Adult Irish Courses in the Gaeltacht

BoozyBabe

Just wondering if any of ye have been on one of these, or what do you think it'd be like?

I noticed there's adult Irish courses being run in Glencolmcille in Donegal during the summer.

I'm trying to learn Irish on my own. I'm finding that I'm greatly improving at reading Irish (Thought still nothing outrageously complicated), not great at understanding spoken Irish unless it's slow & relatively basic, I've a pretty good vocabulary of words which is improving all the time, but I think I'm pathetic at making up sentences.

I'm a pretty shy person. I'm a motor mouth with people I know, but tend to stay a bit of a loner when on my own with strangers.

I'd be going on this course by myself, so I'm wondering if I'd get any use out of it.

If I went, I'd like to stay with an Irish speaking family as well as attending the course, but I'm afraid I'd probably just stay in my room, so I wouldn't make use of their fluency anyway.

Do you think these courses are popular with adults (I'm 27). Do you know what sort of level they're geared towards? There are full week courses, or weekend courses available.
Obviously the weekend course would suit me much better, but do you think I'd get any benefit out of such a short time?

So basically, I'm looking for any opinions whatsoever.

what ye think?

dame

My aunt went on one of those courses last year. She lives abroad and wanted to brush up on her Irish since she hasn't had much opportunity to use it since she moved away. She found the course great. As far as I know there was stuff organised in the evenings, social type stuff. Don't worry about being shy. Just go there with the attitude of "I'm here to speak Irish" and do it. Nobody will be expecting you to make friends for life or anything and everybody will be in the same boat there, all strangers. Remember too that you're probably never going to meet the same people again so who cares what sort of an impression you make really.

Go for it, make the most of it and have all the fun you can!

BoozyBabe

Thanks Dame.

I'm just afraid that my level of Irish isn't up to scratch, & I'll spend my time being completely oblivious to what's going on.

I mean, the course will be completely crap to me if it's like "Ta mo mháthair sa carr", "BB is ainm dom", etc, but also, if it gets in any way advanced at all I feel like I'll be lost.

I just don't know what level I'm actually at.

dame

In that case I reckon you should go for a more advanced class. You might as well stretch yourself! Personally I'd think that a more advanced class for a week would do a whole lot more good than an intermediate one for a weekend. Even if you were slightly lost for a day or two you'd soon find yourself picking it up and learning new things to add to your vocabulary. The teachers are there to help and I'm sure would be happy to explain complicated phrases.

I went to an advanced french course in a university for a month one summer. My french really wasn't up to scratch at all when I went but you'd be surprised how you start tuning in when everything is explained in the language and everybody there is speaking it.

dranoel

I'd recommend Oideas Gael in Glencolmcille. I was there last year. They had six different levels. You choose which one you want to go in. The beauty of it is that if you find the level too easy/difficult you simply move class suit yourself - there's no hassle at all.

As for accommodation I stayed in the 'on-campus' accommodation - which is a hostel behind the college. There was about 10 others staying there with varying levels of Irish so it was very easy to make new friends.

John Player

babe even if u go and dont have an ioata about whats going on youll still pick up the odd few words and remind yourself of more that you didnt know before going.

ps walk imbeirtini on the road

francie82

hey im 28 and i have ordinary level irish from my leaving cert....i would like to spend 1 if not 2 weeks in the gaeltacht preferably in galway.........

any recommendations or details of courses for this year

craoltoir

Reachtáileann Coláiste na hOllscoile i nGaillimh cúrsaí do dhaoine fásta. Féach anseo:

http://www.nuigalway.ie/acadamh/cursai/dianchursai_gaeilge/index.html

Details of this years courses are not on-line yet.

deise go deo

Gael Linn run a Conversational Course in Mayo for intermediate level students.


Gael Linn

aimsirbia

francie82 wrote: »

hey im 28 and i have ordinary level irish from my leaving cert....i would like to spend 1 if not 2 weeks in the gaeltacht preferably in galway.........

any recommendations or details of courses for this year

more wondering... i'm going to be an external candidate for the oral in April, am interested to know whether readers think it'll be worthwhile to go to a gaeltacht area for two wks, i'd like to live in a bean an ti "setting", i have a a fair bit if irish but become stunned by nerves/am afraid to speak though from mid feb i can hook up with a native speaker for an hour a week luckily. how can one access these hosts in the gaeltacht without doing a course as there are no courses at d moment. i'd be particularly interested in inis oirr but willing to practice anywhere, thanks in advance agus n-eiri an bothar libh

aimsirbia

francie82 wrote: »

hey im 28 and i have ordinary level irish from my leaving cert....i would like to spend 1 if not 2 weeks in the gaeltacht preferably in galway.........

any recommendations or details of courses for this year

hey, i'm going to be an external candidate for the oral in April, am interested to know whether readers think it'll be worthwhile to go to a gaeltacht area for two wks, i'd like to live in a bean an ti "setting", i have a a fair bit if irish but become stunned by nerves/am afraid to speak though from mid feb i can hook up with a native speaker for an hour a week luckily. how can one access these hosts in the gaeltacht without doing a course as there are no courses at d moment. i'd be particularly interested in inis oirr but willing to practice anywhere, thanks in advance agus n-eiri an bothar libh

Susan Ohanlon

BoozyBabe wrote:

Just wondering if any of ye have been on one of these, or what do you think it'd be like?

I noticed there's adult Irish courses being run in Glencolmcille in Donegal during the summer.

I'm trying to learn Irish on my own. I'm finding that I'm greatly improving at reading Irish (Thought still nothing outrageously complicated), not great at understanding spoken Irish unless it's slow & relatively basic, I've a pretty good vocabulary of words which is improving all the time, but I think I'm pathetic at making up sentences.

I'm a pretty shy person. I'm a motor mouth with people I know, but tend to stay a bit of a loner when on my own with strangers.

I'd be going on this course by myself, so I'm wondering if I'd get any use out of it.

If I went, I'd like to stay with an Irish speaking family as well as attending the course, but I'm afraid I'd probably just stay in my room, so I wouldn't make use of their fluency anyway.

Do you think these courses are popular with adults (I'm 27). Do you know what sort of level they're geared towards? There are full week courses, or weekend courses available.
Obviously the weekend course would suit me much better, but do you think I'd get any benefit out of such a short time?

So basically, I'm looking for any opinions whatsoever.

what ye think?

I'm just back from 2 weeks in gleanncolmcille and while I was nervous about going on my own it was grand. Most folk were in there own with such diverse cultures. Would absolutely recommend

claire kiernan

Hi Susan what was the general program for the day? was there classes morning and afternoon and activities arranged in the evening in Gleanncolmcille?