Madam, – When a child is, after 14 years of learning Irish, unable to put a sentence together, there are three main reasons for this.
Firstly, when the language is not spoken at home regularly, there is little hope of gaining any ground here. Secondly, and more importantly, the teaching of Irish in schools is not what it should be. Thirdly, every child is an individual, with different strengths and attributes. As they grow and learn they find out for themselves what subjects like, and for some, languages – not just Irish – are a nightmare. Not just Irish.
French is taught differently, and in most cases pupils cope better with it after only five or six years. After 14 years of Irish the number of students struggling, having to do the foundation course in order to fulfil State requirements, is shameful.
Having limited choices of colleges because of one’s lack of Irish is an appalling prospect. For students who have decided to follow a career that will have no need of the language, it is scandalous.
My eldest struggled with languages and had to do foundation Irish for his Leaving Cert last year. My second child is a grade A student in Irish, loves it and strives to do well. Every child is different and should be allowed to follow the subjects they excel in.
Give them better options for the Leaving Certificate, let them do subjects in which they know, at this stage in their schooling, that they can excel.– Yours, etc,
VICTORIA MADIGAN,
Riversdale Avenue,
Dublin 6.