha scheme and more than 80 schools are on the waiting list for it, he Mr Mac Eochaidh said that there were concerns about the falling number of pupils studying languages, including Irish, for GCSE and beyond."We believe that a lot of that is that children don't get the educational opportunities to learn a second language or to hear a second language or to see second language on a daily basis at the primary level," he said."We believe that this work being done at primary level will boost GCSE numbers not just for Irish at GCSE but all languages."Funding for a primary school languages programme was axed almost a decade Mac Eochaidh said that bilingual learning increased pupils' enthusiasm for learning all languages."There's been numerous examples of us being on a school visits where children have translated from one language to the other, back to the other, back to another language," he said."We would say that the Irish language can be an initiator for that."Everybody feels like they're on the same equal playing field, which obviously promotes that multicultural and multilingual classroom environment."
