Module Overview

Minimum exit level A2.2 Benchmark level B1.1

By the end of the course students will be able to make themselves understood in routine situations, using set phrases and adapting simple structures with the right vocabulary. They may lack fluency and grammatical accuracy, but can start up a conversation, and keep it going if the topic is familiar and the other person is willing to take the lead. They will be able to make initial social contact and discuss familiar subjects, or provide routine personal and study-related information. They will also be able, if appropriate, to make routine phone/video calls; for example to make an appointment or to leave a short message.

Topics covered will include some or all of the following:

1.Background and place of residence

2: The family

3. The house

4. work

5. Travel and holidays

6. Education

7. Hobbies and pastimes (sport and music)

8. Food and drink

9. Daily life

10. Shopping

11. People

12 Appointments and arrangements

13. Learning languages

14. Hobbies and pastimes

15. Talking about the future and making plans

Tasks practiced in class will ensure that students can:

·      Meet, greet, thank, apologise and take leave of others.

·      Start conversations in social situations.

·      Ask everyday questions, make requests and give invitations.

·      Respond appropriately during routine conversations.

·      Provide brief routine descriptions, information or explanations.

·      Provide routine information about past, present and future events.

·      Make brief suggestions or give advice or instructions.

·      Express everyday wishes, feelings, needs, preferences and opinions.

·      Show whether you are following a conversation, and check you are being understood.

·      Ask for repetition or explanation and time to think when needed,

·      Speak accurately with correct pronunciation when using familiar words and language structures.

·      Identify key variations in regional forms.

Students’ active vocabulary will include:

·      Everyday vocabulary

·      Common words and set phrases used in class and social interaction

·      A range of everyday connectors (e.g. ‘and, but, then, because, so’)

·      Polite ways to express: forms of address, greeting, leave-taking; mealtime conventions;  feelings

(wishes, gratitude, regret, apology); agreement and disagreement

·      Routine numerical terms (e.g. numbers, time, dates, quantity)

Cultural context

Class discussion and introduction of additional materials will ensure that students have a knowledge of:

·      Irish language communities in Gaeltacht and non-Gaeltacht areas

·      Key regional and sociolinguistic variables.

·      Placenames in their linguistic and cultural context

Students will have sufficient knowledge of the grammatical system of Irish to have a basis for further study of the language at the levels specified above.  They will be familiar with:

·      The most common ways to express past, present and future

·      Positive and negative statements

·      All common question words and common ways to ask questions (‘Did

·      you? Have you?’)

·      Common ways to ask permission (can, must) and give instructions (what to do and what not to do)

·      Conjugating common verbs accurately

·      Prepositions and initial mutations

·      Variability in noun declension in set phrases

·      Appropriate range of grammatical terminology

Reference sources:

Students will be familiar with how to use and check reference sources to find out or confirm meaning or accuracy (e.g. glossaries, phrase books, dictionaries, verb tables