Should Irish be optional after Junior Cert?

deise go deo · 27-07-2010 10:32am

Well it looks like thats where we are headed anyway, what you suggested is broadly in line with Fine Gael policy, I guess I just see it as the thin end of the wedge so to speak.

MathsManiac · 27-07-2010 11:18am

Ah, but Fine Gael policy at the tail end of 2005, when this thread started, might not be FG policy in 2011 or 2012. And things have a habit of getting a bit more complicated when you get into government!

deise go deo · 27-07-2010 11:21am

MathsManiac wrote: »

Ah, but Fine Gael policy at the tail end of 2005, when this thread started, might not be FG policy in 2011 or 2012. And things have a habit of getting a bit more complicated when you get into government!

True but there will be quite a few angry people if they dont do anything with it, almoast anything would be better than it is now.

Krusader · 27-07-2010 12:08pm

If FG tried to make Irish optional, there would be protests on the streets, the Irish speaking community are strong and passion about the language

Ní neart go cur le chéile!

snooleen · 05-08-2010 1:17pm

The Irish course is being changed for both Leaving and Junior cert! I'm not completely sure about this but know for definite that the oral will be 40%, which I was delighted to hear. If students actually learn how to apeak Irish, they'll have great craic. Probably 90% of students who have gone to the Gaeltacht come back with a new passion for Irish, or at least for speaking it. Imagine the difference in grades, a lot of people with a good grasp of the language and no knowledge of poetry or stories would have 30-40% already in the bag with the oral! And as I've just done my LC, I can say from experience that the people who went and just learned off a big trawl for every possible question will be absolutely screwed. In class these people would struggle as our teacher often asked them a strange unexpected question in practise like, 'describe your shoes' or something like that which sounds quite simple, but these people panicked and struggled with the question. I'm not saying that it's a good thing that these people will either have more to learn off or else won't do as well in the oral as they could have, but it's great that it gives others with a natural talent more ability to succeed. These learny-offy people can learn off everything else in the other parts! eg. poetry, essay vocab!