A chairde,gabh mo leithscéal as I have a rather selfish request.One of my sons is tempted by the idea of dropping down from Honours to Pass Irish.He got C3 in the 'Mock' exam and worries that he might fail,whereas he seems to think an A in the Pass would be well within his reach.As the exam starts on Monday next I am a bit suprised,to say the least.Just to confuse things his twin brother intends to stay on the Honours paper and feels he is the less 'liofa' of the pair.A judgement of Solomon is needed a chairde.Go raibh maith agaibh!

Ardteist nó teastas sóisearach?

Chuala mé Brian Mooney ag rá gan é dhéanamh - if he has prepared for the Higher Paper the Pass Paper will be very different and put him off his stroke. He may not have covered the texts etc. What does his teacher think?

It might be just nerves and he needs reassurance. C3 in the mocks doesn't sound too bad.

Hi a Mhacdara,

Reassure you son: C3 in the Mock is not at all bad since it was not preceded by the spate of learning that has probably gone on since. He will probably get a C1 or C2 if he has devoted any effort at all to his preparation for the exam.

On the other hand if he drops down to Pass much of what he has learned for the Honours will not be examined in the Pass paper and he will be left without those sources of marks. He will have to cope with the language itself over and over -- including the aural test which is easy if you have prepared for it -- but in large classes of 30 how can either teacher or pupil prepare well for the aural? One third of the class will play up and disrupt the work.

In any case the Aural is a bit of a farce as the students have to cope with "Cad dúraís agus canathaobh" in one passage and "Chan a bhfuil a fhios aighm fá dtú de" in another. "Cén chaoi a bhfuil tú" in another and "Conas taoi" in yet another. Why aren't learners of English subjected to "Again I ge'ta Finglas i'll be ten o clock" -- "I dhun i' and I wudda went ..." They are expected to learn three languages -- I mean dialects -- instead of one.

On the other hand the Honours course is based on a good essay, good oral exam, good aural exam (the same one as for the Pass level), lots of poetry & prose, lots of comprehension, and the history of the language. If he has already achieved a C3 in all of that there is no way he would achieve anything like it in the Pass -- unless he is good at Irish -- and if he is he should do honours anyway.

There is considerable peer pressure and teacher pressure in schools not to bother with Irish. Teachers of other subjects drop hints. It's a competitive world! So much so that even students who are quite good at the language are persuaded to abandon it and devote themselves to other "more important" subjects. More important for "points". If the schools had a bit of gumption in them and a bit of pride in their country and its culture they would encourage all the children in their charge to aim as high as possible -- especially in Irish and brook no defaulters. If the DES had any national spirit they would reward or recognise in some way the schools that achieved a high standard in Irish and shame the delinquents.

There is a further little-known fact about examinations in Irish in the Junior and Leaving Cert: there is no Lughaidh, Orlando, Abigail, Breandán, Aonghus or Taidhgín to seize on every mistake. Cover page after page with writing and you will make a favourable impression. If the writing is recognizably Irish you are half-way there. If you succeed in communicating you will gain marks. If you display any knowledge of verbs and their tenses you will pass. And if you have been to the Gaeltacht and picked up any of those quirky phrases that pass for Gaeltacht Irish -- so beloved of our trans-atlantic cousins -- you will get your honour.

You need to know something of the poetry, prose, and history but the language itself is most important.

Has he already done the Orals? If so did he do well or was he dumbstruck? If he talked throughout and answered questions and parrotted off passages he had learnt in preparation he has gained a large proportion of the marks already. Stick with it now. If he was silent throughout -- eh! tough!

If he is only at Junior Cert level urge him to try his best at Honours level. If he drops to Pass who knows who will be sitting beside him next year. All the "nice" boys are in Honours.

Let him decide for himself but encourage him to continue -- unless he knows the C3 was a fluke and that he copied from the genius beside him. He is unlikely to get much more than a C in Pass Irish.

A Mhacdara, with you as a father I suspect he is more than able for Honours and unless there is some serious impediment he should finish the course and get the result he deserves: a B2.

Don't forget to tell us afterwards how well he did!

I hope this will encourage him to hang in there!

In the 1990s my son wanted to do honours for the Inter Cert (precursor to Junior Cert) - he was in the Pass class as 30 "better" boys were in the Honours class. I did a bit at home with him, and as some boys dropped back to Pass, he finally got moved up. He failed by a grade, but we felt it was a glorious failure.

And he got into the Honours Class for the Leaving. Granted, he wasn't counting on Irish as a subject for "points".

eadaoin

Leaving Cert,I should have made that plain,sorry.A pass in Irish is mandatory for most colleges.An Honours fail would not do!

Much of the course material is identical it seems - only there is far less writing in the Pass paper.Yes ,he has done the Oral and felt it went OK.I am intrigued that the Aural is the same however.....hmm.

Thing is they do need the points because they are both doing Pass maths,which they anticipate just scraping through.Bit of a quandary but GRMA to you all for your help and suggestions.Agus Darren freisin ,thuigeann sé.
Incidentally the Junior Aural was funny/awful.They said one of the tapes sounded like a Donegal trawlerman with a 60 a day habit,off his face on Poitín!

The word 'cuid' being rendered 'hajj' is the only example I can recall tho.Míle Buícheas arís.

Thosaigh mé mo shaol oibre mar 'Donegal trawlerman' a Mhac Dara, rud a fhágann an-mheas agam ar iascairí agus ar mhuintir Thír Chonaill ar ndóigh, ach tuigim cad é tá tú a mhaíomh. (An dream ar m'aithne a bhí mantach ar meisce poitín in am ar bith, níor bhain siad le ceachtar den dá aicme sin!)

Guím gach rath ar do mhac. Go n-éirí go geal leis.

Tús maith,i ndáiríre! Bímse féin ag iascaireacht mar a deir an amhrán.But only with a handline ,not like the boys of Killybegs.
Taidhgín is right tho,the aural is a shambles.An Caighdeán,ok.Your local canúint? Fine.But 2 dialects you've never heard.Come on,most of the teachers would struggle.

I'm getting a handle on Gaoth Dobhar pronunciation from songs -Skara Brae and the Ceolta Gael tapes ( Ossian publications) O Baoil.But I don't have 6 other subjects to juggle with my future hanging in the balance!
I see tomorrows English has been cancelled.They handed out the wrong paper in drogheda.Bhí siad ar meisce,is dócha! Maith agat,a Smac_muirí

Bhuel a chairde, rinne siad 'Honours' ar deireadh agus ni raibh sé ro -dhona.Nior mhaith leo an triu 'aural'.Neither did anyone else in the hall,most not even attempting an answer.Which they found kind of reassuring.No prizes for guessing which canúint it was btw! Mo leithscéal faoin fadas.