The GaelMinn Gazette: March, 2014 http://ezezine.com
THE GAELMINN GAZETTE (#106): March, 2014
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The GaelMinn Gazette, a monthly e-newsletter from Gaeltacht Minnesota,
carries helpful items for anyone studying the Irish language, anywhere,
as well as news of interest to local and regional students.
Please FORWARD this newsletter to any friends who may want to learn
Irish. And if you received this Gazette from someone else, go to
www.gaelminn.org to sign up.
To read this newsletter as a web page, go to
www.gaelminn.org/lastgaz.htm .
Content (C) 2014 Gaeltacht Minnesota
CONTENTS
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Tips, Tools, & Tricks
How Do You Like That?
GaelMinn News & Announcements
Lessons Learned
Equinoctial Cleaning
About Gaeltacht Minnesota
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APRIL 5 WORKSHOP!
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----------REGISTER NOW FOR OUR ONE-DAY WORKSHOP SATURDAY APRIL 5
We will hold our annual spring workshop on Saturday, April 5, at the
University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. We're excited to return to St.
Thomas, and we have an excellent line up of instructors for this event.
For new students, completing this workshop will get you into our
regular Monday classes.
Registration closes on March 29, so there's still time to join us. For
complete information and a downloadable registration form, go to
http://www.gaelminn.org/ceard.htm .
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TIPS, TOOLS, & TRICKS
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----------HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT?
Expressing likes and dislikes is a fundamental element of everyday
conversation, so you'll want to be able to do it in Irish. Fortunately,
the basic form is easy:
"Is maith liom X" = "I like X", and
"Ní maith liom X" = "I do not like X".
This straightforward conversational element, then, can be a great tool
for expanding your use of Irish, as it is easy to use AND it is
interesting and relevant. In other words, "I like/don't like" is
something that, even if you are at a beginning level, you CAN say and
you WANT to say.
Now, in the past we have suggested some ways you can use these simple
phrases to be more active in your use of Irish, and we'll refresh your
memory on those suggestions. But you can also use this basic concept as
a stepping stone to more and more sophisticated conversation.
Let's start at the beginning. The heart of this exercise is to imagine
being asked, "An maith leat X?" again and again, at various points in
the day. Indeed, the trick is to set up "triggers" that serve up this
question without you having to make a conscious effort.
One way to do this is to connect your likes/dislikes to a regular event
in your life. Let's assume that every evening you sit down and watch
the news on television. And you commit to expressing at least three
likes and three dislikes during each newscast.
So, during the news, you comment that you do not like a particular
reporter, or you do like a specific story. You do not like the tie or
sweater one anchor is wearing, but you like the hat another is wearing
in a segment. Say so.
Here are some helpful tips for what we might call Round 1 of
likes/dislikes:
* If you don't know the Irish word for X, say it in English: "Ní maith
liom that hat". The important thing is to express your reaction as
quickly as possible, to get the "Is/Ní maith" part down automatically.
Don't worry, after the tenth time you have used the same English word,
you'll look it up and learn to use the Irish word.
* Limit this exercise to your committed time slot, whether that's the
evening news, or your daily staff meeting, or your commute. Sometimes
students have a little success with this activity, are seized with
virtue, and then try to do it all day. Better to build a solid habit --
do it with the news for a month -- and then expand it to one other
time-limited slot. If you expand it to the point where you have to work
at it, you'll burn out.
There's another way to set up triggers, and that is to create standard
questions -- Do you like cats? Do you like knitting? Do you like sushi?
-- and ambush yourself with them in various ways. For example, each day
you could record yourself saying the question into your cell phone and
set that as your ringtone! Or you could put the question on a card you
use as a bookmark in the mystery you are currently reading, you could
put a sticky notes with questions on your bathroom mirror or your
fridge.
Again, beware virtue, don't try to move too quickly. Answer the
question about cats for, say, three days before changing the question.
The idea is to get your response to be a reflex action, no thought
needed, and repetition is good for that.
Now, after a while of using one or both of these approaches, you can
tackle Round 2: expanding your responses. How much and how quickly you
expand them depends on how far along you are in your studies, but here
are some possibilities (and we'll leave you the homework of looking up
the Irish for these):
* Instead of just saying whether or not you like something, add some
information about another like/dislike. In other words, say, "Yes (I
like), but I do not like Y," or "No, I don't like X, I prefer Y."
* Give one simple reason for your feelings, even a stupid one: "I do
not like X (actor), he is too tall." "I like that sweater because I
love that color."
* Find, or make up, a more complicated explanation, perhaps
incorporating some grammar point you are working on. For instance, if
you are trying to get more practice with the past habitual tense, you
might say, "I do not like that news anchor because she used to eat a
lot of fudge," or some other sin or virtue.
* As you are doing this, it helps to focus on the same topic for days
or weeks at a time. That is, you might see a commercial for baked beans
and declare you do not like them. Then you might respond to the
commercial with statements about other things you like better. And
finally, you might launch into a mini-diatribe on why you hate them and
why they should be banned from the face of the earth. Once you have
reached that stage, pick a new object of desire/loathing, and start all
over.
One more tip: don't be embarrassed to write down these kinds of answers
and rehearse them by saying them again and again. Doing it alone in
front of the news feels silly. But then one day you find yourself in a
live conversation with another speaker, and these rehearsed items will
pop back into your head and rescue you.
