Modern Foreign Languages

Radharc na Mara Primary School is part of an Erasmus consortium aimed at raising the linguistic skills of the staff of 14 different schools throughout the county. As part of this consortium, an application was made through Leargas for Erasmus accreditation. Led by the Galway Education Centre, the consortium was succesful in its application and acquired funding to analyse language learning in other European countries. From September 29th to October 3rd, Mr. Joyce visited the beautiful port city of Cadiz in Southern Spain. During the week of study, the consortium visited several schools in the city. Mr. Joyce got to visit "CEIP Fermin Salvochea" in the newer part of Cadiz. The school is a state run school with 150 pupils. The school were very welcoming and put on a number of language learning workshops during the visit. The consortium saw firsthand how the Spanish teachers taught English to children as their second language.
The consortium project will last over a period of two years. It is a wonderful opportunity to upskill and disseminate with the coming of the new curriculum, which looks at developing lingusitic skills for European languages in Irish schools. Our school has received funding to begin the "Say Yes to Languages" programme in the summer months. 5th and 6th Class will begin this programme in preparation for their transition into secondary school.