Primary Level

Q. What is the difference between the Irish Courses and Irish Camps for Primary School Students?
A. The Irish Course provides morning classes in Oral, Written, and Aural work. The afternoon sessions are dedicated to speaking,”as Gaeilge” in an informal setting by taking part in a range of activities such as Sports, Drama, Film, Animation, and Arts & Crafts etc.

The Irish Camps are all activity-based. Students engage in twenty different activities during their weekly camps.  This is Multi-Activity Camp which includes Sports, Song, Dance, Movement, Drama, Lego, Baking, Drawing, Film and Animation etc.
Students are given a short class at the start of each activity to teach and explain vocabulary and phrases that will be practiced during the following activity.

Two weeks Irish Course = €350 and  One week Irish Summer Courses Fees: €175 except for week 9 Fees€155

Irish Summer Courses

1.Gaelcholáiste Cholumba provides Irish Summer Courses for a two week period for students from (4th/5th/6th classes). The courses are designed specially for this age group by Irish teachers.
2.Primary school students gain so much confidence in speaking Irish on this course. They learn to incorporate new vocabulary and phrases in everyday situations. Each day, students are taught to role play everyday situations such as: Buying groceries in a supermarket, ordering food in a restaurant, a conversation on the way to school match (rugby/hockey/tennis/basketball and so on), an evening at a youth club, introducing themselves, conversations about school life, subjects and favorite pastimes, their friends etc.
3.Speaking through Irish all day is a key component of the course. We have found that primary school students perform very well and gain confidence quite quickly in conversing “as Gaeilge”.
4.Grammar and sentence structure is taught using the new vocabulary and phrases learned that day. Students write sentences and passages based on the role plays that took place that day.
5.Students are also introduced to the Aural aspect of the language. Again, this is made easy by incorporating the same vocabulary and new phrases that were already practiced and learned that day. There is repetition and encouragement comes in abundance.
6.The afternoon activities for primary school students include swimming, soccer, tag rugby, hockey, rounders , badminton, volleyball, film, animation, arts & crafts and drama.
7.These students experience Céilí, dancing and music on Thursday afternoons between 2:00 pm -3.00 pm.
8.The entire course culminates in students developing confidence in speaking Gaeilge in everyday situations and having the confidence to write and listen to Gaeilge on the Irish radio stations.

★Irish Weekly Summer Camps
1. At the Summer Camps, students begin to experience Irish as an everyday language, and both their confidence and ability to use it improve dramatically.
2.Gaelcholáiste Cholumba provides camps to suit Irish speakers at every level from beginners to advanced. Our camps are designed to improve the learner’s command of the language in a structured, yet relaxed and friendly atmosphere. Every student is encouraged and all progress is acknowledged. The key is for each student to gain confidence in speaking and using the language.
3.Gaelcholáiste Cholumba is providing weekly Irish Camps for primary school children from Tuesday, 28th June to Friday, 20th August. Times: 9.30am -12.30pm. Our Camps include a written module each day. Students are taught correct sentence structure. Students are shown how to write short passages “as Gaeilge“.
4.Each week, we adopt a different theme. Students are exposed to new vocabulary and new phrases each week.
5.Students work and play in groups as well as individually. They role-play a number of everyday situations.
6.The key feature of the camps is to encourage speaking “as Gaeilge” and developing confidence in speaking the language.
7.We have over twenty activities during the course of the week for students to engage in.
8.Each activity starts with a short lesson on the vocabulary and phrases needed for that activity.
9.Students are grouped according to age and level.