Scoil Gaeilge Vancouver (Irish School Vancouver)
Gaeilge: The Irish Language.
- What is Irish?
- The Irish language known in Irish as Gaeilge, has been spoken in Ireland for over 2000 years. Irish, a Celtic language, is a close relative of Scottish Gaelic and Manx, and is also related to Welsh, Breton and Cornish. Over 70,000 people speak Irish as their native language, while a much larger number speak the language with various degrees of fluency. An area of Ireland where Irish is the predominant language is called a “Gaeltacht”. There are significant Gaeltacht areas in Counties Donegal, Mayo, Galway, Kerry, Cork and Waterford.
- What Irish language activities are there in Vancouver?
- Scoil Gaelige Vancouver, formed in 2007, offers evening courses at beginning and intermediate levels for wanting to learn or improve their Irish. These include courses for people with no previous knowledge. For more information contact:
- gaeilvancouver@gmail.com
- oser@phas.ubc.ca
- brendanflynn_1@hotmail.com
- conordoreilly@gmail.com
- For more advanced speakers, a “Ciorcal Comhrá” (Conversation Circle) takes place on Monday nights. For more information contact Scot Oser at oser@phas.ubc.ca
- What is happening with the Irish language in Ireland?
- The language has been undergoing a rebirth in Ireland. An Irish language TV station TG4 has been broadcasting since 1996. In the recent Election in Ireland, TG4 hosted a political debate in Irish between the leaders of all the major political parties. Other Irish language media include radio stations like Raidio na Gaeltachta, Raidio na Life and Raidio Fáilte and newspapers like Foinse, Gaelscéal agus Nuacht 24. Hundreds of new books are published each year in Irish. Vicipéid (Wikipedia in Irish) has over 12,000 articles.
- A tremendous boost for the Irish language has been the growth of the Gaelscoileanna, Irish Immersion schools which educate students entirely in Irish, very similar to French Immersion schools in Canada. There are over 300 primary schools and over 70 secondary schools in Ireland that teach entirely in Irish. The number of students attending these schools has grown by a large factor in the last 15 years, as people have discovered that the students not only come out speaking fluent Irish but also have improved academic performances across the board.
- The Irish language, along with English and Mathematics, is a mandatory school subject. During the recent election, it was proposed to change the learning of Irish from a mandatory to an optional subject for the Ardteist (High School Leaving Certificate). The proposal was met with significant public opposition and protests. The issue has been quietly delayed indefinitely “for more study”.
- In fact, the Irish Government has agreed to an ambitious Straitéis Fiche Bliain (Twenty Year Strategy) to strengthen the Irish language. The plan, adopted with cross party support, aims to increase the number of people who speak Irish daily outside of the schools systems to 250,000.
- Finally, Scoil Gaeilge Vancouver is delighted to announce revised rates for the new session as follows:
- Leanann an cúrsa 10 seachtaine, le costas de $130 le haghaidh an téarma. Rachaidh cuid de na táillí scoile ar son Shéadchomhartha na hÉireann is Cheanada.
Each course lasts 10 weeks, with a cost of $130 for the term. - A portion of the fees will go towards the Ireland Canada Monument.
The teachers at Scoil Gaeilge are Scot Orser, Advanced Class and Conor O’Reilly Beginners Class. - Le meas. (Regards,)
- Scoil Gaeilge Vancouver. (Irish School Vancouver)
Breis is 100 duine ag Tráth na gCeist i Vancouver, Ceanada
D’fhreastail breis is 100 duine ar “Tráth na gCeist” a reachtáil Scoil Ghaeilge Vancouver ar 19ú Márta ag Tom Lee Music Hall i Vancouver, Ceanada. Is mar chuid d’imeachtaí Celticfest Vancouver a cuireadh an ócáid seo ar siúl.
“Do hiarradh orm ócáid a shocrú don Celticfest Vancouver le haghaidh sheachtain La Fhéile Pádraig. Ni dhearna an coiste ócáid Ghaeilge i Vancouver cheana agus bhí siad ag iarraidh scéal nua a chur sa
sceideal i mbliana de thoradh fás Scoil Gaeilge Vancouver le blianta beaga anuas,” arsa Conchúr Ó Reilly, múinteoir Gaeilge de chuid Scoil Ghaeilge Vancouver. “Leis sin, thosaigh mé ag ullmhú Tráth na gCeistagus faoi dheireadh tháinig timpeall céad duine agus de réir dealraimh, ba í an ócáid is mó in iarthar Ceanada riamh, agus tá seans gurb é an Trath na gCeist is mó lasmuigh d’Éirinn freisin. Bheinn an-bhródúil as, más fírinne ata ann.” “Nuair a dúirt Conchúr liom cad a bhí i gceist aige,” arsa Scott Oser, múinteoir eile, “cheapas go n-éireodh linn dá dtiocfadh fiche duine. Dhein Conchúr éacht chun daoine a mhealladh isteach, duaiseanna a lorg ósna tithe tábhairne agus siopaí Éireannacha sa chathair, agus na himeachtaí go léir a stiúradh.”
