BA in Irish: Acquiring a language at 37. Possible?

Seanchai

I'm 37 and a qualified teacher. However, I'm not having any luck getting a job with my existing secondary-school teaching subjects. From my undergrad years ago, I have First Year Irish - a basic pass - but I found it tough, tougher than my other two subjects so I dropped it at the end of First Year. On the other hand I didn't put the work in and was happy to just pass all three subjects in that particular year.

My predicament now is that if I go back and do two more years for the BA in Irish, I should have a much better chance of securing a permanent job (I would be able to teach in meánscoileanna also).

In real terms, I will need to attain fluency as obviously I will be teaching Irish. In reality, I'm pretty much starting from scratch with my knowledge of Irish as I haven't used it in years (and it was never good to begin with). I have no other language to my name other than English. Just how hard is it to acquire fluency in a second language at my age? Does anybody know of any techniques/learning methods etc which could help me reach my goal?


Thanks.

djcervi

You can if you put your mind to it. Learning a language involves discipline, but that isn't going to motivate you alone to learn Irish. You need to have an interest in not only the language but the culture it represents. If you have this you will want to learn the language. If I were you I would try and find out about Irish language exchanges in your local library. Maybe even a spell in the Gaeltacht for a few days and cúpla focail with local gaeilgeoirí, that would give you a passion to learn the language, by experiencing it in its social context. Also when learning languages never be afraid to make mistakes and learn from them. Irish grammar takes some getting used to, but as they say 'tús maith leath na hoibre' (A good start is half the battle)

Look into courses as well, they could be also a good starter. Good luck!

Vinoveritas

Hi, fair play for taking the initiative to give the gaeilge another go. There are countless online resources that you can access free of charge - if you feel the need to build your confidence/become reacquainted with the language before rejoining the classroom. One that I am aware of is: http://abairleat.lurgan.biz/moodle/registerAndLogin.html
which is the site developed by Colaiste Lurgan in association with the bold Des Bishop. Definitely, if you get the chance you should investigate classes within the gaelteacht itself. Another site worth checking out - and definitely one that will be able to point you in the right direction is Cumann na Gaeilge: http://www.cnag.ie/
Cheers
VV

miss5

My boyfriends neighbour actually did this and found it tough at first but
really worked hard and did really well in it, I think you should go for it
and it will definetly improve your chances of securing full time employment.