Infoblast: Bringing Gaeilge into everyday practice

Using the Irish language in everyday conversation helps keep our culture and heritage alive, allowing us to stay connected to the stories, identity, and traditions that make Ireland special. When babies, toddlers and young children hear Irish every day, simple phrases like “Dia dhuit” and “Go raibh maith agat” become natural to them, supporting early language development and helping them grow up with a strong sense of belonging.

The updated Aistear framework emphasises using Irish words, phrases, and proverbs in interactions with babies and toddlers to build confidence in using our national teanga (language).

Introducing Irish to pre-school children in English-medium settings

‘Aistear highlights the importance of Ireland’s cultural and linguistic heritage. Irish words, phrases and proverbs are included throughout the Framework to encourage their use in daily conversations in early years settings. Examples include clann (family), grá (love) and spraoi (fun), as well as terms like meitheal (a sense of community spirit and coming together) that don’t have an exact English equivalent. Using these Irish words helps people connect with Ireland’s national language and makes it more familiar to everyone living here.’

See more on the Nurturing Skills website HERE.

Resources:

Using song is a great way to introduce Irish into an Early Years Setting, and remember it. Anyone who attended Primary School in Ireland will remember: “Roly poly, roly poly, suas, suas, suas. Roly poly, roly poly, sios, sios, sios” The link below will bring you to an Irish musician’s Youtube page, who creates simple songs for children as Gaeilge.

https://www.youtube.com/@RionaSally

An Siopa Gaeilge has numerous books for a variety of ages, you can find Early Years books HERE

Broga Nua is a useful resource for including Gaeilge daily, with QR codes to songs. It is available through the link above for An Siopa Gaeilge or on the Early Childhood Ireland website.