Club Gaeilge: crowdfunding agus ceol

English language version below.

Feachtas Fundit & Ceol agus Cómhrá Gach Déardaoin sa Spidéal

Tá feachtas Fundit ar bun ag Club Foghlaimeoirí Gaeilge an Spidéil chun airgead a bhailiú ar mhaithe leis an nGaeilge a chur chun cinn i nGaeltacht Chonamara. Leis an airgead a bhaileofar, tá sé d'aidhm ag an gClub Foghlaimeoirí áiseanna a chur ar fáil d'fhonn cúnamh a thabhairt do dhaoine an teanga a mháistriú go nádúrtha tré chluichí a imirt agus comhrá, amhránaíocht, scéalaíocht, filíocht agus ceol a fhoghlaim. Saorchead isteach ar gach imeacht.

Is iad na himeachtaí atá ar bun cheana ná Comhrá Simplí le Meaití Jó Shéamuis gach Máirt sa Chrúiscín Lán 11 am–1 p.m., agus Scéalaíocht agus Filíocht le Máirín Mhic Lochlainn gach Céadaoin 7–9 p.m., Tigh Giblin.

Feachtas Fundit: http://fundit.ie/project/club-foghlaimeoiri-gaeilge-an-spideal

Ceol agus Cómhrá gach Déardaoin

Aithe sa Spidéal agus bíonn sé ar siúl gach Déardaoin óna naoi a chlog ar aghaidh. Tá fáilte roimh dhaoine atá líofa agus roimh fhoghlaimeoirí ag gach leibhéal, fiú muna bhfuil acu go fóill ach ach cúpla focal Fáilte roimh cheoltóirí chomh maith!
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Fundit Campaign and a New Music and Conversation Night Thursdays in Spiddal

The Spiddal Irish Language Learners Club, or Club Gaeilge, has launched a Fundit campaign to collect donations to promote the use of the Irish language in the Connemara Gaeltacht.

Many people who have come to live in the area are not fluent and they can find it difficult to access the language socially because of time constraints and financial difficulties. The club has been set up by local musicians to provide opportunities for learners to speak Irish socially with native speakers and develop the language naturally through games, storytelling, songs, poetry, music and conversation. All events are free to attend.

Current events include a Simple Conversation morning 11a.m.–1 p.m. Tuesdays with Meaití Jó Shéamuis in the Crúiscín Lán, and Stories and Poetry Wednesday evenings 7–9 p.m. with Máirín Mhic Lochlainn in Tigh Giblin.

Fundit Campaign: http://fundit.ie/project/club-foghlaimeoiri-gaeilge-an-spideal

Music and Conversation every Thursday

A new Music and Conversation night has recently been launched and takes place every Thursday from 9 p.m. with Meaití Jó Shéamuis and Nóra Geraghty. Learners of every level, even those with just a cúpla focal, and fluent speakers are welcome to attend. Musicians are also welcome!

Club Gaeilge crowdfunding appeal

Spiddal Irish Language Learners' Club appeals for support to promote the social use of Irish among settlers in the Gaeltacht

Spiddal's Club Gaeilge has launched its first crowdfunding appeal. This type of fundraising is new to all of us, so we hope you will bear with us as we work through the kinks. We have set a reasonably modest target at €2,000, which, along with other contributions, is enough to run the club for around three months.

Contribute here 

The story so far...

Local musician Nóra Geraghty, on moving to the Gaeltacht, found there were obstacles to acquiring the language which are rarely encountered when learning foreign languages. The growing prevalence of English as the lingua franca in Gaeltacht areas means that in between weekly classes learners can have few opportunities to practice their Irish. Recent research strongly suggests that the Irish language is in danger of dying out if something is not done to encourage the daily use of the language among both learners and native speakers.

Although there was strong support among locals and learners for the idea of a club to address these issues, in the atmosphere of austerity there was no funding available, so after a year and a half, Nóra and Meaití Jó Shéamuis decided to gather a group of supporters and start the club and fundraise on the way along.

The club has been running since the end of March offering conversation groups, story telling, poetry and music, with growing attendance at our weekly meetings and cultural evenings. Currently the club is running three weekly events and more projects and one-off events are planned, including a local phrase book, a campaign aimed at encouraging locals to speak Irish to strangers, singing and drama workshops and a Christmas concert.

Feedback forms will shortly be in circulation at club events (see: http://www.gaeilge.club/ ) and we welcome all suggestions and comments. Unlike formal classes, Club Gaeilge events promote the social use of the Irish language, so if we hope to be as useful as possible we need to know what sort of social events people would enjoy.


Still seeking support of all kinds

We hope this crowdfunding campaign will put us in the black - we've been in debt since we started - but even with financial security we need all the support we can get. We need books, games, CDs and other materials for our library, and we need support from native and fluent speakers too. We need help spreading the word and making new comers feel welcome.

The aim of the project is not just to help learners acquire the language, but to help native speakers understand what they can do to help, and this begins with dialogue between speakers of all levels. It is our hope and wish to provide pleasant and enjoyable settings for these dialogues to take place.

We appreciate your support!

Anois teacht an Earraigh - and a Happy St Patrick's Day to all our friends!

"Anois teacht an Earraigh..."

Paddy's Day marks the coming of Spring for musicians and the Spiddal parade promises to be a treat with a session afterwards in An Droighneán Donn led by Steve Sweeney and friends.

Steve Sweeney, Tom McLoughlin and Johnny Connolly

The Crúiscín Lán hotel has opened after the winter break and soon the sweet sounds of sessions will fill the evening air from every pub as some of our regular visitors return and some new ones find their way into our company. We'll be updating our website as the regular sessions get started so keep an eye on Spiddal Sessions for the latest updates.

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Club Foghlaimeoirí Gaeilge An Spidéil

 

For those interested in learning Irish there is a new club starting on the 22nd March. Club Foghlaimeoirí Gaeilge An Spidéil has been started to assist those moving in to the area to acquire the language naturally in social settings, through games, songs, music, poetry and storytelling. We will be starting out with a 10-week crash-course in conversational Irish for total beginners, with Meaití Jó Shéamuis, on Tuesday mornings in An Crúiscín lán from 11am-1pm and a Wednesday evening poetry and story telling group, with Máirín Mhic Lochlainn, in Tigh Giblin from 7-9pm.

We will be adding other regular groups and one-off events as and when we can, but as usual we are flying by the seat of our pants and we need all the assistance, financial and otherwise, that we can get. If anyone has even €5 to spare, there is a "donate" button at the top of our website www.gaeilge.club and all donations of any amount are gratefully received. Anyone feeling very generous take note that a donation of over €300 will get you a free dinner for two at Tigh Giblin's.

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Seisiúin Foghlaimeora An Spidéal

Learners old and new - All welcome!

The learner session continues every Friday in the cafe through An Nead, from 8-10pm and we have been getting a good attendance throughout the winter and this past couple of months we had our first total beginners and we're delighted to report they are making good progress, with the music and the language. Musicians of all levels are welcome at this session, we play simple tunes to start and then towards then end we'll ramp it up a bit for those who want more of a challenge and we always have a lot of fun, sometimes even cake! 

You can find more information and photos on our Facebook page Seisiúin Foghlaimeora An Spidéal



See you all in the coming months!



http://www.spiddalsessions.org/