Cloneyhurke NS says ‘Ja, Oui and Si’ to Foreign Languages
Fourth Year of ‘Say Yes to Languages’ Programme at Cloneyhurke NS
Say Yes to Languages is currently in its fourth year, funded by The Department of Education and we have taken part each year. Children from 3rd to 6th class are given an opportunity to explore from a range of 16 Modern Foreign Languages or Sign Language.
To date, children have sampled French, German and Spanish over the last 3 years. In this current school year, children will be given the opportunity to learn Sign Language.
Throughout the 10 hours of learning, children explore the language, the country, sing songs and learn phrases they would use in everyday life. We have also purchased books for the children in the languages they have studied to date to enable them to develop their studies in the languages of interest to them.
We are looking forward to exploring Sign Language after learning Silent Night for our Christmas Carol Service. Children enjoyed performing this at Oakdale Nursing Home, Portarlington.
As soon as I read about the Say Yes to Languages initiative, I applied for our school, knowing that children, particularly in 6th class would benefit from getting an opportunity to spend 6 weeks learning a language prior to attending secondary school. This in turn would let them know if they wanted to further their studies in the chosen language. I always believed one day teaching a language would be introduced at primary level and this will be the case in the new school year in 2025. I feel now having taken part for 4 years, children have had the opportunity to make decisions on what languages they might like to study further. The programme has also moved from initially being 6 weeks to 8 weeks & is now running this year for 10 weeks! – Mary Coss, Cloneyhurke NS Deputy Principal and Senior Room Class Teacher
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