Irish Oral Help!

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I had an oral on Friday unexpectedly (in the middle of a Colscaradh test) and it went so bad.

I ****ed up the Beannu, I got a Sraith Pictiur I had learned a few weeks ago, but I forgot everything and I had no phrases, or seanfhocals and I had nothing to say about myself or my family.

I got 14% out of 40% which is just terrible - I just completley blanked out under the pressure and I'm afraid thats going to happen in April too.

Does anybody have any tips for me? Would grinds (speaking irish with a person for 30 minutes or whatever) work? I think it's the fear of doing it than anything else. I have trouble forming sentances in Irish (I always think of French formation as it's the same way as English) so I just rely on handouts from the teacher.

Can anyone help me?

Grab All Association

Tip. Get one your class mates on Skype and practice speaking Irish face to face together. In April go in and think of it as a conversation not an exam. The only Irish I know is what I have learned on the trains.

Lara_15

You were probably just under prepared seeing as it was a surprise oral.

I would start learning the sraiths now, take 1 a week and learn them well... I left mine to the last minute and I ended up really stressed coming up to the exams.

I did my LC last year and for the comhrá I cut A4 pages in half to make flashcards and took one flashcard per topic (mé féin, mo cheantar etc). Fill each flashcard with a few good sentences on the topic and ask your teacher to correct them to make sure you arent learning off mistakes (shouldnt be a problem if youre teacher is decent). That half page should be more than enough because examiners tend to cut you off quite a lot.
I would also write out a few modh coinnealach sentances and think of where you can bring them into the conversation yourself, this leaves you less liable to a surprise modh coinnealach question you might not know the answer to from the examiner (not always the case but worth the try) e.g. if they ask for your opinion on irish answer her and then say "Dá mbeinn i mo taoiseach........." then say something about investing money in TG4 or something.

You should also think about what topics tie in with eachother, because you can really lead the conversation, if you bring something up in passing the examiner is likely to ask you about it. Pick one topic that you can speak alot about, prepare a piece on it and then think of how it ties in with other topics e.g. say you play soccer, you can bring it up when youre talking about your school (sports facilities are good which you like because youre very sporty) your area (football pitch in your area) your passtimes (obvious reasons) what you did last weekend/ what youre doing next weekend/ what you do when you get home from school (training) what you did last summer/are doing next summer (make up that you went on a trip with your football team) etc. etc.

If you struggle to form sentences, I think your best bet is learning off notes for the sraiths and the comhrá, kills me to say it but you gotta work the system.

It really isn't as bad as you would expect it to be, most of the examiners are really nice and understanding about how nervous you are.

I wouldnt bother with grinds but thats just me, I'm pretty against grinds in general and I believe that if you put the work in yourself you'll get there. But do practice with friends as much as possible.

Thats all I can think of now anyways but let me know if you have any questions