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My mom and I are starting to homeschool my little brothers and sister (Pre-School – 1st Grade) and I wanted to try to give them a Gaeilge class. The only thing is I’m not sure where to start and I can’t really find any good sites for teaching little kids. Do you guys have suggestions?
Do either you or your mom speak Irish? If not, then I’d wait until you find someone who does.
Language instruction isn’t really something you can do if you don’t speak the language. It’s not like facts you can repeat out of a book. You’d have to know how to actually say the words correctly otherwise it would be a total waste of time.
I’ve been studying for a while now. That’s not my problem, I just don’t know how and in what way to teach it to little kids in a class form. I’ve taught them a word or two in the past and I read Cochaillín Dearg to them (which they love) and the oldest is really interested, they’re apt pupils. Is there a site with work pages or something I can use?
http://oide.abairleat.com/
http://oideachas.gaelsceal.ie/These might not be exactly what you’re looking for, but it’s the only two sites I know off the top of my head that might qualify. I’d really emphasize that, however much you think you know, they should be getting most of their sounds from native or fluent speakers. It’s more important that their early sound impressions and entrainment are authentic or everything else will be on a poor foundation or later unlearning bad habits in that regard.
Don’t be inhibited by the “shoulds”. Expose them in any way that interests you and them and is fun to do together. One resource that might be useful for you is a book/CD combo titled “Gaschaint” by Úna Lawlor. It’s an “Irish-English Phrase Book for Parents & Guardians” and includes native speaker recordings of all of the phrases in each of the three major dialects. Here’s one source, but you can find others: http://www.litriocht.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=3883.
Go n-éirí an t-ádh leat!
Books books books. Start to invest in quality children’s literature and read with them often. I doesn’t have to be a formal lesson, just reading with the two of them. When they become familiar with the story you can base activities around it. Use sticky notes to block out words (works well with big books) and have them guess the word as it comes up in the story. Pick out details from the picture and ask questions about it e.g. cén dath atá ar hata Liam? srl. You’ll also notice that children’s books repeat the same sentences over and over again, get them involved in the reading of the story by drawing on these. As familiarity increases they’ll be able to recite much from memory. As time goes on, why not role play the stories. It will be basic, but is fun and gives purpose to the words. Songs are also great in this respect. Hope it helps!
Here’s a good source for books: http://www.litriocht.com/shop/index.php?cPath=59_60
The idea suggested by Liam is excellent. Children of that age usually love reading stories. TG4 has a programme called “Scéal an lae” where famous presenters/actors read children’s books, so if you like you could use that as a starting point and pick one of the stories featured there. That would enable you to check your pronunciation etc. Perhaps there are also good Irish-language audiobooks out there? Good luck!
Dia duit, a Chaitriona. If you have enough ability yourself and your siblings are that young, then I suggest you take a look at the book “How to Keep Your Language Alive” by Leanne Hinton. Here’s a link to it on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/How-Keep-Your-Language-Alive/dp/1890771422
Children 7 years old and younger learn language best organically, through listening and interacting with other speakers through the language. If they are too old, or if you and/or your mother do not have enough of the language yourselves, then you’ll have to use another approach. Ádh mór oraibh! Good luck to ye!I second the books suggestion. Overall I would say to not approach the language as just in a subject a class but mostly to speak it conversationally.
I’m curious: has anyone coined a Gaeilge word for “homeschool”? I can’t find any with a search of such likely places as wikipedia.
The terminology web site http://www.focal.ie has ‘home schooling’ which it translates as ‘scolaíocht bhaile’. So technically speaking, I suppose you could say ‘scoil bhaile’… I have no idea, though, if this term is in use, as it’s a bit difficult to google that phrase, ‘baile’ being such a common element in Irish place-names. 🙂
Thanks to everyone who has given suggestions. Come to think of it, some simple children’s books would probably be the best way to go at first. I would love to let them watch some Bó ag Bogadaí since that is one of their favorite shows and it is very repetitive but I haven’t seen it on TG4 lately. Oh, and I am the one who has been studying for a few years now. If you guys think of any other ideas that would be helpful I would welcome them. Thankyou
Dála an scéil, d’fhéach mé ar an gclár AbairLeat! OIDE[i]. Tá leagan nua ann, leis an nasc nua freisin: http://lurgan.biz/oide-2014/. Is iontach an córas é, lomlán d’ábhar oideachais atá oiriúnach do dhaoine ar roinnt leibhéal cumais. Tá bogearraí cliaint le fáil do iPhone, Android agus gléasanna soghluaiste eile. Is fiú breathnú air.
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