Gearscannain

Dr. Muiris O' Laoire and Samhlaiocht's Sheila Kelly

Dr. Muiris O' Laoire and Bernadine Mhic Giolla Phadraig to facilitate a workshop for Irish Teachers titled: "Exploring ways of teaching Gearscannan"

A workshop for secondary school Irish teachers, entitled "Exploring ways of teaching Gearrscannain", will be held at The Teachers Education Centre on the North Campus of the Institute of Technology Tralee in Dromtacker, Tralee on Tuesday, February 27th.

Gearrscannain, which means short film "as gaeilge", is a study option for senior cycle students studying Irish and explores the short film format through the medium of Irish. The workshop, which will be facilitated by Dr. Muiris O' Laoire, senior lecturer at the Insitute of Technology, Tralee and Bernadine Mhic Giolla Phadraig will help teachers to better understand short films and to use the medium to instruct students studying Gearrscannain.

"There has been an absolute explosion in short film making recently," said Jason O' Mahony, Artistic Director of Samhlaiocht Kerry Film Festival, "and this is reflected in both the quantity and quality of short films shot in Irish. The workshop ties in wonderfully with the Kerry Film Festival and shows Samhlaiocht's dedication to both short films and the rich cultural history of Kerry and Ireland."

"This is a very welcome opportunity through Samhlaíocht's initiative to work with teachers, to hear about their experiences of teaching film to date and together to develop new approaches to appreciate the growing Irish language film industry" said Dr. Muiris O Laoire.

Dr. O' Laoire, a senior lecturer at the Institute of Technology, and author of a recent book on the teaching of Irish (Siollabais Chumarsaide na Gaeilge) conducts and supervises research into different aspects of language teaching. Dr. O' Laoire was education officer for Irish at the NCCA and oversaw the implementation of the inclusion of film in the revised Leaving Certificate syllabus. He chaired the working group at the NCCA who produced the guidelines for the teaching of film and literary texts.

Sheila Kelly education programme co-ordinator for Samhlaiocht, is delighted to bring this quality workshop to Kerry. "The Gearrscannan workshop for teachers extends Samhlaiocht's reach to educators and consolidates our commitment to short film".

This workshop is supported by Second Level Support Services. For more information or to sign up for the workshop please contact Sheila Kelly of Samhlaiocht on 066 712 9934 or email info@samhlaiocht.com