Is iad múinteoirí Scoil Ghaeilge Vancouver, Conchúr, Scott, agus Síle Ní Chéidigh, a d’eagraigh an ócáid. Bhí aon fhoireann déag sa chomórtas, agus cuireadh gach ceist faoi dhó, ar dtús i nGaeilge ansin arís i mBéarla. Má bhí an freagra ceart ag foireann i ndiaidh an leagan Gaeilge, bronnadh 20 pointe uirthi. B’fhiú 10 bpointe aon
fhreagra ceart a tháinig i ndiaidh an leagan Béarla. Éagsúlacht ábhar a bhí sna ceisteanna, idir stair na hÉireann is stair Cheanada, ceol, cúrsaí reatha, spóirt, srl.
“Ceann desna gnéithe is deise den chomórtas ná an tslí a bhí ar na himreoirí oibriú le chéile chun teacht suas leis na freagraí. Uaireanta bhí daoine áirithe ar na foirne le neart Gaeilge acu, ach is ag daoine eile a bhí na freagraí. Agus bhí ceisteanna ann a bhí deacair d’Éireannaigh ach simplí go leor do Cheanadaigh. Ní nach ionadh go
raibh an bua ag foireann a raibh idir Cheanadaigh agus Éireannaigh uirthi,” arsa Oser.
Reachtálann Scoil Ghaeilge Vancouver bunrang and meánrang Gaeilge gach seachtain, mar aon le Ciorcal Comhrá do dhaoine le cumas Maith labhartha. Tá sé mar aidhm ag an Scoil achmhainní agus deiseanna a
chur ar fáil d’imircigh ó Éirinn agus do Cheanadaigh araon Gaeilge d’fhoghlaim agus a úsáid chomh fada agus is féidir.
Chun a thuilleadh eolais d’fháil téir i dteagmháil le Conchúr Ó Reilly
(gimmesheltercor@hotmail.com) nó Scott Oser (oser@phas.ubc.ca).
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More than 100 people at “Tráth na gCeist” i Vancouver, Canada
More than 100 people attended “Tráth na gCeist”, a trivia contest held in Irish, organized by Scoil Ghaeilge Vancouver on March 19 at Tom Lee Music Hall in Vancouver, Canada. The event was put on as part of the activities of Celticfest Vancouver.
“I was asked to arrange an event for Celticfest Vancouver for the week of St. Patrick’s Day. Their committee had not done an Irisih language event in Vancouver previously and they wanted to put something new in
the schedule this year as a result of the growth of Scoil Ghaeilge Vancouver in the past few years,” said Conor O’Reilly, an Irish teacher at Scoil Ghaeilge Vancouver. “So I began preparing `Tráth na gCeist’ and in the end around 100 people came and it seems that this was the biggest Irish language event in western Canada ever, and maybe it was the biggest `Tráth na gCeist’ ever outside of Ireland as well. I would be very proud if that’s really the case.”
“When Conor told me what he had in mind,” said Scott Oser, one of the other teachers, “I thought we’d be successful if 20 people came. Conor did a great feat to coax people to come, to set prizes from the
Irish taverns and shops in the city, and to organize all of the happenings.”
The event was organized by the teachers of Scoil Ghaeilge Vancouver: Conor, Scott, and Síle Ní Chéidigh. There were 11 teams in the competition, and each question was asked twice, first in Irish and then again in English. If a team had the right answer after the Irish version, it received 20 points. A correct answer given after hearing the English version of the question was worth 10 points. The questions covered a variety of topics, including Irish and Canadian history, music, current events, sports, etc.
“One of the nicest aspects of the competition was the way that the players had to work together to come up with the answers. Sometimes certain people on the teams had a lot of Irish, but other people had the answers. And there were questions that were hard for Irish people that were easy for Canadians. It’s no wonder that the winning team had both Irish and Canadian members,” said Oser.
Scoil Ghaeilge Vancouver runs basic and intermediate Irish classes each week, along with a conversation circle for people with good speaking ability. The school aims to make resources and opportunities available to Irish immigrants and to Canadians for learning Irish and for using it as much as they can.
For more information contact Conor Ó Reilly
(gimmesheltercor@hotmail.com) or Scott Oser (oser@phas.ubc.ca).