Studying Irish at NUIM having done ordinary level leaving in Leaving Cert.

hkeane · 23-12-2010 5:33pm #1

Hi guys, this is my first post on boards.ie so if it's in the wrong place or anything please let me know. don't shoot the noob

Anyway my question is towards anyone doing Irish at NUIM

I have been told by college sources that it is possible to do Irish at UCD through the BA even if I do ordinary level Irish for the leaving cert next June.
Obviously they told me that I would have to do certain modules, all through Irish of course, working hard to achieve the standard expected.

My question is if any of you reading this have done Irish as I wish to do?
I know it would be hard work but i'm willing to do it. Is it hard (i know its not easy) to adjust to the new level of Irish expected of you.

I have also posted this post on other colleges, eg UCD

I know it can be done, but what is it like from a students perspective?

squishykins · 24-12-2010 1:44pm

It it Ancient Irish or Nua-Ghaelige (sp?) you wanna study? I've done neither, but I have a friend studying Nui-Ghaelige that I could ask.

Also have you looked at the prospectus? They give loads of info.

*edit* Also I'm sure if they allow people who've done ordinary enter it, then it's possible. You may just need to work a little bit harder at first, but it'd even out if you really wanna do it.

hkeane · 24-12-2010 2:30pm

Nua-Gaeilge. Sorry I should have been more specific.

Yeah the prospectus is great and I've had some really good chats with various lecturers and college admin but I'd really like a view from the student end of things. Thanks.

You make a good point about allowing people in so I must be possible. It's just so confusing to decide what I want.

lauras91 · 29-12-2010 12:13am

Hi, i'm almost sure you have to have an honours in higher level lc irish to study nua-ghaeilge at maynooth. You should look into that.

lintdrummer · 29-12-2010 12:24am

Welcome to boards OP. I studied Nua-Ghaeilge in NUIM and it's a different kettle of fish to the leaving cert altogether. I did Higher Level in the LC and found Nua-Ghaeilge fairly tough going. You'd be expected to do a lot of reading as gaeilge and all lectures, tutorials etc. are conducted as gaeilge too. I'm not sure about the requirement for entry in terms of what you sit in the LC but if you're passionate about Irish and are willing to put in a lot of work, then by all means go for it.

irish_goat · 29-12-2010 3:58am

I have absolutely no experience of studying Irish at leaving cert or in NUIM but I say go for it!

hkeane · 29-12-2010 7:34pm

Thanks for all the replies. I'm going to definitly look into it further and have a long chat with my careers advice teacher when I go back in Jan.

kisaragi · 31-12-2010 3:18pm

Even if you can do it... be careful

If you're doing pass Irish for leaving cert because you found the HL course too difficult then it's probably not wise to go for a degree in Irish. Maybe do Irish but take two other subjects in Arts that you won't be disappointed keeping on for 2nd and 3rd year if it turns out that Irish isn't your thing.

squishykins · 01-01-2011 1:36pm

I talked to my friend, who's doing Nua-Ghaelige through arts, she sent me this back

Hey Amy!

Okay so the truth is that -from a student's point of view- Nua-Ghaeilge is a tough one to choose and statistically one of the most commonly dropped subjects. The standard of Irish is very high because it's such an unpopular subject - the students who keep it on are generally very good at it. A lot of the students are native speakers coming from Gaeltachts regions or Gaelscoils. This is very difficult to compete with for people like me who have learned Irish only through primary and secondary school. However, the tutorials are streamed according to level (at the start of the year they pass out a sheet that asks where you learned Irish. The options are things like 'I grew up in the Gaeltacht', 'I went to a Gaelscoil', 'I learned through school', 'I learned through school but haven't spoken Irish for years', etc. This is how they decide on the tutorial groups).

One of the incentives to join Nua-Ghaeilge, the thing that the lecturers say repeatedly to make you feel at ease, is that they start with the very basics. They take grammar from the very beginning. This is true, BUT they move through it VERY quickly in the lectures and then expect you to know it and be able to use it effectively by your next tutorial. If you keep on top of it, this should be fine. Unfortunately I didn't so I'm very behind. Really wish I had kept up.

As far as assessment goes, Nua-Ghaeilge is probably a very good subject to choose in comparison with the rest of the subjects; 25% of the grade goes on your learning folder which consist of a few tasks and then an analysis on each task. The tasks are things like a two-minute oral (which you're not actually graded on - it's just for them to assess you're standard and then they e-mail you the mistakes you made. The analysis is where you identify your strengths and your weaknesses and THAT'S what you're graded on). In the lectures you study pros and poetry just like for the leaving cert and that's what goes on the written exam.

That said, I do really like it, and I am keeping it for my degree, it's just challenging.

hkeane · 16-01-2011 1:58pm

Thanks for the reply.
Its good to here from a student perspective as the prospectus can be somewhat misleading sometimes.

Yeah, I was thinking of doing it as the third arts subject. That way if it didn't work out I wouldn't be stuck doing something I was struggling at.

My irish is adverage, the reason I'm doing ordinary level is to focus on maths a bit more. I'm also doing music as an extra subject and didn't have the time to focus as much as I would have liked to on higher level irish.

Thanks again for the replys!

Studying Irish at NUIM having done ordinary level leaving in Leaving Cert.

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