St Malachy's Primary School in Northern Ireland is making strides in fostering a bilingual environment through the Scoil Spreagtha scheme. This initiative encourages English-medium schools to incorporate the Irish language into their daily curriculum, and about 40% of St Malachy's 400 pupils are newcomers who did not originally have Irish or English as their first language. The scheme, organized by language organization Gael Linn, involves nearly 15,000 pupils across the region, with over 80 schools eagerly waiting to participate.
At St Malachy's, the enthusiasm for learning languages is palpable. Pupils like Freya and Jayson, both aged 10, are embracing Irish as part of their school curriculum. Jayson shared that they learn Irish through activities such as identifying colors and numbers and engaging in games during physical education classes. Freya echoed this sentiment, emphasizing the curriculum's focus on foundational Irish language skills.
Soham, a 9-year-old pupil at the school, has become proficient in Irish while also being fluent in Marathi, Hindi, and English. He expressed the joy of transitioning between languages, stating, "It's fun just switching from one language to another." Soham further explained his linguistic routine, using English and Irish at school while incorporating Hindi and Marathi at home.
Séamas Mac Eochaidh from Gael Linn highlighted the success of the scheme at St Malachy's, noting that it levels the playing field for all students regardless of their linguistic background.
"Everybody feels like they're on the same equal playing field, which obviously promotes that multicultural and multilingual classroom environment." – Séamas Mac Eochaidh
The school's approach to bilingual learning has spurred pupils' enthusiasm for acquiring new languages. Colette McSherry, a teacher at St Malachy's, observed that the initiative enhances listening skills as students learn to discern pronunciation closely.
"It helps their listening skills, because they have to listen very closely to pick up the pronunciation." – Colette McSherry
Despite the success of the Scoil Spreagtha scheme, funding for a primary school languages program was cut almost a decade ago. However, the demand for such initiatives remains strong, with more than 80 schools on the waiting list to participate. Ms. McSherry lauded the cultural value of languages within the school's community.
"It's fantastic. There's a whole culture of where languages are really important and really precious." – Ms McSherry
