While technology has engulfed the world of education in the last five years, the government have been slow to produce any worthwhile curriculum content. Thankfully, as an English speaking nation, we can rely on the good work of the UK, US and Australia for good curriculum content especially in Literacy and Numeracy. Companies such as Learning Horizons and Edware have been filling in the gaps for subjects like SESE because such software has potential to be used in a wider market. However, with Irish being spoken by so few people outside Ireland, the market for Irish language software is very small. There are only 3,200 schools in Ireland so the chances of profit for Irish language software is very limited. The fact that the government has barely supported any Irish educational software means that the fate of the Irish language is not being helped.
There are many boundaries for companies to get professional quality software out there and it is a very expensive business. First of all, companies need professional graphics. Then there’s the whole concept of professional sound quality. Both of these features can cost thousands of Euro. Whether we like it or not, how a product looks and feels is hugely important. Another cost factor is that involved is testing. There shouldn’t be any mistakes in a piece of software and it should be very easy to navigate. To add to these factors, in Irish there are different dialects. This sometimes can triple or quadruple your costs for professional sound.
However, it hasn’t stopped some companies from trying. Fios Feasa has some popular titles out for schools – Drochlá Ruairí and Ruairí sa Zú are two examples. Fios Feasa also runs a consultancy and translation service. Flúirse, based in Kerry, also have a number of titles on the market. They also run online summer courses and some non-Irish software titles. Séamus O’Neill, a former primary school teacher, also writes some Flash content in Irish. He gives this away for free on his web site, Weandus.ie. There are a smattering of other titles out there including Céard É Sin? and eGaeilge.
The latest addition to the market is Spraoi Ville created by Michelle O’ Brien, a secondary school teacher from Gorey, Co. Wexford. The reason why she developed Spraoi Ville was to try to change the way Irish is taught. Michelle decided to create the online resource, saying:
“We spend between twelve and thirteen years of our education learning Irish, yet the majority of us cannot hold a conversation in our native language. I really believed that if we could incorporate Irish into something children love doing then they would love learning our language and be proud to be able to speak it.”
This adventurous project takes the form of an online world where children create an avatar and go to the school to earn coins to buy their avatar clothes and food, as well as go on rides in the theme park. Themes that are taught include, colours, days of the week, counties in Ireland, parts of the body and even fractions! Around twenty schools have signed up already and feedback is good so far. Spraoi Ville costs €49.95 per classroom per annum. It is the first subscription-based Irish language program on the market.
There is obviously a large pool of talent out there and it is a shame that the government decided to invest heavily in hardware last year rather than supporting these small companies in their ventures to bring Irish into the classroom. There is no reason why Irish schools shouldn’t have highly professional content for free. One only has to look at the content provided by the Welsh assembly for Welsh schools to see that. I believe that if we are to save the Irish language, technology has to be part of that agenda and if we continue to not provide curriculum content online in Irish, we can say “slán” to the national language soon.
