Total immersion is critical if Irish is to be rescued

[Harold Schiffman]

Total immersion is critical if Irish is to be rescued
Mary Hanafin's department has become a pawn for those who wish to
sabotage the language, writes Marc Coleman


Sunday April 13 2008


If you will it, it is no dream. Yes, an Irish- speaking Ireland -- not
exclusively Irish speaking, but bilingual -- can re-emerge. It will
require a unity of vision and willpower that has been lacking in Irish
politics these past few decades. Over a half century ago, Israel
rescued Hebrew from obscurity. It was then a language spoken by a few
thousand persons, but it is now flourishing with around five million
speakers. Hebrew's revival is proof that Ireland can do the same with
Irish.  The signs are hopeful. The incoming Taoiseach, for one, wants
to see the language flourish. Taking the order of business on behalf
of the outgoing Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny
and Labour leader Eamonn Gilmore sustained a good quarter-hour of
leaders' debate in the Dail in Irish.  Another positive sign is the
depoliticisation of Irish. By voting to de-politicise its constitution
in relation to the North, Conradh na nGaeilge has greatly expand its
appeal (stressing the Protestant religion of its founder, Douglas
Hyde, will also reach out to Protestants in the north).

Unfortunately, there are those who are willingly sabotaging this good
work. God knows Mary Hanafin is not one of them. But she has become
their pawn. As she pointed out to me when I interviewed her, she has
done more than many ministers in her brief to promote the language in
secondary school. But secondary school is the last resort for learning
Irish, and if we are to maintain spoken Irish in the Gaeltacht and
beyond, then maintaining the policy of total immersion -- a policy
Hanafin's department is trying to destroy -- is critical.
Before going any further, I should clarify that we are not talking
about plumbing policies west of the Shannon. Immersion -- so called --
is a highly successful policy of educating children in a bilingual
environment. To compensate for hearing one language at home and on TV,
kids are educated totally in another language for the first two or
three years of education before switching to dual language teaching.
The crucial word here is "totally". Until it can compete with the
dominant language around it, Irish must be given a leg up and a
fighting chance in primary school. Introducing any English into those
crucial early years -- as the Department's notorious circular
0044/2007 requires -- defeats the policy.

As Donal O Hanafein of NUI Maynooth has shown, immersion children are
better not just in Irish, but in English as well. Given this evidence,
the Department of Education should be enforcing immersion across the
country. Unfortunately, when it comes to this issue the minister's
policy advisers have little interest in evidence -- and if ever there
was a case of a great minister being given bad and unsupported advice,
this is it. But neither she nor her advisers are responsible for the
root of the problems facing Irish. The first is what can only be
described as a second plantation of the Gaeltacht whereby native Irish
speakers are becoming strangers in our own environment. Ironically,
the Cabinet recently decided to issue a stamp to commemorate the 400th
anniversary of the Plantation of Ulster. Like Conradh na nGaeilge's
decision, it was a generous gesture towards the million Irish
Protestants whose history and origins deserve respect and recognition.
Were a second wave of incomers not threatening the Gaeltacht's
existence, it might be easier to celebrate this commemoration.

Like a glacier, the Gaeltacht has shrunk back to the western fringes
and is in danger of disappearance. Like a glacier, its small size
disguises its huge role in our cultural ecosystem. Its existence feeds
how English is spoken and sung in the rest of the country. Wipe it
out, and Ireland is little more than a culturally lobotomised province
of England, no more culturally different from London than Yorkshire or
Devon. A stalwart of sport, Micheal O Muircheartaigh has also been
promoting Gaelscoileanna since Mary Hanafin was in primary school.
"The Gaeltacht is the remnant of an Irish-speaking Ireland. The
decline began in the east, so every effort should be made to preserve
what is still there. It is far more important to preserve the language
than any of the national monuments. There is no comparison between
even the greatest of national monuments and a living language," he
told me recently. He is dead right.

He also echoes the findings of professional research on immersion.
"English doesn't suffer, it might even benefit ... They can't help but
have English because it's in their surrounds and it's the language of
most of their parents. The immersion helps in setting them off in
initial stages. I can't see how anyone would be against it." Grand
statesman that he is, TK Whitaker is reluctant to get involved in
contemporary debates on policy. But he does favour publishing the
results of research more widely. "All that sort of information should
be more widely available so that parents are not adopting their
present habits about bringing up their own children in English
unnecessarily," he believes. Another statesman of younger vintage,
former Finance Minister and Labour leader and the party's current
Education spokesman, Ruairi Quinn, agrees. "There is international
evidence that immersion is the way to go to facilitate the early
learning of another language while the home language may be different.
The merits and demerits of this issue are hotly contested and the
national response in this case would be to seek detailed research."
The smoothness and policy competence of the response tells you why
this man became Finance Minister.

Alarmingly, and in total contrast, Hanafin's department has conducted
no research at all. One reason might be a lack of competence. Bodies
with such competence -- the NCCA (National Council for Curriculum
Assessment) and COGG (Council for Education in Gaelscoilleanna and the
Gaeltacht) have said no change should be made before research is
conducted. Another reason could be a hostility towards the language
that would make Oliver Cromwell blush. When he said, "To hell or to
Connaught," Cromwell at least accepted the idea of an Irish-speaking
west of Ireland. Not so some of our officials. As Irish language
Commissioner Sean O Cuirreain exposed last week, someone in the
Department of Justice disgracefully obstructed an investigation into
why a judge unable to speak Irish was appointed in a Gaeltacht area.
Hanafin admits that it was her senior officials and members of the
inspectorate who advised her on this matter. She also failed to
produce any research to back up this policy change. Neither was there
any mention of it in Fianna Fail's manifesto or in the Programme for
Government. In short, a minority of unelected, unaccountable officials
have hijacked a democracy.

They have also given their minister a bum steer. When she told me that
the 1999 curriculum gave her no choice but to abandon immersion,
saying, "I cannot allow a situation where schools can pick and choose
any aspect of the curriculum," Hanafin revealed the poor quality of
her department's advice. Page 70 of the 1999 curriculum clearly states
that teaching English in early years is recommended but not mandatory.
The fact that the Department has issued a circular -- and plans to
issue a Regulation to back it up -- proves that it is the Department
itself, and not the curriculum, forcing the change. As she goes down
this road, Mary Hanafin should contemplate the fate of a woman with
whom she has much in common: Niamh Breathnach was an Irish speaker, a
TD for Dun Laoghaire and also an Education Minister. She also from
time to time ignored sound advice, and her absence from today's
political scene speaks volumes about the wisdom of this approach. She
should also note that none of her colleagues has spoken in favour of
the policy. With or without her, the struggle to revive the language
will go on. Just as the Israelis nurtured Hebrew back to life, we
should actively nurture Irish-speaking areas to the point where they
are economically viable and growing of their own accord. Like Israel,
there are some who would push Irish-speaking Ireland into the sea. And
just as Israel does, we must oppose these enemies of our culture with
resolve, determination and ruthlessness.

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/total-immersion-is-critical-if-irish-is-to-be-rescued-1346149.html

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