Would you consider moving to an island to immerse yourself in the Irish language? Coláiste Ghobnait, a co-educational secondary school on Inis Oírr, the smallest of the three Aran Islands, has a total of 35 students. Ten of those students have moved from the mainland to a host family in order to learn the Irish language as part of a unique Transition Year (TY) programme.

Bríd Ní Dhonnacha, principal of the Irish-speaking rural school, says TY is the year where students are not under exam pressure and get a “real opportunity in small classes to learn the language”.

“Students come for the year, and they stay with host families. It’s like the summer college, but for the full year. They would usually travel home every two weeks, but that varies with the weather. The big thing we find with students is that they see the language as a living language; it’s not just inside the classroom. When they leave school every evening, they hear the language in the local shop. The students are part of the community, and everybody knows everyone because it’s such a small place,” explains Bríd.

Application process

The grant programme is part of the Scéim na bhFoghlaimeoirí Gaeilge and the Gaeltacht Education Policy, which is funded by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and administered by the Galway and Roscommon Education and Training Board (GRETB). The application system normally opens from September to December, with interviews taking place after Christmas.

At the moment, Bríd is seeing an increase in demand because of an upsurge in interest in the Irish language in recent years and “everyone wants to learn how to speak it”.

“The scholarship pays for their host family, so it would cover their food and accommodation. Anything else extra, like travelling to the island, you would pay yourself,” explains Bríd.

Mainland students attending secondary school on Inis Oírr can also avail of a different Department of Education remote areas grant worth up to €5,000 per year. The scheme is designed to cover accommodation and living expenses, allowing students from the mainland to live with local host families and study on the island.

“The number of students in the school is so small, so you can just imagine how important it is when we get new students in. If we don’t speak the language, the language isn’t going to be there. It’s very important to have that population sustained in that way,” she says.

For over 20 years, students have been travelling to the island as part of the TY programme. Due to the population, size and rural landscape, it offers them a different lifestyle, one where they can be fully immersed in the language and the culture.

“It’s not for everyone. We always find that our local students would be very resilient, for example, you might be going on a school tour tomorrow, and if the weather is bad you can’t go. There’s a bit of flexibility needed,” says Bríd.

With the demand, Bríd would love to see more than students come into the school through the grants – the current capacity is 10 – but that depends on the funding available.

“Isn’t it lovely that people are really interested in learning the language. Two weeks in the summer is not enough to learn a language; you need to get the full immersion, the full experience. The year-long programme is definitely the way to go. We will be looking to, hopefully, double those numbers and have more funding provided for that,” explains Bríd.

Although the host families are extremely welcoming of the students, Brid says that the fee they get is not enough because of the increased cost of living. At the moment, they receive €37 per night.

“Really, where will you get a bed and breakfast and dinner for €37? It doesn’t exist. To make it more attractive for other host families to come on board, I think the grant providers need to give consideration to the fee that they’re paying at the moment.

“It’s under the summer school scheme, and it needs to be treated differently. There are more costs associated with housing people during the winter months,” adds Bríd.

Independent learners

The school hosts an online induction meeting about the scheme with parents. When students arrive, they also have an induction for the first few days to help transition them to the language, which Bríd admits does take some time.

“Everything they hear for the first few days will be difficult for them, but we reassure them. It’s about trying to build their confidence when it comes to the language.

“They might understand a good bit of what you’re saying, but to get them to speak is the confidence part. They see that it’s a living language, which is a new experience for them, because they haven’t come from a Gaeltacht area where the language is spoken outside school, or even outside of the classroom,” says Bríd.

Students who participate in the programme become independent learners inside the school and in the local community, which Bríd describes is like them going off to college.

“They get on a boat, and they have to get the shuttle bus to the city, and they really have to be organised. They make new friends and develop a lot of skills, as well as the language itself. There’s a lot of learning,” she ends.

One student's experience:

Although the school normally gets students interested in the Transition Year programme, there is also the option to come into different year groups. A lot of the students in TY stay on to do their Leaving Cert with Coláiste Ghobnait, which was the experience of sixth-year student Eadaoin Kinsella O’Neill.

After attending Coláiste Ghobnait in Transition Year, Eadaoin decided to continue her Irish learning and stayed on at the Inis Oírr school for fifth and sixth year. She is currently getting ready to sit her Leaving Certificate exams this week.

“I went to Coláiste Bhríde in Carnew, Co Wicklow, which is a big secondary school. I ended up coming over for TY, just for a bit of craic and to do something different because I like Irish.

“I spent a lot of summers in the Gaeltacht, and I fell in love with how they spoke it as a first language, so I said I’d try it for a term.

“I originally got the scholarship and found out another lad in my year was going with me, so the two of us had each other, which made a big difference when it came to travelling. He went back after TY, and I stayed on.

“It’s a massive change from here to home. I would have been part of nearly all the sports teams in Carnew, and there aren’t many sports in the school here,” the Wexford native explains.

“It was hard. I knew I had a decent foundation of Irish because of my time in the Gaeltacht.

“It is a big difference coming from home and then moving into a house where you don’t know anyone.

“There were five of us in the house. We were all in the same boat, so we got on really well and stuck by each other.

“Any time someone was feeling a bit down, we were there, we kind of became each other’s families, and we got so close.

“Now I have mixed emotions about finishing up. It’s hard I want to go home, but I am also going to miss it because it’s been a big part of my life for the last three years.

“To anyone thinking of doing it, I would say give it a shot and make an effort. Bríd would always say to us, you get what you put into it. You have to make an effort, which is hard at the start, as the islanders are all fluent, but just make an effort and do your best.”See colaisteghobnait.com