This group is for people who want to learn Irish or improve their Irish using a combination of lessons I create, children's books and traditional textbooks. The lessons will be loosely based on the book and CD set, Colloquial Irish: The Complete Course for Beginners (NY: Routledge, 2008, ISBN-13 978-0-415-38130-7).

However, I'll be customizing some of the themes in the book, to make it pertain to life in the U.S., especially the Delaware Valley, where most of us live. So we'll be emphasizing sentences like "Tá mé i mo chónaí i bhFilideilfia" or "Tá mé i mo chónaí i bPaoli," instead of saying that you live in Ireland, since local versions pertain to more of us anseo i bPennsylvania.

For the children's books, we will start with simple texts, such as Clóicín Dearg [Little Red Riding Hood] and eventually progress to reading Harry Potter and/or Artemis Fowl in Irish, which was one of my original goals for the group. The advanced reading groups are not formal classes as such, but guided reading with a chance to discuss the text in Irish, and, as necessary, in English.  

Since so many people can't get to the in-person meetings, or aren't in this area at all, the format of the group has changed recently. Some elementary lessons, suitable for self-study, are posted online on our group's "Files" pages.  Additional worksheets are emailed directly to those who register for the Skype sessions. After the lessons are posted, there will be some opportunity for feedback to me and Q & A about the topics covered. I may make the feedback part of future lessons if seems of interest to the group as a whole. For those who can get to the in-person sessions, so much the better--dá mhéad is amhlaidh is fearr é (the more the merrier). Hope to see you "ar líne" (on line) or "sa chaife" (in the cafe). - Róisín