Summer gaeltacht - Bean an Tí

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SN9

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One of my children is currently in the gaeltacht.
I'm not sure whether to be shocked or not, it's not a Coláiste known for being strict on Irish. However when I asked if the Bean an Tí encouraged them to speak Irish, i was told that she couldn't speak Irish as she is from England! So the lingua franca in the Teach is English. Surely it should be a minimum requirement for the Bean an Tí to be able to speak Irish?
 
SN9 said:
Surely it should be a minimum requirement for the Bean an Tí to be able to speak Irish?
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To me it certainly is.

She is supposed to be the enforcer when outside the classroom environment.

Most kids will slip into the English quite happily...the reason we send them there is so they get immersed in the language and have no choice but to speak it and of course take that learning home with them.

Honestly its not something I'd even think to check prior to booking.

"Does the Bean an ti speak Irish?" Is the sort of question that should elicit laugher.

Get on to the organiser and request a solution.

I'd be quite annoyed to find myself in this situation.
 
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I'm not really sure what to do about it. Realistically I can't take the child home and demand a refund... Child would be devastated. Seems like I've just coughed up €1k+ (between cost, bus cost, cost of daytrips etc) for a 2-week holiday. And i might have to cough up again for Irish grinds for the learning not received!
 
I agree that would be a big surprise to me and not at all ideal , but based on my own experiences many years ago , it’s unlikely to make a lot of difference to how much Irish your child speaks . The ban an ti isn’t there when they’re in their bedroom or out and about .
 
The Bean an Ti are getting very scarce, a lot didn't start again after Covid and the demographic is a bit on the older side too, I knew a lovely lady who did it forever but she died couple of years ago. I'd say at this stage they'd be happy to take any blow-in who probably won't have Irish and is willing to do it.
 
SN9 said:
when I asked if the Bean an Tí encouraged them to speak Irish, i was told that she couldn't speak Irish
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That's not on. You absolutely are right to be shocked.

If they cannot provide an Irish speaking household they could accommodate the kids in dormitories, some colleges do that.

Contact the college and discuss it with them. And do it tomorrow, no point in discussing it when the course is nearly over.
 
Kids went to a strict gaeltacht this year and while the Bean an Ti spoke Irish she rarely did or interspersed with English. So not unusual it seems . But little time spent in house anyway and rigidly enforced elsewhere. Nothing to be gained by complaining.
 
You might be anticipating too much.

In my experience, the Gaeltacht doesn’t make a blind bit of difference in terms of improving any child’s command of the Irish language. It doesn’t matter whether the bean an ti speaks Irish, English or Japanese.

For most children there, it’s an opportunity to get away from their parents’ direct oversight and have a bit of craic with their friends while experiencing a different culture.

If it’s a well-run programme, they’ll have a great time, although the quality of programmes varies greatly. Just because it’s “the Gaeltacht” doesn’t mean there’s a consistency in quality or content.
 
Recently, my nearly 20 year old mentioned that the only thing that he remembers from his brief stint in the Gaeltacht was being searched for drugs. (Ní raibh aon drugaí aige!).
 
The question I’d ask here is did the punter get what he paid for? You don’t have to be a top barrister to know the punter was screwed. I went to the Gaeltacht as an adult on several occasions. I learned how Irish was spoken amongst people who thought as Gaeilge. I enjoyed the experience and experienced how real speakers of Irish spoke and lived. I’d be more than disappointed if any of the people in the houses I stayed couldn’t speak in Irish. I reckon you’ve no chance of a refund here. Put it down to experience.

For the record:- Most towns have schools that run Irish Language courses for adults. Classes are not difficult and you learn in a much better way than you did in your school days.
 
From what I have seen, from the strict viewpoint of learning Irish, getting grinds is a much more effective investment than a Gaeltacht stay.
 
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I went to the gaelteact where the bean an ti rarely spoke to us. She had 8 kids staying in the house and her only interaction was to hand us food and occasionally shout Cuineas at night. We spent little or no time in the house so it made no difference what her native language was.

The main impact on us was a break from home and the main benefit was a break for our parents.

After 5th year I was in a very small group of older kids and the classes were excellent and very essay writing focussed. The rest of the day probably provided useful fodder for the 15 minute oral exam.
 
I wouldn't be impressed either but if she's feeding him well and he's happy I probably wouldnt say anything.

As regards learning Gaeilge, it will make a huge difference to speak a bit at home if you don't already, Laochra Gael on TG4 and an Nuacht with subtitles on. It was work to get mine to do it at first but we have a laugh about it now.
 
As someone said earlier in this thread, it's probably more a sign of the difficulty the college has in getting accommodation for the students. In our experience there was a huge difference in the quality of accommodation in terms of the hospitality and food on offer, not to mention the cupla focal. One bean an ti clearly only used the oven for cooking and everything came from the freezer (my daughter still jokes about how she thought she would end up with scurvy from her stay) while another was a real Darina Allen (as Gaeilge dar noigh) so it appears to be luck of the draw. It's something you can mention to the colaiste but they probably don't care given they would have known this already.
I don't agree with those who say it is a waste of time in terms of trying to learn the language. They might not realise it but they will be learning through the immersive experience at the colaiste itself, even if they do speak English back at the house (or when out of earshot of the cinniri). That and any attempt to speak it at home is way better than grinds imho.
 
On what basis did you sign up? If a brochure, did it state they would stay in an Irish-speaking household or was that an expectation based on your own childhood experiences?

It's a few decades since I went to a strict college (a number of kids sent home after being caught speaking in English). I can't say it really improved my Irish in any meaningful way and any interactions we had with the local youth was all in English, they regarded Irish as something for the oldies. Some of those are likely hosting kids these days.
 
Leper said:
The question I’d ask here is did the punter get what he paid for? You don’t have to be a top barrister to know the punter was screwed
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That's a bit harsh. Let's not throw the baby out with the bath water. Though enuf to run these colleges as it is with kids bringing vapes, duplicate phones and whatever else they deliberately want to break the rules with.
 
I was a Geailgeóir and I used to go down to learn how the world works. I was embarrassed when the Muinteoirí and the Mná Tí talked to me in Irish as it didn't make you the most popular guy in the school.
 
I used to go to An Gaeltacht off season almost on a yearly basis and it was free through a civil/public service scheme. The downside was there were several freeloaders on the same schemes whose limit of Irish was confined to “Ta se” and a few other oversimplistic phrases. Most of these had no interest in learning Irish and to me they appeared to be there just to avoid work or something. The upside was some of the participants were management and wannabe managers and the lower grades had an opportunity to impress. Poor Ol’ ambition less Lep was amongst these.

I should point out here that I was not a fan of Irish during primary and secondary school. But, when I learned how the people living in An Gaeltacht spoke Irish, I immediately became a fan of Irish and made it my business to speak and learn more Irish as often as possible. This I am happy to say and plug a holiday in An Gaeltacht for anybody.

Incidentally, some of the freeloaders mentioned above spent their time advising Gaeltacht residents that they didn’t need BBC, Netflix etc.
 
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