What subject to add?

Heydeldel

Thinking about picking up another subject - I'm just English at the mo so will have to for employment sake.

What would be a good combination with English? I'm interested in a language, maybe French, Irish, or German? I was pretty decent at languages in school, but that's a long time ago now!

What subjects are in demand?

Crazyteacher

Irish would be brilliant to add on. How did you get on in at school ? Irish subs are hard to come by. Some have did it through the hdip in arts with ucd.

Heydeldel

I did honors at school and was good at it. I'd love to be more proficient in it anyway so that could be a good choice. Plus having been taught it badly in school, I think I know why kids dislike it, or find it confusing.

Thanks for the feedback.

Miss Lockhart

Irish would be a fantastic option. It's a compulsory subject for a start so demand is there. And the TC requirement to spend time living with the language will involve the Gaeltacht which may be more doable than living abroad - though that will depend on personal circumstances of course.

The drawbacks to consider would be that it will not increase employability abroad (may not bother you and your other subject will likely suffice in the UK) and the chance that it may be made non-compulsory in the future (seems to be all talk for the moment though).

French would also be a pretty good second subject though. It's a very popular LC choice.

rainbowtrout

Isn't there a requirement for a foreign language that you have to have spent time living in that country to meet TC requirements? That could create difficulties for German qualification. I seem to remember a thread a while back that mtoutlemonde posted about having a dispute for French registration because he/she had not spent a period of time living in France.

From TC website:

The study of German as a major subject in the degree extending over at least three years and of the order of 30% at a minimum of that period
 Details of the degree course content to show that the knowledge and understanding required to teach German to the highest level in post-primary education has been acquired
 The study of a substantial body of relevant literature through the medium of German as an integral part of the degree course supported by the list of authors and texts studied throughout the course
 Residential experience of at least three months in Germany or other country where German is the vernacular
 Explicit details of standards achieved in degree studies in German with at least an overall Pass result in the examinations in German

In practical terms Irish seems to be a better option and having two core subjects can't be a bad thing overall.

Crazyteacher

Three months is easy to clock up over a summer.

Heydeldel

Cheers guys,

I think Irish would be a great subject to have. It's such a shame we all spend so long learning it and end up with only a smidgen.

Powerhouse

Heydeldel wrote: »

Cheers guys,

I think Irish would be a great subject to have. It's such a shame we all spend so long learning it and end up with only a smidgen.

Not all of us end up with 'only a smidgen' to be fair. Some of us were proficient enough after LC to continue its study in University even though we were tauight the same syllabus and through the same system as other students. And plenty of other subjects are 'taught badly' too (it's never the students' fault of course) but very few have almost 40 per cent of those taking it sitting higher level in LC. If Irish could be viewed in the normal way it's not doing too badly at all.

Best of luck in whatever you decide to do but you seem to have a little psychological baggage regarding Irish and might need to deal with that along the way. It's the last thing you need to bring into a classroom.

Heydeldel

Powerhouse wrote: »

Not all of us end up with 'only a smidgen' to be fair. Some of us were proficient enough after LC to continue its study in University even though we were tauight the same syllabus and through the same system as other students. And plenty of other subjects are 'taught badly' too (it's never the students' fault of course) but very few have almost 40 per cent of those taking it sitting higher level in LC. If Irish could be viewed in the normal way it's not doing too badly at all.

Best of luck in whatever you decide to do but you seem to have a little psychological baggage regarding Irish and might need to deal with that along the way. It's the last thing you need to bring into a classroom.

Ok, so generalizations are silly -my bad.

I know out of my peer group in school, most of us are pretty rubbish at Irish after learning it for so long. My French is better - I definitely had a better French teacher. Being a teacher, I think I can look back clearly and note the difference in effort and teaching skills between my Irish and French teachers. I think I know when I was taught a subject badly, it being me that experienced it and all. I am allowed to be totally subjective on that one.

But thanks for your concern.

Powerhouse

Heydeldel wrote: »

Ok, so generalizations are silly -my bad.

I know out of my peer group in school, most of us are pretty rubbish at Irish after learning it for so long. My French is better - I definitely had a better French teacher. Being a teacher, I think I can look back clearly and note the difference in effort and teaching skills between my Irish and French teachers. I think I know when I was taught a subject badly, it being me that experienced it and all. I am allowed to be totally subjective on that one.

But thanks for your concern.

I don't doubt what you say is true, nor could I quibble with your entitlement to subjectivity. I too had my own experiences in school and encountered different types of teachers, and saw different students dealing with different subjects in different ways. Of 80 odd Junior Cert students in my school only about five of us actually took the JC paper on the day in French, because the rest couldn't wait to give it up and would have failed anyway. The funny thing is that I had a very good teacher. She was just casting pearls before swine. That's my personal experience and a subjectivity to which I too am entitled. But I would not draw general principles from that specific set of circumstances - that's all I'm saying. If I were to take general recommendations from the experience of my peer group in school in my time I wouldn't get out of bed.

Broadly speaking the statistics for Irish at LC level are in fact very strong when you take into account the number of weak students who have to do it and struggle at it as they will at every other subject, but who will appear in the Irish statistics - but will have given up, say, French. More people sit Irish at Higher Level at LC than sit French at Higher Level and that is indicative of standard rather than compulsion. Nobody is forced to sit Higher Level. The subject is not doing too badly at all.

Heydeldel

Fair enough, not going to argue anymore.

snowflakess

Hi

I too would be interested in adding another subject. I have maths and applied maths currently.
Do you know of any courses available that would be recognised by the TC?

rainbowtrout

snowflakess wrote: »

Hi

I too would be interested in adding another subject. I have maths and applied maths currently.
Do you know of any courses available that would be recognised by the TC?

depends what you want to teach really

snowflakess

rainbowtrout wrote: »

depends what you want to teach really

Physics? I have already taught it but would like it on my TC cert!

rainbowtrout

snowflakess wrote: »

Physics? I have already taught it but would like it on my TC cert!

Aside from the obvious route of taking a Teaching Council recognised degree, most people find out where their shortfall is in credits and topics and do modules that meet those requirements. There aren't many specific courses out there tailored to meeting TC requirments for add on subjects.

It all depends on how much physics you have in your degree and what your shortfall is. It could be one module, it could be 10.