Best way to learn LC Irish?

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Looking at the thread 13 years of Irish, it's evident that many are dissatisfied with the current system of the education of the Irish language.

I like Irish, but I find it hard to learn seeing how everything is done in Irish - Essays, Poems, etc are explained in Irish only.

This is unlike the education of other language subjects like French were there is some English to aid you.

With this Irish-only system in place, what do you think is the best way of learning LC Irish?

dlofnep

Firstly - the LC examination system for Irish needs to be changed. they have plans to focus more marks for the spoken aspect, but the curriculum itself must change to reflect that and focus more on speaking it.

If you want to learn Irish, get yourself into a conversational group while you wait for this mess to be resolved.

cocoa

here's a crazy idea, try learning irish... no idea what this 'LC irish' you speak of is...

PurpleFistMixer

Aye, LC Irish isn't your everyday Irish. Learning the language is different to learning the course. A lot of your time doing the LC course will be taken up by poetry and other literature which is mostly fact learning, which you will then express through Irish. The best way to learn that is the same as you study any other subject which has facts to be learned. In my case, summarising everything into bullet points which are easy to recall and which you can expand upon.

I suspect though that your question is asking us more to focus on what is the best way to teach Irish, or really, how would we change the Irish education system. As dlofnep said, emphasis on spoken Irish (oral exam for the JC?), less emphasis on Irish literature. Maybe we could have electives for LC level, where you can choose to focus on literature, composition, or spoken (sort of like music electives - listening, composition, performance) but of course where there are core elements of all of these already. IMO grammar is an essential building block for learning a language, and essential grammar should be laid down by JC level (NOUNS HAVE GENDERS, DAMNIT) and expanded upon at LC, but by this point such emphasis would ideally be less essential and something a person could explore further should they choose to do the composition elective.
Oh, and some (more) folklore would be lovely. Perhaps the core literature section could be folklore, and the elective literature could be modern texts, or vice versa.
And yeah, the spoken elective would be a copout easy points grabbing yoke for people from Irish-speaking families, but let's be honest, Irish in general already is. And providing an opportunity for potentially easy points if you're fluent in the language, well, I think that's a good incentive to be fluent.

rgcuan

Things are changing, but slowly.

In the meantime, try to catch up on all the contemporary developments in the language - the things that are cool but that you don't hear about in school - and it might help as stimulation.

For example, the new youth radio station Raidió Rí Rá, the sexy new mag nós*, the cool t-shirts that are out there, Samsung's Tocco, Firefox as Gaeilge etc, srl.

gaybitch

Best thing you'll ever do is go to a strict Gaeltacht. Seriously.

JSK 252

PurpleFistMixer wrote: »

IMO grammar is an essential building block for learning a language, and essential grammar should be laid down by JC level (NOUNS HAVE GENDERS, DAMNIT) and expanded upon at LC, but by this point such emphasis would ideally be less essential and something a person could explore further should they choose to do the composition elective.

They had a grammar section in the old lc irish course before 2000. Dont understand why they got rid of it.

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gaybitch wrote: »

Best thing you'll ever do is go to a strict Gaeltacht. Seriously.

I'm actually going to a (non-strict) Gaeltacht in a few days! Been there a few times already.

I'm OK at Irish itself. I just don't know how to learn all the poems, stories, etc.

gaybitch

Same way you do with English poems and stories - you just learn the themes, vocab to go along with the general storyline etc. You'll be grand, Paper 2 isn't as hard as all that, and it doesn't count for a shocking amount either. Learn the stories well the first time, try to understand the plot and characters, and it will definitely fall into place no prob!

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Back from Gaeltacht...

I've been given the advice to learn off the stories and poems well. I should also have good knowledge of sayings.

dlofnep

How did you get on, did you enjoy yourself? How has your conversational Irish come along?

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dlofnep wrote: »

How did you get on, did you enjoy yourself? How has your conversational Irish come along?

It was great thanks! Not my first time there now.. I go there mostly for the craic!

I'm OK at Irish in general but I've been told that you don't even need to be great at Irish to get an A in LC Irish. As long as you learn of the stories and poems you'll do well.