Important: Participants in this course will not be entitled to EPV days upon completion of the course.
This course is aimed at primary school teachers who are teaching 5th and/or 6th class. It is suitable for teachers who don’t feel confident speaking Irish and who wish, therefore, to develop their skills in the language. The course is bilingual - each sentence in Irish is translated into English.

Although we would encourage you to use as much Irish as possible in your answers, you can use English if you need to.

The main objectives of the course are:

• to teach the core vocabulary and grammar relating to the themes of the curriculum through enjoyable interactive activities, including role play activities;
• to give teachers the opportunity to develop their listening and speaking skills;
• to enable teachers to use Irish accurately and confidently in their teaching and in their communication with pupils;
• to give teachers an opportunity to share practical ideas and activities for the classroom with each other in the course discussion forum.

Important: Although there are many examples of conversational activities given in this course and many practical ideas for activities of this kind available in the course forum, ‘Practical Irish for Primary School Teachers’ is primarily a language course rather than a course on methodology.

Author

This course was written by Siobhán Patten.

Module 1 - Mé féin and Sa bhaile

• Conversations, vocabulary, useful phrases and grammar relating to these themes
• Language functions: social interaction; giving and looking for information

Module 2 - Bia and Siopadóireacht

• Conversations, vocabulary, useful phrases and grammar relating to these themes
• Language functions: giving and seeking opinions

Module 3 - Caitheamh aimsire and An teilifís

• Conversations, vocabulary, useful phrases and grammar relating to these themes
• Language functions: influencing other people

Module 4 - An aimsir and Éadaí

• Conversations, vocabulary, useful phrases and grammar relating to these themes
• Language functions: looking for clarification in conversation

Module 5 - Ar scoil and Ócáidí speisialta

• Conversations, vocabulary, useful phrases and grammar relating to these themes
• Language functions: giving structure to a conversation

There are five modules in this course and each module contains a mixture of grammatical explanation, useful vocabulary, conversations and exercises.

All the exercises are interactive. Once you have completed an exercise, you can then click on the ‘Seol’ (Send) button and receive feedback immediately. You’ll be told which answers were correct and which were incorrect, and you’ll be given the correct answers and a score.

At the beginning of each module, you’re told what the focus of that module is.

In order to move from one screen to another, all you have to do is click on the arrows which appear on the left-hand side (to go back) or on the right-hand side (to go forward), at the top and bottom of each screen. You can also click on any line of text under the words PLEAN AN AONAID on the left-hand side of the screen in order to access another part of the module.

On the last page of each module, an leathanach scoir, you’re given an overview of the work that you’ve done in that module and your total score for the module. You’re given several choices as well: to continue to the next module, to redo the module you’ve just completed, or go back to the very beginning of the course.

Forum

A discussion forum will be provided for Practical Irish for Primary School Teachers. In this forum, teachers will answer the interactive question at the end of each module, as well as the reflective question at the very end of the course.

Those registered for the course will also have an opportunity to contact other teachers through the discussion forum. They will be able to send messages, ask and discuss questions, and express ideas.

When can I begin the course?

Immediately! Students study the course independently of a teacher. This means that you can improve your Irish in the office or from the comfort of your home, at your own pace, and at whatever time suits you.

What happens if I have a question?

Write it on the forum! You’ll be able to contact other learners through this discussion forum. You can send messages, ask and answer questions, and express ideas there. Members of the Gaelchultúr team keep an eye on the forum, so they’ll be able to answer any tricky questions.