Hi,
I'm a bit worried about this Irish interview I have coming up to get into one of the Dublin courses for primary school teacher training. I have honours Leaving Cert Irish but that was 6 yrs ago and I havent spoken a word since. I was away for the last year and the interview is in a couple of weeks so I dont have alot of time to prepare.
Any tips anyone? Or does anyone know of any other helpful websites?
Thanks

Cúpla suíomh duit a Chiara:

http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/gaeilge/gaeilge.html

http://www.beo.ie/

http://www.csis.ul.ie/focloir/

http://www.nuacht.com/

http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/gaeilge/foghlaim/

Molaim duit tosú anois agus éirí as leithéidí 'thanks' in áit 'go raibh maith agat'. Is é inniu inné ach amárach a chur ar an méar fhada!

Go n-éirí an iarracht leat.

I actually made that exact mistake in my Irish oral Leaving Cert test. At the very end of the test, after he'd switched off the tape recorder and all, he said to me "Ar fheabhas". I made a quick response aiming to convey appreciation: "Thanks", but then two seconds letter I was like, "Opps, go raibh maith agat!"

Do you know what they are going to want to ask you? Prepare loads for specific questions and get vocab that you will need alot, into your head now, so you can "find" the words quickly when you're there talking to them! I'd try to prepare for the formal interview but also they might want to know that you can "chat" as Gaeilge as well...
Let us know how you get on!
I'm really interested in doing teaching as a post grad but my Irish was never the best and I'm trying to find ways to improve, myself. Anyway, go n-éirí an t-ádh!

I'm finished the Leaving Cert, I think I got a B3 in Irish, can't remember.

Anyway, I did no vocabulary research at all... which was a mistake!

I took a totally different strategy to the one we were told to take -- instead of using full sentences, I spoke to him as colloquially as possible, but also with perfect grammar. For instance, he asked:

"Cár fhoghlaim tú do chuid Gaeilge?"

The "correct" answer was:

D'fhoghlaim mé mo chuid Gaeilge ins na ranganna.

But I answered:

sna ranganna

just as I would if it were a normal conversation in English. I kept (not consciously) leaving out "is" in sentences; for instance I'd say "Amadáin iad." instead of "Is amadáin iad.". This again gave the impression of fluency. I also ran words together as much as possible, eg. "m'athair" instead of "mo athair". Wherever possible I opted for colloquialisms over "correct speech". For instance I would say:

an fáth a ndeachaigh mé...

instead of:

an fáth go ndeachaigh mé...

and I was saying "Tá a fhios agam" as "Tá 'fhios a'am".

So all I was giving him was sentence fragments. Ofcourse he wanted to see if I could contruct proper sentences and tell a story, so he asked me to tell him about a particular one of my hobbies, and so I ranted on for about 5 mins with complete sentences, all sorts of verb tenses, all sorts of noun cases, and a nice vocabulary too!

Also, I had to read out a page of Irish I was supplied with. I read it with no mistakes.

It went well. His verdict: "Ar fheabhas!"

togha fir !

quote:

togha, a fhir

Vocative Case!

Tá Pádraig i gceart ar fad a Fhear na mBróg. Is nath cainte an-mhinic 'togha fir' a rá, ar nós 'maith an fear' agus 'maith an bhean', 'maith an bhean thú' srl.

Maith an fear a Fhear na mBróg. Go mairir an scéal.

...which goes to show that I just ain't fluent yet!

Maith dom as an bhfrithcheartúchán, a Phádraig.

Níl aon amhras ach go bhfuil tú líofa sa Ghaeilge a Fhear na mBróg. Níl do chuid Gaeilge chomh foirfe le do chuid Béarla go fóill, sin an méid, ach beidh. Tá an chuma ort a Fhear na mBróg go dtiocfaidh an lá a mbeidh do chuid Gaeilge chun tosaigh ar do chuid Béarla. Dealaím féin an cainteoir dúchais ón gcainteoir céad teanga. An té nach cainteoir dúchais, is féidir leis le cleachtadh agus le himeacht ama, a bheith ina chainteoir céad teanga, bíodh gur tógadh le teanga é seachas a chéad theanga. Teastaíonn tamall le gach ceard, nach mór, na sprictheanga, le go bhfaigheadh sé stór focail agus nathanna as gach réim cainte na sprictheanga.

Má bhíonn tú saor amach anseo a Fhear na mBróg, sa samhradh, mholfainn duit, post samhraidh a fháil thiar. Idir an dá linn, mholfainn siaréisteach le RnaG.
Leis an díograis a léiríonn tú anseo agus leis an óige ar do thaobh, níl aon fháth faoin ngréin nach mbeifeá in ann an Ghaeilge a chur chun tosaigh ar do chuid Béarla i gceann roinnt bheag blianta. Go n-éirí sin leat. Tá achar maith den bhealach siúlta agat cheana féin. Ní gá a bheith buartha ar aon chuma, ach a mhalairt.

Mo chuid Gaeilge chun tosaigh ar mo chuid Béarla... hmm, ní mé ar tháinig stór focal na Gaeilge slán go dtí an lá seo -- an bhfuil iomlán na bhfocal mór go fóill inti? Is eol dom bríonna na bhfocal mór Béarla mar "mediocre", "acumen", "nonchalant", ach... ní bheadh clú agam nuair a thagann sé go focail mar sin sa Ghaeilge!

Ní thógfaí ach cúpla seactain go dtí go mbeadh Gaeilge líofa agam dá gcaithfinn tamall sa Ghaeltacht, ach... cúpla bliain a bheadh ann go dtí go mbeadh mo chuid Gaeilge chun tosaigh ar mo chuid Béarla!

Táim ag obair go lánaimsearach(?) ag an nóimead, ní bheadh seans agam samhradh a chaitheamh in áit Ghaeltachta.

Go raibh maith agat as an mol in aon chaoi, a Sheosaimh! Ba mhaith liom gurbh fhéidir liom lá amháin Gaeilge líofa a labhairt le daoine!