Northern girl in southern teaching?

Iyees

Hi all
Hoping someone may be able to help with some questions I have..

I am northern Irish with no formal irish language qualifications.

What would I need to have in irish language to be accepted on an undergraduate course in primary teaching?

Are there exceptions at all?

Is it ever possible to study and sit the irish exams AFTER entry on this course?

For someone with no irish language skills would it be near impossible to get up to a suitable standard??

I have A levels in Religion, english literature, fre
nch language and literature, and history. I have GCSEs in higher maths, triple award science, geography, history, engish literature, english language, french and religion.(all A+ - C grades, mainly As and some Bs)

Any help you can provide is more than appreciated, thanks in advance.

Iyees.
How do these qualifications translate? are they enough for primary?

dory

You need Irish, there are no exceptions. Quite similar to how there is no exception to knowing French in France to teach their little ones.

You've already learned two languages (French and English) so no, I wouldn't say it's impossible. If you want to work in Ireland you could also train in the UK and then pass a test to prove your level of Irish.

im invisible

Iyees wrote: »

For someone with no irish language skills would it be near impossible to get up to a suitable standard??

Oh, id say it is.

I mean most of us who have been learning it all through school only have a very basic understanding of it. It must be one of the most difficult languages in the world to learn

Micilin Muc

im invisible wrote: »

Oh, id say it is.

I mean most of us who have been learning it all through school only have a very basic understanding of it. It must be one of the most difficult languages in the world to learn

It's not, it's just badly taught. I've recently met an Englishman who has settled here and wanted to become a primary school teacher. He attended night classes over 3 years, worked very hard and got an A1 in his Leaving Cert Higher Level Irish. He proceeded to beat over 900 applicants to get a place on a Graduate Diploma in a teacher-training college and is now working as a teacher.

There are plenty of places all over Ireland in which you can learn Irish. It's much easier to learn Irish if you put your mind to it and not rely on it being spoon-fed to you. PM if you want info on where to attend classes.

dory

im invisible wrote: »

Oh, id say it is.

I mean most of us who have been learning it all through school only have a very basic understanding of it. It must be one of the most difficult languages in the world to learn

It's absolutely not! There's a Dutch man who moved to Galway in the mid 90's and now has two books published in Irish. Just about every language has been called, 'The hardest language in the world' at some stage. Fact is they're all learnable, if they weren't they'd have died out.

implausible

im invisible wrote: »

It must be one of the most difficult languages in the world to learn

People say the same about English! If you have an aptitude for languages and the motivation to learn, it is certainly do-able. You could find a local night class or conversation group to give yourself a start.

catweasel10

if you're near Belfast, you should be able to take A level Irish at BMC. GSCE Irish mightn't be enough to get you onto a HDip (PGCE), though I'm open to correction on that one. If you want to get onto an Undergrad teaching course down South, you will almost definitely need A level Irish. I'm not too sure if it's still the same, but when I did my leaving Cert, you needed Honours Irish without exception. There are informal conversation classes in some of the pubs in Belfast, I think it might be Madden's at the bck of Castlecourt and I think An Droichead on the Ormeau Road runs classes, as does the Culturlann on the Falls. It won't be as easy a language to learn as French, but it's certainly not impossible if you put in the effort!

cruizer101

I might be wrong here but I think there is a test you can do for some of the teacher training colleges in Irish, instead of having to sit a leaving cert. This might be a far easier option, I think it mainly an oral test. But yeah at the end of the day you'll have to learn Irish, not really too hard if you put in a good bit of effort, Best thing anyway is to contact the colleges ask them what are the requirements and your options.

Dionysus

cruizer101 wrote: »

I might be wrong here but I think there is a test you can do for some of the teacher training colleges in Irish, instead of having to sit a leaving cert. This might be a far easier option, I think it mainly an oral test. But yeah at the end of the day you'll have to learn Irish, not really too hard if you put in a good bit of effort, Best thing anyway is to contact the colleges ask them what are the requirements and your options.

Instead of Leaving Cert Irish, you can do the Dioplóma sa Ghaeilge Fheidhmeach (or its similarly named equivalents), over two years part-time at night. It's available in UU, UCD, NUIM, UL and UCC.

Details here

IRWolfie-

I also came from the North to study in the Republic. You don't need any Irish at all, you apply for an exception. (Unless things have changed in the last 4 years)

I see this is about primary school teaching, I thought it was about university courses in general which you don't need Irish for.

I'm afraid you 100% cannot apply for a place in primary teaching,either degree or postgrad,unless you have a minimum of grade C3 in Higher Level Irish. Going by your good a A level standard,you would probably have say the 'points' to get into the course,it's extremely competitive down here and always attracts a high number and calibre of applicants both for the BEd degrees and postgrads. That's in spite of the fact that jobs are extremely scarce down here as the market is saturated with qualified teachers and many are emigrating to the UK and further afield for work. Having said that, you could train in the UK and if you're lucky to get a job here,you apply to sit an exam called the SCG to test your level of Irish and u get 5years to pass it,so no,it's not impossible. Many non native primary teachers are working away down here having done it.

Lockstep

dory wrote: »

It's absolutely not! There's a Dutch man who moved to Galway in the mid 90's and now has two books published in Irish. Just about every language has been called, 'The hardest language in the world' at some stage. Fact is they're all learnable, if they weren't they'd have died out.

+1

There's a Flemish friend of mine in Belgium who has fluent Irish which he taught himself and from a summer in a Gaeltacht course for adults. He's even appeared on TnaG a few times.


It's definetly possible.

Fuinseog

Iyees wrote: »

Hi all
Hoping someone may be able to help with some questions I have..

I am northern Irish with no formal irish language qualifications.

What would I need to have in irish language to be accepted on an undergraduate course in primary teaching?

Are there exceptions at all?

Is it ever possible to study and sit the irish exams AFTER entry on this course?

For someone with no irish language skills would it be near impossible to get up to a suitable standard??

I have A levels in Religion, english literature, fre
nch language and literature, and history. I have GCSEs in higher maths, triple award science, geography, history, engish literature, english language, french and religion.(all A+ - C grades, mainly As and some Bs)

Any help you can provide is more than appreciated, thanks in advance.

Iyees.
How do these qualifications translate? are they enough for primary?

while you will get the sympathy vote from a lot of southeners for not being able to speak Irish , you really have to comply with the rules of the state you want to work in.
I would not sent my kids to a school that was unwilling to teach Irish.