Primary School Scheme - 'Ó óige go neart'
Ó óige go neart (prospering from youth) is a scheme implemented by the McCracken Cultural Society and delivers Irish-language lessons for primary school pupils throughout north Belfast. Niall Mathews, Irish-language Development Officer of the McCracken Cultural Society is responsible for directing the programme. Eilish King is also on board again to help deliver the lessons in various schools in North Belfast.
In total, 8 local primary schools receive weekly lively lessons in their native tongue. There are 19 classes (2010) in total, more than 500 pupils benefiting from the tuition. All in all it has been a great success in recent years and we are once again in full flow of another busy but fun-filled year at the schools in the 2010 school term. The aim of the scheme is to make learning Irish as much fun as possible and to encourage pupils from ages 7-12 to use whatever Irish they have both inside and outside of the classroom.
At the end of the school term in June, these budding young Gaeilgeoirí (Irish speakers) undergo an oral exam. Successful candidates are awarded official certificates for their level of competence in spoken Irish.
Amongst the schools taking part this year once again are:
- Holy Cross Boys’ Ardoyne
- St Vincent de Paul Ligoniel (P6 & P7)
- St Therese of Lisieux Antrim Road (P7)
- Mercy Primary Crumlin Road
- Sacred Heart Oldpark
- Edmund Rice Pim Street
- Star of the Sea Girls’ New Lodge
- Holy Cross Girls’ Ardoyne (P6 & P7)
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The response from all pupils, as well as teaching staff, has been amazing. Everyone involved is very enthusiastic about learning Irish. The young pupils have taken to Irish like a duck to water and our facilitators have been pleasantly surprised to learn that many of them already knew quite a lot of words and phrases ina dteanga dhúchais (their native tongue).
This scheme gives the kids an excellent grounding in the language before moving on to secondary education, but more importantly encourages them to keep Irish on as a GCSE subject. Learning a cúpla focal (a couple of words) also helps the children relate to friends and relatives who attend all-Irish speaking schools in the area.
The McCracken Cultural Society hopes that these young Irish-language scholars realise the importance of the language, not only as a school subject but as a working, living language in our society today. As employment in the Irish language sector is on the increase, it is also important that young students be aware that there are many job opportunities available for fluent Irish speakers throughout Ireland.
