Tuesday, February 02, 2010
RÓNÁNALDO is among the characters on a new internet site to help students learn Irish launched by comedian Des Bishop.
But it was the antics of sports stars John Terry and Tiger Woods that the Irish-American gagster was overheard tackling in the corridors of the Cork gaelcholáiste where he helped launch the project yesterday.
Bishop was lauded by Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe for the inspiration he had given to teachers of Irish through his TV series In the Name of the Fada. The comedian even showed up the Cabinet member with his flowing command of the language, picked up through his immersion in the language during a stint in Connemara.
"I came to Batt O’Keeffe 18 months ago full of zeal about promoting the language, and there’s nothing more dangerous to a politician than a comedian full of zeal. But he stuck by me and it’s probably the only positive story he has right now," joked Bishop.
The Abair Leat online resource being piloted by the minister’s department at 14 second-level schools is aimed at developing first years’ ability to speak Irish and could help revolutionise how the language is taught. Mr O’Keeffe said the increase in marks for oral Irish, from this summer in the Junior Certificate and from 2012 for the Leaving Certificate will make this more important.
Although they’ve just been using it for a few weeks, the class visited by the minister and the mischievous Bishop at Coláiste Choilm in Ballincollig, Co Cork are really enjoying it.
"The cartoons and the games are very colourful and they’re full of interesting characters. My favourite is Rónánaldo because I’m interested in sport," explained Oisín O Murchú in fluent Irish.
The site was developed by Mícheál O Foighil at Lurgan in Inverin, Co Galway, where Bishop honed his Gaeilge skills on TV, along with Irish companies Block 5 and Digilogue.
Not only is it a classroom resource, but teachers can notify students of their homework online. Using a headset with a microphone, students can give their answers to verbal questions and teachers can mark them from home as well.
As Coláiste Choilm principal Pat Kinsella reminded students, there is also the ‘bonus’ of parents being able to check the homework as well.
Other characters include Na Diabhailíní Beaga and Criostóir an Scriostóir, but Ellen Ní Dheasmúnaigh declared Fifi Foinfe her favourite: "She’s perfect all the time and she’s blonde."
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