Día duit.
Is mise Liam(Bill) agus ba maith liom go...
Hi, this is Bill. There are no Gaeilge classes in our area of northeastern, Pennsylvania. I have been trying to study Gaeilge for the past year and as half. What can I do to start a basic Irish Language Class in our area. I mean "very basic". Do I have to take a course to become qualified to teach or even present basic Irish Phrases?
We have a large population of Irish in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area. It seems for an Irish population of this size, we do not have a teacher of our native language. Please let me know what classes and/or resources I must acquire to start an Irish Class in our area.
Go raibh maith agat,
Liam(Bill)

An bhfuil Gaeilge agat?
An bhfuil daltaí agat?

Múin dóibh!

Níl aon "license" de dhíth ort.

Learners helping learners is perfectly fine! (Just make sure everyone recognizes that's what it is - that there may be questions none of you can answer, and that in fact some of the "answers" may be subject to later correction.) There are plenty of experts out there to turn to if you have a question the group can't resolve.

I'd suggest you all choose a particular book or self-teach system and work through it together. That's an effective way to handle the organizational details (e.g. which grammar topics to introduce in which order.)

Abigail

A Liam --

Just call it an "Irish Study Group" -- no need then to name a "teacher". In every study group one student tends to emerge as a bit more talented/bright/engaging/etc. than the others, and becomes the person upon whom members rely for the difficult answers. That doesn't make them a teacher, but it does tend to indicate who might be the best candidate to be one in coming years.

In the meantime, just be the "ringleader" and get things started. The world needs more ringleaders and accomplices! Once the group's started, you may come across someone better suited to lead -- if so, let them. If not, try your best to arrive at your study group with most hypothetical questions already answered in your head. When you get a tough question for which you were unprepared, simply jot it down and promise to bring back an answer at the next meeting.

Most of all, GET STARTED -- and then have fun!

(Message edited by cionaodh on February 20, 2007)

A Liam,

I did the exact same thing in my little town in North Carolina. We had about 4 regulars with a few "drop ins" from time to time. Here's how I started:

First, I found a small coffee shop that agreed to let us use a back room two nights per month (free of charge).

Second, I put a notice in the local paper written in Irish as well as english. It had a very "celtic" border to draw attention to the ad.

Once the group began to gather, I made it perfectly clear that I was a student just like them. I made no claims to expertise of any kind. My goal was to develop a mutual study group rather than actual classes.

We did fine until this 9-11 thing kicked into high gear. I got deployed, one of the "regulars" got deployed and things just fizzled.

The biggest challenge I faced was consistency of meetings. If you're going to commit to this, you have to be the spearhead. It is no small challenge!!

Good luck to you. Hope it takes off!!!