WHAT GOD FORSAKEN IRONY ?
This replica, one of two, of a
famine transport to America, had her first sea trial
during a week of massacres and war crimes in Palestine in
the first week of April. During this time the Irish media
have been pre-occupied with paedophilia and the
resignation of two Church and Governmentt. members.
Other than a lonely battle by Raymond Deane,
Composer/Musician, about a media report on Palestine, by
Kevin Myers in the Irish Times - there has only been one
other letter during two weeks, that, I would like to
quote: "I am not alone in the
belief that, in striving to achieve an equality of
balance between Palestinian and Israeli claims, you have
essentially lost the plot. ...The Israeli government has
committed a cardinal crime, This reminds most Irish
people of our own history, in which the British military
sought to achieve their objectives by similar means...an
overwhelming dominant force on a civilian population must
always be forthrightly condemned. You have not done so.
Michael Hassett."
Our last issue had various articles on the Palestine
question, as we are witnessing a colonial crime by the
Israeli government, that has perhaps surpassed in
brutality many such crimes in history.
by Enda Cunningham
The Future, with a fresh
look at the teaching of Irish in National Schools.
In the light of all the controversy regarding
the teaching of Irish, it is time to decide if indeed our
language is a barrier to our progress and prosperity in
this modern age.
Irish is one of the three oldest languages in Europe -
its roots go back thousands of years. Our island home has
guaranteed that it has remained relatively pure and free
from outside influence. It remained so until the period
of conquest and the Plantations of English settlers in
the 16th Century, with the introduction of severe penal
law against the language. The Great Famine of 1846-49
resulted in the language being equated with poverty.
Churchmen preached in English to Gaelic-speaking
congregations; Landlords, Agents, Government Officials,
lawyers, teachers, successful traders - all well fed -
led the people to believe that Irish was little help to
them at home and a positive barrier for the vast numbers
of emigrants who sought a new life in other countries.
Were it not for the intervention of literary,
professional, educated people in the 19th Century the
language would now be extinct. These visionaries - mostly
Protestant - people like Thomas Davis, Douglas Hyde,
Seosamh Cleaver, Padriac Pearse. Eoin McNeill, Ethna
Carbery, Sinead DeValera and others realised that we had
a language rich in literature, poetry, song, story and
music, going back thousands of years - a treasure worthy
of salvation. The Gaelic League set-up at the end of the
19th Century was the bulwark which halted the decline.
Over recent years pressure from pseudo-intellectuals,
revisionist historians, media presenters and journalists,
has resulted in a new crisis for the language.
Over the past ten years we have shaken off most of our
inferiority complexes. Our young, well-educated and
vibrant people have given us a new confidence. The Irish
success is now the goal of new emerging nations. Surely,
in our new-found affluence, we must not abandon the very
badge of our Nationality - our language.
If we are to succeed we need a fresh look at the teaching
of Irish.
It is freely accepted that the teaching of Irish in
schools has been unsuccessful. Despite various new
programmes and approaches, a majority of pupils enter 2nd
and 3rd Level schools with little grasp of speaking or
writing of the language and little enthusiasm for it. The
failure to date is caused not only by the attitude of
politicians and journalists, but principally by the
attitude of parents in the home.
If the language is to survive, we must try to change the
attitude in the home. This has been brought home to me
recently with the new wave of immigrants to our country.
My two daughters teach in Inner City Dublin schools, as I
did myself when Principal of one of these schools. They
have told me that after 3 months in their classes,
immigtant pupils have proven to be best at Irish. It is
interesting to hear of an 8 yr. old Moldovian girl
helping her pal Mary, from Dublin, understand the meaning
of "Cheannaigh Mamai Cota Nua." It reminds me
of my cousin, Peg Cunningham, who taught in Rutland St.
School all her life. Peg, who had a class of 60 pupils,
was trying to teach a 7yr.old the intricacies of
"Thainig si - nior thainig si."After a
fruitless few minutes, a bright spark put her hand up and
said, "Miss Cunningham, I'll teach her." This
girl then shook her pal roughly and told her, "When
she comes she thainigs, and when she doesn't come, she
nior thainigs" - a salutory lesson to Peg!
Immigrant children are encouraged by their parents to
embrace the language of the State, which has given them
refuge and the chance of education, often denied in their
native lands. It is a salutory lesson for us and one that
convinces me that we can make the language attractive and
acceptable to parents and pupils.
 
(i) To teach successfully, a teacher must be comfortable
with the language. I suggest the Dept. of Education make
grants available to teachers for a two-month intensive
course at a language school such as Oidous Gael,
Glencolmcille.
(ii) A new programme should be introduced which would not
have any written work or formal grammar until 5th Class.
(iii) A programme of spoken Irish, based on the immediate
locality of pupils, should be introduced. This programme
to include local place names and their meaning. Teachers
should use sources such as the O'Donovan Ordnance Survey
letters & O'Donovan Ordnance Survey Name Books
(covering all Ireland). Local stories and legends should
be used to arouse interest in both pupils and parents.
Grandparents and their friends should be consulted, and
on certain days local historians or seanachai, such as
Eamonn Mac Thomas, might come into the schools to talk
with pupils, teachers and parents.
Inter-schools Competitions could be arranged with
attractive prizes - a fortnight at a Gaeltacht Irish
College ? Local radio might devote time to this, ending
with a County and All Ireland competition.
Teachers could use the vast store available at An Cumann
Bealoideas, University College Dublin, and embark on a
scheme, similar to that of the 1930's, to collect and
write down local folklore, songs, games, rhymes and
stories. There is a vast archive from that time in the
Library at U.C.D.
These programmes can be expanded to discuss surnames, how
they came about; local trades and their history. Parents
who are in local business might be encouraged to come to
the schools to talk about their Companies, Shops and
Stores. Government Office workers, Gardai, ESB and
Telecommunications, modern Computer development workers,
too could all play their part.
(iv) In larger schools I would recommend the provision of
an Irish Language teacher whose job would be teaching all
classes in the spoken Gaelic only. This specialist
teacher would support those staff who had participated in
the proposed intensive classes in their different grades.
Thus school texts could be compiled by the teachers,
based on the local tradition and folklore with grant aid
for publication. Poetry, music and songs would form part
of the programme; pupils composing their own poems and
local history, brought up to date in the Irish language.
Local Music Centres could be established by professional
artists and musicians, open at the weekends.
The Bellarmine Arts Centre in Glasgow, which I visited
some years ago, when with a group of Inner City Dublin
teachers was a revelation. We were guests of the Glasgow
Educational Authority. Talented pupils who attended the
Bellarmine Centre are now professional musicians and
group performers all over the U.K. 'Simple Minds' was one
famous group connected to that Centre.
A renewed interest in our local surroundings should form
the basis for a better understanding of our Gaelic
Place-names. Every field, lake, river, mountain, hill and
croft still bears its Gaelic name: Dublin - Dubhlinn;
Belfast - Beal Feirsde; Killybegs - Na Cealla Beaga. What
better base to stimulate a renewal of interest in our
native Language ?
ENDA CUNNINGHAM is the owner of the
internationally famous Cathach Books, 10, Duke Street,
off Grafton Street in Dublin City centre, and he is a
proprietor of the Four Masters Press.
Follow
Link to download printer friendly version in Adobe
Acrobat (pdf)
|
