Gaeilge (Irish), is taught every day in all classes. In the first few years at school, there is an emphasis on developing speaking and listening skills. Children play games, sing songs and learn rhymes. They learn vocabulary for everyday topics and themes like family, food, clothes, shopping and special occasions.
Further up the school, children also read and write in Irish. They will develop their speaking and listening skills so that they can hold a conversation with their friends and speak confidently and answer questions on a given topic.
If you’d like to help your child and develop your own skills in learning Gaeilge, here are some useful phrases and websites to encourage using ‘cúpla focal’ at home!
Dia duit - Hello (Deea gwitch)
Dia is Muire duit - Hello to you too (Deea is mwura gwitch)
Slán - Bye (Slawn)
Slán go fóill - Bye for now (Slawn gu fo-ill)
Conas atá tú? - How are you? (Kunis a thaw thu?)
Tá mé … go maith / go dona / ceart go leor – I am well / bad / ok (Thaw may … go ma / go duna / cyart go lore)
Ná déan dearmad ar an leabhar - Don’t forget the book (Naw jane jarmad air an lou-er)
Maith thú! – Well done to you! (Ma who!)
An bfhuil tú réidh? – Are you ready? (An will thoo ray?)
Déanfaimid an obair bhaile anois – We'll do the homework now (Dain-fi-meed-an uber walya anish)
Go hiontach - brilliant (Gu heentock)
Is buachaill / cailín iontach thú – You are a great boy/girl (Iss bu-kill / colleen eentuck who)
Taispeáin dom cad a rinne tú aer scoil – Show me what you did at school(Thaspawn dum cad a rinna thoo ar skul)
Glan an seomra – Clean the room (Glan an shom-ra)
Las an solas / lampa - Turn on the light / lamp (Loss an su-loss / lampa)
Much an solas - Turn off the light (Mook an su-loss)
Bia (Bee-a) agus an Chistin (kishtin) Food and the Kitchen
An dtabharfaidh tú an … dom le do thoil? - Could you give me the … please? (An dure-de thoo an ... dum le du hull?)
Tá an … blasta / fuar / te – The … is tasty / cold / hot (Thas an ... blah-st / foor / te)
Tá an dinnéar réidh - Dinner is ready (Thaw an din-air ray)
Is maith liom an ... - I like the ... (Is ma lum an ...)
spúnóg - spoon (spoonogue)
scian - knife (shkeen)
forc - fork (fork)
sú oráiste – orange juice (sue ur-ah-shta)
tae - tea (tay)
feoil – meat (fyohl)
bainne - milk (bon-ya)
na glasraí – the vegetables (na gloss-ree)
subh - jam (suv)
milseog – dessert (milshogue)
callóga arbhair - cornflakes (kall-oh-ga ar-oor)
salann – salt (sal-in)
siúcra - sugar (shoo-kra)
piobar – pepper (pyuber)
arán – bread (arawn)
Léigh sa Bhaile a shared reading scheme has online resources available from CJ Fallon’s website.
http://my.cjfallon.ie/dashboard/student-resources
Tick the boxes for the appropriate book level to access a recording of each night’s reading.If your Irish is rusty or non-existent and you find yourself scratching your head when it comes to the ‘Obair Bhaile’ here is a free online course that covers the basics.
Is Féidir Liom http://www.isfeidirliom.ie/
Éasca Péasca http://www.eascapeasca.com/index.php is another good site where you can learn Irish at your own pace while speaking it with your children.
The ‘Easy Irish’ site http://www.easyirish.com/ provides podcast lessons, with an Ulster accent.
Finally, http://www.abair.tcd.ie/?page=synthesis&lang=eng ‘Ríomhchainteoir’ turns Irish text into speech – useful in helping to pronounce those tricky words sna leabhair léitheoireachta.
Further up the school, children also read and write in Irish. They will develop their speaking and listening skills so that they can hold a conversation with their friends and speak confidently and answer questions on a given topic.
If you’d like to help your child and develop your own skills in learning Gaeilge, here are some useful phrases and websites to encourage using ‘cúpla focal’ at home!
Dia duit - Hello (Deea gwitch)
Dia is Muire duit - Hello to you too (Deea is mwura gwitch)
Slán - Bye (Slawn)
Slán go fóill - Bye for now (Slawn gu fo-ill)
Conas atá tú? - How are you? (Kunis a thaw thu?)
Tá mé … go maith / go dona / ceart go leor – I am well / bad / ok (Thaw may … go ma / go duna / cyart go lore)
Ná déan dearmad ar an leabhar - Don’t forget the book (Naw jane jarmad air an lou-er)
Maith thú! – Well done to you! (Ma who!)
An bfhuil tú réidh? – Are you ready? (An will thoo ray?)
Déanfaimid an obair bhaile anois – We'll do the homework now (Dain-fi-meed-an uber walya anish)
Go hiontach - brilliant (Gu heentock)
Is buachaill / cailín iontach thú – You are a great boy/girl (Iss bu-kill / colleen eentuck who)
Taispeáin dom cad a rinne tú aer scoil – Show me what you did at school(Thaspawn dum cad a rinna thoo ar skul)
Glan an seomra – Clean the room (Glan an shom-ra)
Las an solas / lampa - Turn on the light / lamp (Loss an su-loss / lampa)
Much an solas - Turn off the light (Mook an su-loss)
Bia (Bee-a) agus an Chistin (kishtin) Food and the Kitchen
An dtabharfaidh tú an … dom le do thoil? - Could you give me the … please? (An dure-de thoo an ... dum le du hull?)
Tá an … blasta / fuar / te – The … is tasty / cold / hot (Thas an ... blah-st / foor / te)
Tá an dinnéar réidh - Dinner is ready (Thaw an din-air ray)
Is maith liom an ... - I like the ... (Is ma lum an ...)
spúnóg - spoon (spoonogue)
scian - knife (shkeen)
forc - fork (fork)
sú oráiste – orange juice (sue ur-ah-shta)
tae - tea (tay)
feoil – meat (fyohl)
bainne - milk (bon-ya)
na glasraí – the vegetables (na gloss-ree)
subh - jam (suv)
milseog – dessert (milshogue)
callóga arbhair - cornflakes (kall-oh-ga ar-oor)
salann – salt (sal-in)
siúcra - sugar (shoo-kra)
piobar – pepper (pyuber)
arán – bread (arawn)
Léigh sa Bhaile a shared reading scheme has online resources available from CJ Fallon’s website.
http://my.cjfallon.ie/dashboard/student-resources
Tick the boxes for the appropriate book level to access a recording of each night’s reading.If your Irish is rusty or non-existent and you find yourself scratching your head when it comes to the ‘Obair Bhaile’ here is a free online course that covers the basics.
Is Féidir Liom http://www.isfeidirliom.ie/
Éasca Péasca http://www.eascapeasca.com/index.php is another good site where you can learn Irish at your own pace while speaking it with your children.
The ‘Easy Irish’ site http://www.easyirish.com/ provides podcast lessons, with an Ulster accent.
Finally, http://www.abair.tcd.ie/?page=synthesis&lang=eng ‘Ríomhchainteoir’ turns Irish text into speech – useful in helping to pronounce those tricky words sna leabhair léitheoireachta.