An Téarma Úr 2009, Spring classes and Events 2009

I just received confirmation of our dates for Spring 2009 from IONA College.
We are starting a little later than usual this year as current students expressed the preference for starting as late as possible in February and therefore missing the harsh winter weather. Unfortunately the rooms we use are not available for the final week in February.

In the meantime there are many ways of keeping up to speed with your Irish Langauge Skills (Web TG4 and RnaG, blogs and most of all meeting up with others and practising in a social setting...the best way)
New students can even get started with Rosetta Stone for example. I've seen level 1 and it seems very good, though I'd love to hear from users about how they are doing with it.
The combination sets start to get quite expensive.

Rosetta Stone : Irish Level 1 with Audio Companion

Rosetta Stone : Irish Level 1 & 2 Set with Audio Companion

Rosetta Stone : Irish Level 1, 2 & 3 Set with Audio Companion


Anyway here are our dates:

Ranganna Gaeilge agus Lá na Gaeilge NY 2009 i Westchester, Nua Eabhrac.
@ La Penta Hall, Iona College, New Rochelle.

Ranganna ar Ceithre Leibhéal. Téarma 10 seachtain.
Oícheanta Dé Chéadaoin (Classes at 4 levels, 10 week term on Wednesday nights.)
Dátaí (Dates):
Márta (March): 4, 11, 25,
Aibreán (April): 1,8,15,22,29.
Bealtaine (May): 6. 13

Cost $135, received by Feb. 20th 2009 or
$160 for late registration, received after February 20th.

Lá na Gaeilge NY 2009 ar an 21 Mí na Márta (9:15 AM – 5:00 PM)
Irish Language Day NY 2009 will be on the 21^st of March (9:15 AM – 5:00 PM) Cost $50

The current brochure including registration form for classes and the Irish Language Day will be forwarded to all on our mailing list within the next week.

Beidh bileog ar fáil go luath leis na sonraí uile eile, muna bhfuil tú ar an liosta phoist cheana agus ma tá ceann uait cuir fios orm le do thoil. (If you ar not on our mailing list already and you would like a brochure please send an email and one will be forwarded to you) Email link is on right.

Class on November 26th

A Chairde,
Aine Mhaire was wondering if the college would be open for our classes on Wed Nov 26th, that is the night before Thankgiving. The college had confirmed these dates with me in June but I checked again and yes, La Penta will be open and our classes will go ahead as planned that evening.

Support for Learners from The Language Centre

There are many resources for Irish language learners available on various websites. One which is popular with An Scoil Chois Claí is the Language Centre at The National University of Ireland ,Maynooth .

1. The TEG site gives support to both teachers of adults and adult learners. The curriculum which is set out is a good guide to learning conversational Irish in a classroom setting. Most teachers who use this curriculum will augment it with grammar explanations and background information about the history of the Irish Language and its role in the history of the Irish people. Adult learners are usually interested in more than the acquisition of the language alone.

2.For more advanced learners the VIFAX portion of the Maynooth síte is very useful and again can be used by learners both within the classroom setting and for practice alone. The videos are fully supported by lesson plans and transcripts.

For too long the Irish language outside of Irish speaking families was supposed to be kept alive and well by schoolchildren, I think this has been finally recognized as being an unfair task for young Irish children. As soon as adults in Ireland start using Irish then children will be happy to use it too. I’ve never met a child who isn’t happy to answer me in Irish if I ask a simple question, (usually the answer will be accompanied by a giggle,) whereas it is often older people who will answer in English, indicating of course that the question was understood. It is often a lack of confidence rather than negativism towards the language that causes this. Although most Irish speakers have experienced negativism at some time or another. The support that sites like this one at the Language Centre provide can be very helpful to the small conversational language groups which are coming into existence timpeall na tíre

Language Joy

We got off to a good start on Wednesday evening.
Classes start at 6pm until 7 15pm and then the second classes are from 7 30 until 8 45.

I hope everyone got parking passes from the security office. These passes entitle parking in visitor spaces only. One still cannot park in the reserved places. The security personnel are most dedicated to ticketing and putting a boot on any car in the wrong place. (Could they work on commission?)

BTW in Ireland a ‘boot’ of this nature is called a clamp, a boot is in fact the trunk of the car, not to mention bonnets and hoods………..This caused all sorts of vocabulary misunderstandings the night my own car was ‘booted’ in IONA . I had to go to security, I asked them (nicely) to remove the clamp from my car, I was met with a blank stare. I said “There is a clamp on my car….please take it off?” then I had to explain that it was a sort of lock on my wheel. “Oh the boot!” “No, no” I said, “the boot is fine I want the clamp taken off?” The blank stare was now confused. It went downhill from there.

Feicfidh mé sibh an tseachtain seo chugainn.

See you all next week

Classes will soon begin!

Dia Dhaoibh a chairde, Hello all
We will soon be back in class in IONA.
Wed 24th @ 6 PM for the Ard Rang with Hilary and the Meán Rang with Eibhlín. 7 30 PM for the Beginners with Hilary and Ard Rang with Caoimhe.
Thank you to all who signed up early, availing of the discount!! It makes everything much easier for Eibhlín, Caoimhe and myself when we have an idea of how many will be in the first class. Thank you to the person whose idea this was...you know who you are :)
Enjoy the final days of Summer weather as we move into Autumn and please continue to spread the word about our classes, send this blog address to anyone you know who might be interested in joining us.

We will be sharing the second floor of the La Penta building from approx 7 30pm with some pipers who will be in the large McGrath function room practicing.
I think we can cope. We spent years sharing our previous lodgings with pipers, tinwhistle players, accordion players and dancers so I dont think anyone will mind if we hear the strains of piping in the background.

Classes Resume at An Scoil Chois Clái

Hello folks,
We are just thinking about our new 10 week term at Iona college. We will have classes on Wednesday evening this time.

Sept 24
Oct 1, 8, 15, 22,
Nov 5, 12, 19, 26,
Dec 3

Again offering 4 levels : Beginners, Intermediate, Advanced 1 and Advanced 2.
Beginners / Hilary @ 7 30PM
Intermediate / Eibhlin @ 6 PM
Advanced 1/ Caoimhe @ 7 30PM
Advanced 2/Hilary @ 6 PM

We will start the first classes at 6 Pm until 7 15 and the second classes at 7 30 until 8 45 PM so we will be ending just 15 minutes earlier than previously.

If you have any inquiries please send an email to an.scoil.chois.clai@gmail.com
Go raibh maith agaibh.

Irish Language Day - March 29th in IONA College, New Rochelle, NY.

A Chairde,
What a great day! Everything went well, even lunch was better this year. Wonderful teachers and lecturers, great booksales and raffle.
Thanks so much to all who helped make it work. Siobhán Shea, Naomi McCooe, Seán Feeney, Bernadette Broderick, Donncha Ó Cuinn, Maire and Colie O'Leary, Joan O'Connell, Una McGillicuddy, Brenda Ní Shuilleabháin, Mairéad McKendry, Elaine Ní Bhraonáin, Eibhín Zurell.