Studying Irish helps students to build on their learning to date and to enhance their skills so they can enjoy using the Irish language. Through learning languages, students are provided with the
opportunity to gain the understanding, knowledge and skills to develop their personal, cognitive and social development, as well as their effective participation in the global society. Students’ knowledge of transferable skills and mastery of a language such as Irish will be critical both for learning and in their life in general. This fosters students’ ability and confidence to develop as considerate citizens in the language community. By learning, acquiring and using Irish, students discover information, develop thinking skills, and express opinions and emotions. Therefore,
students are able to manage various demands associated with school, the community, employment, further education and life as a whole.
Students are encouraged to
• use language effectively and confidently, both personally and in communicating with other
users in the language community
• enjoy creative and innovative communication in Irish
• appreciate Irish and have a desire both to speak it and use it
• express themselves through consolidation of their literacy skills
• attempt to use newly-learned language aspects
• engage with a wide range of texts in various ways, for learning, research, and recreation
• have an appreciation and respect for literature in Irish so that they may enjoy literature and
benefit from it
• gain a better understanding of Irish culture and have respect and understanding for other
cultures and languages
Learning Outcomes
Learning outcomes are statements which describe what knowledge, understanding, skills and values students should be able to demonstrate having studied Irish in junior cycle. The learning outcomes set out in the following tables apply to all students. As set out here they represent outcomes for students at the end of their three years of study.
Assessment for the Junior Cycle Profile of Achievement (JCPA)
Classroom-Based Assessment 1: Language portfolio
Students will create a Language portfolio with samples of their work. The language portfolio focuses on the language learning process and places the student and their learning journey at the centre of teaching, learning, and assessment. This gives students an opportunity to set personal learning goals, showcase their work, reflect on the work, and observe progress.
The portfolio may include a range of student-created texts, e.g. projects, learning logs, creative pieces (poems/songs etc. created by the student) reflective pieces, recorded material (audio-visual and visual), texts, presentations completed.
Classroom-Based Assessment 2: Communicative task
The Communicative task gives students the opportunity to choose a subject, topic or issue in which they are interested or is important to them, and explore it over a period of time. In this task, strong emphasis is placed on the student’s oral and interactive skills and on their connection to other language users. In completing the task, students may use any one of the following formats: presentation, interview, role play, drama or conversation in response to stimulus material. Students may work individually, in pairs or in groups. However, where students have collaborated to complete the activity, the teacher should ensure that each student makes a meaningful individual
contribution.
Assessment Task
On completion of the Classroom-Based Assessments, students will undertake an Assessment Task.
This Assessment Task will be completed after the second Classroom-Based Assessment and is marked by the State Examinations Commission.
The Assessment Task will encompass some or all of the following elements:
• students’ ability to evaluate new knowledge or understanding that has emerged through their
experience of the Classroom-Based Assessment
• students’ capacity to reflect on the skills they have developed, and to apply them to unfamiliar situations
• students’ ability to reflect on how their value system has been influenced through the experience of the Classroom-Based Assessment.
There will be two examination papers, one at Ordinary and one at Higher level, set and marked by
the State Examinations Commission (SEC). The examination will be two hours in duration and will take place in June of third year. The number of questions on the examination papers may vary from year to year. In any year, the learning outcomes to be assessed will constitute a sample of the relevant outcomes from the tables of learning outcomes.
Information on Junior Cycle Gaeilge
"Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam"
Padraig Pearse
