More to Irish than chalk and talk

 

PUPILS at Gaelscoil na bhFilí in Gort recently welcomed children from Gaelscoileanna in Ennis and Galway City to join them for a sports and interactive open day.

Over the two-day event, children used interactive white boards and iPads to learn and experience digital story telling.

Technology workshops allowed the children to use Photostory, record songs and create an ebook, which included video and sound. The children also competed in a hurling and football blitz. In the art classes, the children designed and made their own Hallowe’en masks.

Principal Bríd Ní Dhochartaigh described the two-day event as a positive learning experience for all the children involved and stressed the importance of building links with other schools in the promotion of Irish as a living language.
“The children had an absolutely fantastic time and the adults who came in couldn’t believe how proficient the children were at using iPads and how they had no hesitation in embracing technology,” she commented.

“We held the event to promote Irish and learning through Irish and to promote the new techniques in learning language. It is not all just chalk and talk, Irish can be brought into the modern age too. We wanted the children to be able to use Irish as a living language with children their own age with similar backgrounds in Gaelscoileanna”.

While Gaelscoil na bhFilí had not previously organised or attended an event similar to this, Ms Ní Dhochartaigh believes it is something that should be continued.

“It is definitely worth building relationships with other schools and keeping it up. The most important thing is that the link is maintained and built on. This type of networking means that the children, when they meet at other things in the future, have built up a bit of camaraderie. This is about keeping Irish as a living language and developing the process of learning it.

“The main focus of the event was that the learning would be child driven and not teacher focused, making the child the centre of his or her own learning. The results on the day and allowing the children to take responsibility for their own learning, showed that motivation increased and then learning increased too. It was a really fun process whereby they got to explore technology and at the end of it made an ebook demonstrating their new skills.”

Ms Ní Dhochartaigh pointed out that there are a variety of apps available for people interested in learning or bettering their Irish. She highlighted the TG4 app as one that the children particularly enjoyed.

“We are very lucky here in the school to have the iPads and interactive white boards. The parents’ association have filled the gaps after all the budget cuts. Without them, we wouldn’t have this kind of technology. The two-day event would not have been possible without the great commitment of the parents’ association, the board of management and the teachers here. Needless to say, organising this sort of thing takes a great deal of planning and preparation and that does not happen between 9am and 3pm. Everyone involved has shown great commitment and positivity,” Ms Ní Dhochartaigh concluded.