Kilchreest National School

Irish - Gaeilge is taught throughout the school. The main aim is to give children the skills to allow them to hold conversations in Irish and to understand spoken Irish. Above all, the central goal is to foster the child’s enthusiasm for Irish and to make it enjoyable and relevant.

There are four distinct areas of learning Irish:

Listening - children are immersed in the language, listening not only to their teacher, but also to their peers. They spend a lot of time working with multi media including CD’s, which helps them to develop a keen ear for spoken Irish.

Speaking - oral work makes up the backbone of the Irish curriculum. Children are encouraged to explore the language, through games and exercises with each other.

Reading - Before attempting formal reading in Irish, the children are exposed to a range of pre-reading activities and immersed in a print rich environment.

Writing - children are encouraged to write words and sentences that they are comfortable with i.e. words that they can say and recognise by ear. Reading and writing go hand in hand - children’s work in writing will complement their emerging reading skills.