Transition year is a great time to try new approaches to Irish. Radio competitions, drama and good old céilithe are all helping the language come alive, writes John Holden

The question of how Irish is taught is a controversial one. Students and teachers will have their own opinions about why more of us do not speak our native tongue. Competing with English, one of the most widely spoken languages, was never going to be easy. But a common attitude is that Irish needs to be made more relevant to everyday life. There are plans to put more emphasis on the oral exam in future Junior and Leaving Certificate exams. In the meantime, most teachers lack the time to try out new methods - except in transition year.

"Up to last year all the work we did was based around preparing for the Junior Cert exam, but now we are trying a lot of new and interesting things," says Megan Brophy, who is in transition year at Castlecomer Community School, in Co Kilkenny. The school has a number of Irish projects, including dramas, class presentations and a weekly Irish circle.

"Every Wednesday around 20 students meet up at lunchtime to speak Irish," says Megan. "We talk about all sorts of things. Some people are put off, because they're afraid they won't have the vocabulary to really express themselves. But once you start talking you realise that, if you don't know how to say something, there are a million other ways of saying it."

Séamus Ó Cruathair, the college principal, is a big advocate of the language, and he encourages his teachers to be as creative as possible. "We are doing more active learning projects with the students in TY," says Ó Cruathair. "More plays, Irish projects, sports and céilithe are being encouraged as a means of enabling students to practise their spoken Irish. Teachers have also been coming together and sharing ideas. That has proven to be a great success."

Last year's TY students got involved in a unique project. Taking as their inspiration An Leabhar Mòr: The Great Book of Gaelic, a collection of poetry and art by Scottish and Irish artists, they teamed up with Coláiste Pobail Osraí, in Kilkenny, and schools in Scotland to put together their own version of An Leabhar Mòr.

"The idea was to make our own mini Book of Kells, based on Scottish and Irish Gaelic," says fifth year Martha Loughlin. "The poet Aine Ní Shoghlú came into our school for eight weeks to help us develop our poetry skills. I did a poem about Columcille going to Scotland and a painting of him in a boat sailing on a river of blood."

The collection, which was on view at the National Library of Ireland last year, has been shown around Europe.

This year's TY students in Castlecomer are keenly aware of the decline of the language. So they have decided to use their Young Social Innovators (YSI) project to do something about it. "Learning Irish can't just be based around books," says Megan. "It must be based around real life. People don't need to use it in their everyday lives, so it is being lost. For our YSI project we are going to set up Irish classes in the local area for adults who want to learn the cúpla focal."

A common way of teaching Irish in transition year is to link the language with culture and heritage. It has been a very successful approach for teachers at Meán Scoil Mhuire gan Smál Convent of Mercy, in Roscommon. Having had one of the first transition years in the country, back in 1974, it has plenty of experience approaching academic subjects in new ways. One involves transition-year students publishing a magazine, Macalla, or Echoes. Another involves compiling a list of Irish websites. "We're going to provide a service for teachers, students and parents which will show them the best websites as Gaeilge," says TY student Áine Kelly.

That's not to say the school has forgotten Irish traditions. "We have regular céilithe in the school, and they're always great craic," says 15-year old Fiona Madden. "We have a lot of non-nationals here, and they love them too. It is not just traditional dancing. We do some modern routines as well."

Although most of these ideas came from principals, teachers and students, some national support is available. Foras na Gaeilge, the organisation responsible for promoting Irish, offers up to €5,000 to any school that wants to arrange extracurricular projects, such as music or computer classes in the language, and up to €3,000 for English-language schools, north and south, that promote oral Irish in new and creative ways.

See  www.leabharmor.netand  www.gaeilge.ie

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