The Multigrade Classroom Series: Gaeilge (3rd - 6th)

The following post explains how I go about organising the teaching of Irish in my multigrade classroom (4th and 5th) over the course of a fortnight.

Week 1: Monday Vocabulary Lesson

Before we begin a new theme (e.g. éadaí), I teach a vocabulary lesson based on words they will meet over the coming fortnight. We play Cluiche Kim and Biongó with the words and pictures on the board, they take them down into their dictionary copy and then draw a picture to match the word.

Week 1: Tuesday Reading Lesson

I work with each class separately as we read a story from their Bun go Barr. I go through new vocabulary in the story with one class, read it with them and go through the questions orally. As we are doing this, the other class are given words from their story to find in the foclóir and translate. They will be asked to test each other on these after this, as they will be quizzed on them the next day and given tickets for knowing them.

Week 1: Wednesday Reading Lesson

While the class who were working on dictionary work the previous day read their story as a class and then answer the questions following it, the class who have already read their story are given the questions we discussed orally the day before to answer in their copies. If they have these finished early, they are given cloze procedures to complete. This lesson is usually my longest Irish lesson of the fortnight.

Week 1: Thursday Grammar Lesson

I teach grammar lessons (e.g. using the Aimsir Chaite, An Aidiacht Shealbhach, etc.) to both classes together as much as possible. If a concept is particularly difficult, I will quiz them briefly on the concept using their whiteboards before every lesson during the remainder of the fortnight.

Week 1: Friday Verb Lesson

I teach verbs to the whole class as a group. I teach 2 verbs a week to the class. For more details on how I teach verbs in my classroom click here.

Week 2: Monday Verb Lesson

I teach another two verbs to the class in this lesson.

Week 2: Tuesday 'Comhrá Beirte' Lesson

I also teach this lesson as a class. This comhrá will be based on the theme we are covering for the month. I will demonstrate the phrases with a child, have two children model the comhrá and have the class practice the comhrá/drámaiocht in pairs. Sometimes I will differentiate the phrases, by giving the lower grade class fewer. 

Week 2: Wednesday and Thursday Creative Writing Lesson

We revise the comhrá beirte we had the previous day as an introduction to the lesson. Creative writing exercises may involve them writing out phrases they learned in the comhrá beirte (to tell a story about themselves/ describing their lunch and favourite food/etc.), writing a story to match a cartoon, writing a menu or a T.V. Schedule, etc. 

Week 2: Friday Poetry lesson

Both of my classes learn the same poems, however sometimes questions and response activities may be differentiated. 

Outside of these formal Irish lessons, I spend about 5 minutes each morning going through Irish spellings and phonics with each class separately. The children are also given a frása na seachtaine to learn for homework each week and use in class as often as possible.

If you yourself have any tips for teachers teaching in a multi-grade classroom, don't forget to comment below and if you are looking for ideas on how to teach English to a multi-grade class, check out last week's post here.