Irish is over forever

mat

who cares what the exam was like, we never have to learn irish again!!!!! life is good

plastic_axe

too right

GIVRAYIPP!

subway_ie

Spent the 2.5 hours writing unbelievable crap. Didn't want to leave early, so I answered all the questions on Roinn A. Feels good never to have to look at that feckin Diograis book again. Or attempt those really awkward comhrás in class.

Mutant_Fruit

Finally, irish is out of my forseeable future! Now, to get on with some maths and german "Study"

Agent Smith

i was so happy i cryed leaving the exam...

and i left after an hour............

subway_ie

Originally posted by agent smith
and i left after an hour............

Loads of people in my centre doing higher and ordinary leave after about 30-45 mins. Such a waste of a leaving cert.

Mutant_Fruit

If you know your stuff, you can have the exam finished and get an A within 20-25 minutes (pass level).

If you half know your stuff, and have to think a lot, then you'll probably be finished within an hour. Pass irish is p**s easy. There is no way that anyone who knows their stuff will be in longer than 90 mins, and in that 90 mins they could easily answer every question on the paper.

Suaimhneach

Lol, I'm goin to college where I shall continue to learn through Irish! Thank god! lol.

But I'm delighted for you lot! The irish sylabus[sp] sucks!

Now for cramming French...and waiting for that to be over forever!!

subway_ie

Originally posted by Mutant_Fruit
If you know your stuff, you can have the exam finished and get an A within 20-25 minutes (pass level).

Maybe if you learned it off, but getting an A in pass will be hard... I did every question in roinn a, took me about 2 hours to get them all done from scratch, without having anything learned off. Some were a bit crap, but it would take at least 2 hours to do all the questions (about a page for every 10 mark question, including quotes for poetry)

Mutant_Fruit

about a page for every 10 mark question, including quotes for poetry

ROFL. i did about 5-7 lines per 10 mark question, at most! And i always got good grades from my teacher (who used to correct the exams for the L.C.). So i assume he's resonably accurate...

Tazzle

just wait and you'll start to regret the fact you can't string a sentence together in your own national language.

subway_ie

The page per ten mark thing was just to pace myself so I wouldn't be finished after an hour... was a bit extreme when I look back. Couldn't go home untill 1, so I just stayed in until 11:50 since it was pissin rain. I think the lenght will probably just piss off the examiner when they're correcting it. Probably do me more harm than good.

subway_ie

Originally posted by Tazzle
just wait and you'll start to regret the fact you can't string a sentence together in your own national language.

Funny how I (an most people in my year) can hold a half-decent conversation in french, but can only mutter a few words of Irish. Been doin Irish properly since 1st class, french since 1st year. There's something very wrong there.

conZ

Did a banging Paper 2 in fairness. Was in there till 11.45 (doing Ordinary), five minutes left. I didn't care, I took my time. I'm pushing for an A in this, as Ordinary level Maths isin't looking too good, and it'll probably be my fall subject.
I did feck all study for this and yesterdays paper. The Irish Oral may be my downfall though.

Ceist a haon,
A:
I done the Amuigh Lion Fein question (Wtf is Fiosract Mhna about in fairness). Wrote 1 1/3 pages on the first question on Seamas.
Wrote a page on the second question, on the Binncheol.

B:
I wrote 1 and a half pages on the second part of B - Wrote about Eithne and Breandan in Gafa.

Ceist a do,
A:
Done the Treall question - the questions were awful easy. Wrote a half a page on part 1, 1/3 of a page on part 2, half a page on part 3 and 4.

B:
Chlaon Me Mo Cheann, Answered the first question on Brón. Wrote about half a page.


Came out of the Exam with five minutes remaining. Took my time, daydreamed a bit. Hopefully will get an A2 (depending on the Oral marking scheme). A2/B1/B2 and I'd be happy. Say I'll only get a C or so in Maths, so I'll be needing Irish i'd say.

elle

well if i get my course, i'll be pretty much studying irish again next yr but at least that goddam LC course is done with. I stayed til about 12.20 was happy enough, pretty nice questions, Most of our ordinary level had left by 11 though, so i'm guessing the paper as handy enough, ah well that's 5 down!

Mutant_Fruit

The odds of getting an A in pass irish are very very slim.

This is solely because of the infairness of the oral. Since the oral is a common exam, they don;t care if you are pass or honours, they just grade you. This results in all the honours students getting the A's, B's and high C's in the oral, and the pass students getting High C's to failures.

So unless you're really good, you are out of the A barcket.

elle

I disagree, I know a good few in ordinary who are quite good and who put the work in and I'm sure did well in the oral but just didn't want the pressure of higher or dropped down during the year. So they probably have quite a high chance of getting an A. Fair enough a lot of ordinary students are weak at irish but some do put the work in and get the A

mayordenis

Originally posted by Tazzle
just wait and you'll start to regret the fact you can't string a sentence together in your own national language.

