I speak English at home. What can I do to help prepare for gaelscoil?

Apart from things already mentioned – such as using what Irish you have with specific people such as any dealings with the school – you can introduce picture books. Not commercial books from shops, but a copybook or a scrapbook. This can be filled with photographs of objects that the child will come across in school. Words like cóta, leabhar, crián, bord, cathaoir, stól, gaineamh, uisce. The pictures for this kind of item can be found in magazines or on the web (e.g. Google image) and stuck in. Label them in large, clear, non-joined up writing.
If you can take pictures of the school (scoil), yard (clós) and principal (use múinteoir), use these too so that the child can become familiar with the look of the school. Get the school’s permission!!¬!¬ - or see if they have pictures on their website that you can print. It will make school less daunting if they know what they are going into.
Also take pictures of yourselves and put them in and label them. As mentioned before, try using the Irish version of names that the school will be using, where applicable i.e. instead of Mary use Máire, and get your child used to this before they reach the school. Putting yourselves into the picture book helps children to feel a sense of belonging, to both the book and the language used in it.
At first, your child will want to say the words and go through the book – again and again and again. Children love repetition and predictability, so give it to them. The picture book can also later be cut into separate pages and made into a game where they pick a picture and say the word. This should only be done once they have a good grasp of the words already. It is a game, not a test.

Fiú má tá Gaeilge agaibh sa teach is fiú leabhar pictiúir a chur le chéile, chun cuidiú le do pháiste glacadh le scoil agus le cúrsaí scoile mar chuid dá s(h)aol féin.

why do my kids laugh when I speak Irish?

Cé a labhraíonn Gaeilge le do pháiste agus cad é an comhthéacs?
Tá páistí réadúil - ní thig leat athrú ó theanga amháin go teanga eile gan comhthéacs nua a bhunú. Is féidir é seo a dhéanamh trí chluichí ar leith a imirt trí Ghaeilge, Gaeilge a labhairt le múinteoirí agus muid ag fágáil páistí ar scoil nó á dtógáil, Gaeilge a labhairt le daoine ar leith taobh amuigh den scoil.

Who speaks what language to your child and in what context?
Children are very pragmatic – you cannot just switch to a new language without introducing a new context. This may be using Irish for certain games, speaking in Irish to the teachers when leaving off/collecting children, speaking Irish to certain people outside school experience

Grannie agus Mamó

Lá de na laethe bhí mo chuid páistí ar chuairt ag Grannie agus Grannie i mBéal Feirste. Bhí siad sách óg ag an am, agus bhí siad ag míniú gur ‘Mamó’ agus ‘Daideo’ a thug siad ar a máthair nhór agus a n-athair mór i mBaile Átha Cliath. Bhí Grannie agsu Granda an-tugtha ag na téarmaí seo agus d’iarr siad ar mo pháistí ‘Mamó’ agus ‘Daideo’ a thabhairt orthu siúd chomh maith. Phléasc na páistí amach ag gáire. ‘Ach ní Mamó agus Daideo sibh, is Grannie agus Granda sibh!’

Léiríonn an scéilín beag seo an tuiscint atá ag páistí ó aois an-óg ar ilteangachas. Tuigeann siad go maith gur teanga amhain a labhraítear i gcomhthéacs ar leith agus teanga eile i gcomhthéacs eile.

Más é Béarla an gnáththeanga sa teach, mar sin, caithfear Gaeilge a thógáil isteach trí chluichí, trí ról-imirt agus drámaíocht, agus trí spas/am/comhthéacs ar leith a chur ar fáil don teanga.


One day my kids were visiting Grannie and Granda in Belfast. They were quite young at the time, and were explaining that the Dublin grandparents were called ‘Mamó’ and ‘Daideo’. Grannie and Granda were quite taken by these terms and asked the children if they could also be called ‘Mamó’ and ‘Daideo’. The children burst out laughing. ‘Sure youse aren’t Mamó and Daideo, youse are Grannie and Granda!’

This story shows the understanding that young children have - from very early on - of multilingualism. They fully understand how one language may be spoken in one context and another in a different context.

If English is your normal daily household language, therefore, Irish will need to be brought in through games, roleplay and drama, and through a specific space/time/context being made for Irish in the house. Don’t force it just before your child xtarts school – use play and fun to discuss it.

names in Irish

When children start gaelscoil, most gaelscoil teachers will 'gaelicise' their names if they are not already in Irish, e.g. 'Jennifer' to 'Sinéad', 'Daniel' to 'Dónall' etc. Names are an integral part of our identity and some children can get quite upset at this change. We can help children and teachers by preparing them for this, by introducing the child to the Irish version of their name and using play, roleplay and games to get them to accept it as part of their identity.
It can also be useful to establish a preferred Irish 'version' of the name. My children had a friend Jonathan. The school named him 'Seanachán'. He was only referred to as 'Jon', and 'Seán' would have been more apt in this case. He hated 'Seanachán'!! If you establish an Irish version this can be noted somewhere on the application form when filling it out. This will have the added advantage of showing active interest in the child's development and progress in a bilingual world.

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Fáilte go 'Daoine Beaga.Com'. Ceisteanna faoi chúrsaí oideachais trí Ghaeilge agat? Faoi oideachas go ginearálta? Cluichí, gníomhaíochtaí, leabhair chuí, ceol?

Cé mise? Is iarmhúinteoir mé. Theagasc mé Gaeilge, Spáinnis agus aon ábhar eile gur thug siad domh i scoileanna Béarla agus i ngaelscoileanna.
Thóg mé mo chlann le Gaeilge sa Ghalltacht.
Theagasc mé ar an chúrsa HDip, ar an PGCE agus ar chúrsaí Máistreachta chomh maith.
Ansin bhuail ailse mé, agus tá mé ag glacadh sos faoi láthair.
Ach briseann an nádúr amach.... Creidim go docht in dáileadh eolais agus scileanna. Agus chuige sin an blog seo...

Hi and welcome to 'Daoine Beaga.Com'. Questions about Irish-medium education? About education generally? Games, activities, books, music?

Who am I? I am a former teacher. I have taught Irish, Spanish and anything else that schools threw at me in both English- and Irish-medium schools.
I have brought up my family with Irish in a Galltacht area. I have taught on the HDip, the PGCE and on Masters courses as well.
Then I got cancer, and I am taking a break at the moment.
But old habits die hard...I fervently believe in knowledge and skills neing shared. So here we are...