New approach to teaching Irish

[Harold F. Schiffman]

INTO head urges new approach to teaching Irish

By Niall Murray, Education Correspondent

CHILDREN should not write Irish or learn complicated grammar as Gaeilge
until the end of primary school if the language is to flourish, a teachers
leader suggested last night. Sheila Nunan, president of the Irish National
Teachers Organisation (INTO)  made the proposal as she called for a major
reform of the Irish language curriculum. Speaking at the unions annual
congress in Killarney, Ms Nunan said parents of infant pupils who dont
learn reading or writing in Irish witness their enthusiasm for speaking
the language. She said most families respond by using their own few words
of Irish and learning it becomes a positive experience for pupils at home
and in school.

But this initial enthusiasm withers and dies for both parents and pupils
when the books, spelling and grammar appear on the landscape. It also
affects teacher enthusiasm for the language because they see first hand
how the system itself is set up for failure, said Ms Nunan, who becomes
deputy general secretary this week. She said teachers were previously
forced to impose the Irish language on pupils in a way that fostered
neither a love of the language nor a willingness to use it and todays
teachers are a product of that policy themselves. Despite increased
emphasis on spoken Irish in schools, reading and writing in Irish is still
introduced too far early in most primary schools.  Reading and writing eat
into the time available for speaking the language so oral competency is
compromised, Ms Nunan said.

There should be spoken Irish only in the primary school or at least until
the pupils reach fifth or sixth class. Lets do without textbooks, teach
grammar through everyday usage and curb the enthusiasm to correct every
single spelling mistake for that time, she said. The INTO president said
there must be a national language policy, rather than policy being made in
a reactive manner. She referred, for example, to what she called the
Department of Educations attempts to overturn the long-established
language immersion policy in a Tralee Gaelscoil. The departments
inspectors visited the school three times between last November and
February to examine the policy which was the subject of complaints from
parents, as they feared that infant pupils were receiving no English
tuition.

The schools board of management introduced 15 minutes of English classes
per day for infants last October. The report of the inspectorate is being
considered by Education Minister Mary Hanafin and senior officials, and
may also inform a review of such total immersion language policies being
undertaken by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment.

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