NO no i wont its a terrible language with dodgy structure and no potential for the future so happy to be done with it

daveyjoe

Originally posted by Mutant_Fruit
The odds of getting an A in pass irish are very very slim.

This is solely because of the infairness of the oral. Since the oral is a common exam, they don;t care if you are pass or honours, they just grade you. This results in all the honours students getting the A's, B's and high C's in the oral, and the pass students getting High C's to failures.

So unless you're really good, you are out of the A barcket.

But you're marked out of a lower total mark on the oral, and in fairness the sliocht is pretty easy. Examiners frequently give out 30 marks for the sliocht, as long as you've got half decent pronounciation and you don't stutter on any words. Even if you do make a couple of small mistakes you'll probably still be getting 25+. Our irish teacher was telling us that if you look at how people's grades are broken up, people tend to score well on the oral.

DEmeant0r

Originally posted by mayordenis
NO no i wont its a terrible language with dodgy structure and no potential for the future so happy to be done with it

I agree, I like the traditional SVO (subject-verb-object) structure, that's why I'm much better at French than Irish.

Dr. Loon

Originally posted by mayordenis
NO no i wont its a terrible language with dodgy structure and no potential for the future so happy to be done with it

Believe me... you will. Pop back on here in 7 years and we'll see what you think. Doesn't matter what structure you like with languages... it's supposed to be "our" language, and bugger all of us can speak it. Myself included. I truly regret not keeping it up.

Fair play to those keeping it going, and good luck in the rest of the exams all.

luckat

Just talked to someone today who failed pass Irish 15 years ago; he's currently learning Chinese, Japanese and Korean from tapes, for fun and entertainment as he cycles.

How would you lads structure an Irish course to help people to learn it, and what methods would you use for teaching it, after your experience of bad teaching/course?

DEmeant0r

Originally posted by luckat
Just talked to someone today who failed pass Irish 15 years ago; he's currently learning Chinese, Japanese and Korean from tapes, for fun and entertainment as he cycles.

How would you lads structure an Irish course to help people to learn it, and what methods would you use for teaching it, after your experience of bad teaching/course?

I wouldn't make the course so forced. I mean most people in my year don't even have basic grammar or Vocab for Irish and yet the state commission or whoever it is that sets the course's sylabus expects these people to know poetry and Pros. It's crazy.

DS

It's a bit sad that our national language is dieing, but I really genuinely hate it, and I can't change that. So no I don't think I'll ever regret deserting it for the rest of my life, starting today at 12:50. It doesn't make me any less Irish. Why bother putting myself through hell for some wishy washy national pride. I'll just have to explore other avenues of our culture more often, like drinking to excess.

Dr. Loon

Originally posted by Discharger Snake
It's a bit sad that our national language is dieing, but I really genuinely hate it, and I can't change that. So no I don't think I'll ever regret deserting it for the rest of my life, starting today at 12:50. It doesn't make me any less Irish. Why bother putting myself through hell for some wishy washy national pride. I'll just have to explore other avenues of our culture more often, like drinking to excess.

Ah the folly of youth. I once thought like you (when I was doing my leaving cert) and now I wish I knew how to speak my own language.

DS

How can you think like that? Right now, I hate Irish, and keeping it up would be a sadistic act of self torture. Maybe in 7 years I will feel sorry that I can't speak Irish, who knows, maybe it'll be dead and gone by then, and nobody will care, who knows. Regardless, I will never regret this decision, because I'll know how much I hated it now, and that I made the right choice at the time because to keep it up would be absolutely bizarre. If it means that much to me down the line I can take an Irish class, but continuing it now would be like having a sex change because I might be that way inclined in 7 years.

Lantis

Now that the exam's over, I'm really starting to regret that it's just gonna rot away in my head. I guess I kinda like the language, without big exams to terrify me away from it.

simu

Originally posted by luckat
Just talked to someone today who failed pass Irish 15 years ago; he's currently learning Chinese, Japanese and Korean from tapes, for fun and entertainment as he cycles.

How would you lads structure an Irish course to help people to learn it, and what methods would you use for teaching it, after your experience of bad teaching/course?

Teach people how to do everyday conversation first. Have cds with the books to help pronunciation.

Get rid of teachers who aren't enthusiastic about the language.

Seifer

I could barely feign interest in it to-day. I spent the first half an hour doing nothing which I regreted later cause I couldn't leave when every one else left. Towards the end I was just writing crap. I wrote about 8 lines on the last prose question (20 marks), luckily I'd say I passed it on the other elements alone.
No more ignorant irish ever again...ever!

elle

Teach people how to do everyday conversation first. Have cds with the books to help pronunciation.

