Can non-Irish-speaking parents help their gaelscoil children with homework?
Ann Barry
Attitudes to Gaelscoileanna are explored in a new study by a Cork student who was struck by the differing reasons why parents send their children to such schools.
Sara Hurley of Kinsale Community School wanted to look at society’s attitude to gaeilscoileanna in her project for the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition.
She looked at the percentage of Irish speakers who send their children to Irish-speaking schools, and whether the parents’ ability to speak Irish affected if they could help with homework.
Here’s some of what she found out: http://youtu.be/eutf_UuAFyk
She also discoverd that over 95 per cent of the people who she surveyed believe that Irish is important, while parents believe that a fluency in Irish at an early age will make it easier for students to learn other languages at second level.