This is an activity that is easy to do, that can be gradually expanded
to help you very gently grow your abilities, and that can give you
excellent practice for real time conversation. What's not to like about
that?
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GAELTACHT MINNESOTA NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
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----------SCOTS GAELIC (GÀIDHLIG) OVERVIEW
We are fortunate that one of our instructors, Wes, has a good knowledge
of Gàidhlig, the Scottish version of Gaelic. Wes will be teaching an
"Overview" of Scots Gaelic on the four Mondays in April, the 7th
through the 28th.
This is a one-hour x four weeks class, less in-depth than the two-hour
classes that make up our Irish Gaelic Intro. And, sorry, we don't have
provide any ongoing classes in this language after the four weeks are
done.
But we do encourage students from this class to form a study group
around Scots Gaelic. You can even find advice about how to do that on
our Tools page at http://www.gaelminn.org/gmtools.htm .
Registration is on-line through St. Paul Community Education, not
through Gaeltacht Minnesota. Fee is only $30.
For more information, including a link to the Community Ed registration
site, visit http://www.gaelminn.org/commed/index.htm .
----------CLASS NOTES
No class (Spring Break) on March 31.
Note: If you're going to take Wes's Scots Gaelic class in April, please
let your instructor know.
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LESSONS LEARNED
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Sharing ideas we learn from both instructors AND students.
----------EQUINOCTIAL CLEANING
In my part of the world, the spring equinox recently slid by, a time
when many people think of "spring cleaning". But we also have
subscribers from south of the equator, so let's just say that whatever
version you have recently experienced, you might think of the equinox
as a good reminder, twice a year, to do a little assessment of your
Irish studies.
An external reminder to objectively look over your study activities can
be very valuable in helping you make better progress in the coming six
months, until the next equinox. Take a little time to sit down and
think about how you're doing, and where you want to go next with the
language.
We'll cover some questions or considerations you might want to ponder
as part of your equinoctial review. But we'll start with an issue you
probably do NOT want to spend much time on: "Is my Irish better?"
This semi-annual review is best focused on strategies for building
study habits, focusing on getting the most out of your experience,
rather than grading yourself on your Irish abilities. While a review of
your habits and methods makes sense, a review of your abilities may
not. After all, a lot of things go into your progress in terms of
language skills, including all of the other demands on your time.
And you don't make progress by just setting a higher standard for your
skills. You make progress by managing the process around learning
Irish. If you manage your study behavior and your use of Irish, the
skills will come.
If I were to come in to do an assessment, I'd probably start with
questions like these:
* Are you enjoying learning Irish? Is it still fun? If you aren't
getting some satisfaction out of learning Irish, no amount of structure
and discipline will make a difference.
* If you are not enjoying it as much as you should, why? It could be
that language learning is not your thing, you've discovered. It is more
likely, though, if you have come this far, that you are feeling the
demands on your time and self-imposed pressure to improve. In this
situation, it pays to make explicit plans to enjoy Irish study more. If
you're always pounding the books (or the recordings) in formal study,
get some fun materials in there, whether songs or bits of lore or even
kids' stories that might be amusing. And if the drudgery of study is
getting to you, using many of the tips found in this newsletter will
help you to tackle Irish in smaller pieces, at different times in your
schedule, making it less of a chore and more of a fun addition to your
day.
* How regularly do you "touch" the language? More important than
evaluating your absolute level of ability is evaluating your study
behavior. Work on managing your activity, putting in time more
consistently, more regularly (again, a key focus of this newsletter)
and the skills will come.
* Can you eliminate some excuses? Time crunches can be real, but they
can also be convenient! Or some students are always looking for the
perfect self-study course, or the perfect set of recordings, or the
perfect web site to help them. If you called a moratorium on looking
for more time and more resources, how could you use your currently
available time and resources more efficiently and thoroughly to tackle
the language?
* Are there situations you aspire to, and situations you're somewhat
frightened of? For instance, you may plan to attend a workshop, perhaps
in an interesting location, or even go someplace like Oideas Gael in
Donegal. Or you may be terrified of that notion. Either way, knowing
where you stand helps you make decisions about what to pursue, and what
you can do to work up to some of these challenges.
* What aspects of the language do you "work around" or avoid? Are there
tenses you never use, because you can't seem to remember them? Or
things like relative clauses? Notice the "potholes" you drive around in
your conversations, because they point to areas where some concentrated
work could open whole new avenues of expression for you.
I'm sure you can think of additional issues for your self-assessment.
But think of it a little bit like getting in shape. Just thinking about
how much you weigh or how far you can walk or run will not necessarily
move you forward. Thinking about managing, cajoling, coaxing, even
tricking yourself into exercising just a little bit more, more often,
and then just a little bit more again, that's what produces results.
Assess your study process and make adjustments, and the results will
take care of themselves.
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ABOUT GAELTACHT MINNESOTA & THE GAZETTE
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Gaeltacht Minnesota is a volunteer organization that has been teaching
free weekly classes in Irish for more than two decades. Besides free
classes, we offer several workshops each year, publish a printed
newsletter for learners, and participate in a wide variety of community
events.
The GaelMinn Gazette is distributed to our subscriber list on the 25th
of each month: Will Kenny, editor.
---------- CONTACT US
You can stay up to date with Gaeltacht Minnesota at www.gaelminn.org ,
or drop us a line anytime at info@gaelminn.org .
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