I know the basics seem irrelevant when you go in to answer questions on poetry and prose in the actual exam however you'll find you have a lot less to learn off if you can string a sentence together by yourself. I don't think that learning irish in the same way as you learn french or any other foreign language in school works. Irish is taught to us from the time we're 4, if we show a little enthusiasm for it in the beginning it makes the more difficult stuff a lot easier and it makes the language as a whole easier to learn. You're not spouting off speels of useful phrases you develop actual fluency. Learning stuff off isn't the problem, it's having a basic understanding of the language that makes you fluent.

DEmeant0r

Exactly, if you know the basics and have a decent vocab database in your brain, like you would with French, then it makes answering questions 1000% easier.

I found writing a page of Irish took me a half an hour today, as opposed to 10-15 with French so it does make a lot of difference knowing the basics.

DS

Oi, what are you at writing pages of French? 90 words right? Anybody thinking of impressing the examiner with massive French essays, I'd be VERY careful. Basically the more you write, the more mistakes you can make. You don't gain marks in French, you lose them, so the more you write the more you lose. Just do exactly what they ask and nothing more. It sounds awful, but you're really trying to hide your French rather than show it off. If you write a piece in incredibly simple French, yet answer the question asked, they can't touch you with the marking scheme.

penguincakes

Originally posted by Dr. Loon
Believe me... you will. Pop back on here in 7 years and we'll see what you think. Doesn't matter what structure you like with languages... it's supposed to be "our" language, and bugger all of us can speak it. Myself included. I truly regret not keeping it up.

Fair play to those keeping it going, and good luck in the rest of the exams all.

Speak for yourself, we're not all like you.

claire h

Originally posted by Discharger Snake
Oi, what are you at writing pages of French? 90 words right? Anybody thinking of impressing the examiner with massive French essays, I'd be VERY careful. Basically the more you write, the more mistakes you can make. You don't gain marks in French, you lose them, so the more you write the more you lose. Just do exactly what they ask and nothing more. It sounds awful, but you're really trying to hide your French rather than show it off. If you write a piece in incredibly simple French, yet answer the question asked, they can't touch you with the marking scheme.

I tried that in the mocks and got crappy marks. My teacher has been telling me all year that I need to write longer pieces. *sigh* Hoping the real examiners will be more lenient and sensible when I hand up my 90 or 75 word pieces and nothing more.

DEmeant0r

Well my letters are usually half a page long, and they take in or around 7-9 minutes on a clear minded day to do, so double that time and it's around the 15 minutes. Of course I wouldn't write pages of French, I was just comparing the slowness of my Irish compared to my French.

DS

I tried that in the mocks and got crappy marks.

You sure that wasn't because of mistakes you made? If they ask you for x words, you're wasting your time writing more. They don't tell you how much to write for the laugh, or so you can write more than what they tell you to impress them. Anyway, I wouldn't take much from the mocks, the people who correct those are pretty clueless in general, from what I've heard.

My teacher has been telling me all year that I need to write longer pieces.

Most teachers say this about everything. It's just the simplest thing for them to do. When's the last time you heard a teacher tell you you're writing too much? They can't lose if they tell you to write more, whereas if they get you into a minimalist mindset, they could cost you marks. In my school I find (found) my teachers appalling for actually knowing what examiners are looking for from you. Any time we asked something specific they'll just give us a wild stab in the dark, like "I think they're probably looking for..... but I'll check it out for you", and they never do. What we should be hearing is "Well when I was at the examiners conference last year they said X about X", and we'd all be sorted. My teachers were so crap really. Apart from French, she's unbelievable.

claire h

Originally posted by Discharger Snake
You sure that wasn't because of mistakes you made? If they ask you for x words, you're wasting your time writing more. They don't tell you how much to write for the laugh, or so you can write more than what they tell you to impress them. Anyway, I wouldn't take much from the mocks, the people who correct those are pretty clueless in general, from what I've heard.

Nope, there was one or two small mistakes but nothing to justify all the marks they took off, so I thought. Ah well, languages aren't my strong point so I don't have huge hopes for a great grade in French anyway.

subway_ie

You shouldn't be sticking rigidly to the 90 word thing... if you need to write 110 words to get your point across and finish up nicely, then it's alot better to write the 110 words than to write 90 and not get your point across or have a good, definite ending. Also, I think they usually say "environ 90 mots", don't have exam papers with me right now, but I'm nearly sure they've said that a few times. You'll have loads of time in the french exam - if you're fairly good at french, then write more than 90 words but just keep checking it over and over again.

DS

Yeah exactly. I was kind of talking more about people who think writing a whole page is great.