Do you think all Gaelscoils could work?

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Orla C

Yes, I think it would be a good idea. Then all Irish would be bilingual within a generation, because we'd still be fluent at English,

Aisling M

OK, just my personal opinions here
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I'll start with the arguments against what has already been posted:

AnteK said: "create more gaeltachts less far away"
- sorry, not possible. If you give an English speaking area Gaeltacht status, it will be just that, an English speaking area with Gaeltacht status. The people living there won't simply learn Irish and become fluent.

Soul Jacker said: "There aren't enough teachers in the country with the fluency in Irish to convert all primary schools to first language Irish schools. Yes teacher's have to prove proficiency in Irish to work in Irish primarys but there's a world in the difference between fluency and proficiency."
- I actually disagree here. Primary teachers (and I know, I am one) have to be sufficiently fluent to teach all subjects to the level required for primary school through Irish. I also have a problem with the definition of "fluent" - If I take a look in a dictionary, an English one, I find loads of words I don't know the meaning of. Does this mean I am not fluent in English?
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As for should we, I think yes, certainly, without a doubt, but not overnight. Do it slowly, and even if it takes twenty years - until the kids who are going through the Gaelscoileanna now are the parents, if they are taught it the right way they will be eager for their children to have the same advantage they are having now.

Also, over this time, do more to promote the language outside the education system. Have government bodies start to send out correspondence as Gaeilge as the default, with the option to request future correspondence in English.

Children learning in Irish Medium Education now have an advantage. The Official Languages Act means they should have advantages even when it comes to the crap jobs, eg Call Centre jobs, because the likes of the ESB (or should I say BSL?), are obliged to communicate with customers in Irish if the customer so requests. This Act should be extended to large companies also (Eircom, banks etc).

Also, take a look at RTГ‰. What percentage of their presenters are fluent? Its quite high because many of them made it into TV via TG4 - and therefore wouldn't be earning a fortune making programmes in English if they didn't have the Irish to start with.

Wouldn't be nice to see the day when not only TG4 lacks English subtitles, but when instead the English programmes on RTE are subtitled in Irish.

Going totally off subject, wouldn't it also be great to see Celtic beat Rangers 1-10/0-6?

...........feel free to thumbs-down.

Soul Jacker

No.

1. It's draconian. It removes the rights of parents to choose (not all parent's want to send their children to gaelscoils).

2. There aren't enough teachers in the country with the fluency in Irish to convert all primary schools to first language Irish schools. Yes teacher's have to prove proficiency in Irish to work in Irish primarys but there's a world in the difference between fluency and proficiency.

3. Teaching will suffer. If we start recruiting on the basis of their ability to speak all day in Irish some quality teachers will be cast aside in favour of linguists.

4. How would parents be able to help their children if they were (like most Irish parents) unable to communicate at a decent level in Irish.

If there is more demand for Irish schools more will be built but if you try to force Irish on people less people will want to learn it. That's what happened the last time. Many people have very negative memories of 'learning' Irish in school, many people resent the fact it was beaten into them with the result they forgot the little Irish they did learn as a child as soon as they could.

In short it would be bad for democarcy and bad for the language.

________________________

Edit:

With all due respect Aisling there is a world of a difference between the Irish abilities of the average teacher who works in a gaelscoil and a national school. The majority of primary school teachers I know who work in the south wouldnвЂ™t be able to teach all their subjects in Irish to anything remotely near the level they could teach them in English.

If all teachers were made teach their lessons through Irish we would in fact be lowering the standard of every other subject save one.

This is what I mean by defining the difference between proficient and fluent. Fluent does not mean you know all the words in a language it means you can speak fluidly in the language.

For me the idea of forcing Irish on people is repeating the mistakes of the past, and make no mistake converting all national schools to gaelscoils is just that, it removes the choice that currently exists in Ireland and so is not only draconian but defeats the original purpose (to popularise Irish).

Not only that but you would have a huge proportion of the children who would be learning in a medium their parents donвЂ™t speak (no matter how gradual it would be introduced) and so couldnвЂ™t help them with. This will invariably mean it would be the most disadvantaged in our society who would feel it most.
The idea is unworkable IMVHO.

REGRA UNIVERSAL DA PRONГљNCIA ING

yesd

Г‰irerua

It would be easy because kids are incredibly resilient, and learn to adapt to any situation.

AnteK

i think so yeah
also we should change all place names and names of people to Irish for a trial period of 5 years or something and if it works, keep it that way.
eg
on maps, have Ireland as Г‰ireann and dublin as ГЃtha Cliath etc.
also
create more gaeltachts less far away.
have some on the lakes or islands in Westmeath and on the east coast etc.
and also try and increase the usage in the youth of today
eg
lol,ttyl,lmao etc.
goa(gГЎire Гіs airde)
llnd(leabhair leat nГos deanaГ)
abmtag(ag briseadh mo thoin ag gaire)
conradh na gaeilge have a list of these
:D
that would increase the awareness and speaking capability of the Irish
and then when the German comes again, she'd learn a bit of Irish just from hanging around:D
i had a German over too:D
my mam tried to teach her Irish goa

Ella's MamaГ

Yea I think we should... Im sending my daughter to a Gealscoil, there are just 2 in Waterford, Id love her to be fluent. I love hearing my nephew who is 4 tell me Irish words he has learned in montessorri

penguingymnist [RA]

IM TO SEXY FOR MY SHIRT!!!!!

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