Friday 30 August 2013

RIP Seamus Heaney

But I've no spade to follow men like them.
Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests.
I'll dig with it.

"Digging" by Seamus Heaney. Hear (and see!) Seamus read it on youtube here

Seamus Heaney passed away. A sad loss to his family and to the people who admired his work.

I count myself as one of them - I've reading started to read his work, not expecting to find much to interest me. It surprised me, how the beauty of the poems touched me. That someone finds Ireland, the bogs of Ireland beautiful still feels like a strange thing. Why is this, I wonder?

Heaney's work is heavily rooted in the soil, especially his poems about the people found in the bog (Bog Queen springs to mind). But it wasn't just that, his poems examine his connection to, his love for his family. There's almost a guilt about not following in his fathers footsteps, but surely that's what we as human beings must do. Find our own way to own our traditions, sometimes that means stepping away from what our parents made us. Times change, and our lives need to change with them. but that doesn't mean we don't love our roots - does it?

And in honour of the man, please enjoy this reading of "the rain stick"
 

Botanic gardens

Sunday 18 August 2013

Baile an Fheirtéaraigh Iúil 2013

Sign saying Baile an Fheirtéaraigh
Welcome to the gaeltacht!
Image credit: SM Jenkin
So, I visited the Irish speaking area in Dingle last month. I attended the one week (post beginners) course run by Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne. It was a most interesting experience overall, as it dealt with more than the words, they were placed in context. Their audience is clearly international, so there was a series of cultural events. A céilí, a quiz, a baking class in Irish at the excellent museum, other visits too including one to the Blasket islands.

However, the teaching. The teacher was lovely, approachable, personable but ... there was more evidence of teaching than of learning. I appreciate that teaching a class of post beginners must be awkward, but the purpose of learning is to practise rather than to listen. It took several days before this was addressed and for me this tarnished the experience. Eventually we were able to practise some dialogue with the other students in the class, but it was a hard slog getting there and then it was time to leave.

This isn't the first time I have experienced this style of teaching either - do you think this may be contributing to the overall malaise about language learning? It's hard enough for adults to put aside the time (and money) to learn. What other barriers do you think contribute? After all, isn't it easier to listen to a CD and practice by yourself?

However, despite the problems I've mentioned I would recommended, as the course overall covered far more than the language, it was all about the context. And the sun shone on us all, so it wasn't all bad....