A Ciorcail Comhrá with a twist – Celebrating successes and failures of language learning! (For adults 16+)
The Gold Fáinne, the sign of the fluent Irish speaker, an duine líofa. But what does fluent mean? Is it the ability to speak with perfect proficiency, no matter who your conversation partner is? Surely it should and surely it’s a great idea to wear your fáinne to impress the person you idolise, your role model, say perhaps the president of Ireland Micheál D Higgins…surely nothing could go wrong in that situation…
Join Áine Gallagher as she facilitates this one of a kind ‘ciorcal cómhrá’ at the Mother Tongues Online Festival 2021 on May 17th at 7.30pm. It will be a fun, inclusive, bilingual workshop where people can practise speaking Irish or simply listen to Áine as she shares stories and introduces the true levels of ‘fluency’. For example, the time you thought you were ready to interact with Úachtaráin na hÉirinn. Áine will aim to encourage others by sharing numerous personal examples, to highlight the reality of what language learning really is, i.e. feeling like an imposter most of the time.
This workshop will provide a chance to practise, but also celebrate our successes, failures and resilience when learning languages. Áine’s main mantra is that “Irish is for everyone”. So don’t fall into the trap and think this workshop is only for “good” or “fluent” Irish speakers. This workshop is for EVERYONE, even if you speak no Irish at all.
Participants are invited to bring a picture that represents their “most surprising experience when speaking Irish”. This is purely voluntary. The pictures will be used to encourage participants to share their stories with the group if willing.
Full event details and registration available here
See the full Mother Tongues Festival Programme here. The Mother Tongues Festival is the largest festival celebrating linguistic diversity through the arts in Ireland. The festival shows that multilingualism is not a barrier, but a reason to get together and celebrate.