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!