It may come as no surprise that there are not as yet a very great number of websites dedicated to the Irish language - or at least to Irish language learning resources. But the web is by no means entirely bereft of them. Don't miss out, then, on what could be a very valuable study and revision aid between now and the exams.
Below you'll find reviews of some of the best sites available, and many of these sites have links to other ones that are worth checking out. For more sites still, make sure you go to the Irish pages of www.LeavingCert.net.
General resources
An Teanga Bheo
www.ireland.com/gaeilge/teangabeo
This is the Irish language section of ireland.com, the Irish Times website. News articles and opinion pieces are regularly posted here, and they are kept for some time afterwards in an archive, which you can access.
Foinse
www.foinse.ie
Online version of well-known weekly Irish newspaper which covers national and international news, current affairs, sport, etc. Unfortunately, it doesn't keep an archive of back issues.
Gaeilge ar an Ghreasan
http://smo.uhi.ac.uk/gaeilge/gaeilge.html
Portal for Irish resources on the Internet - on the website of a Scots Gaelic college, Sabhal Mor Ostaig. Though the compiler may not have been as selective as one would like, there are links here to much useful material.
www.ucd.ie/gaeilge/nasc/
Newly-published UCD students' online Irish magazine with plenty of articles on topics such as culture, music, and sport.
Language and grammar
Workbook and readings
http://nexus.brocku.ca/rogawa/gaelic/
A set of worksheets and answers on aspects of Irish grammar and language use, prepared by Nancy Stenson of the University of Minnesota. The early lessons are suitable for ordinary-level students and the later ones for higher-level students - in fact, they might find them quite challenging! Also available here are Michael Rhodes' collection of articles in Irish (each one accompanied by grammar notes and a vocabulary list) and a vocabulary quiz, for which your browser will have to be Javaenabled.
Daltai na Gaeilge
www.daltai.com/home.htm
Daltai Na Gaeilge is a New Jerseybased organisation dedicated to the promotion of the Irish language, and its website has much useful material for Leaving Cert students. The grammar pages in particular would be useful for revision, especially after studying an aspect of grammar or in preparation for the oral and aural exams. Honours students would profit from a quick scan of these pages, but pass students could make more substantial use of them. Also check out the site's extensive list of Irish proverbs - good for both oral and written work.
Grammar index
www.iol.ie/sefton/inneacsgramadai.html
A nicely laid out and very helpful resource for Irish grammar. It has a page dedicated to each of the main aspects of grammar, such as adjectives, prepositions, nouns and the genitive case. Other features of the site are worth checking out too, especially the vocabulary aids for such topics as shopping, gardening and travel.
Eo Feasa
http://homepage.eircom.net/eofeasa/
An online Irish tuition website with good material in a set of graded lessons ranging from "beginners" to "advanced". The site also offers students the possibility of submitting written work for correction by a tutor. It doesn't say it, but presumably this is a service you pay for.
History and culture
Archive of articles
www.irelandseye.com/archive.shtm
This archive is on the Irelandseye.com website and contains many good articles on Irish culture and history. For example, click on "oral tradition" and you can go through to pages on, among other matters, the legend of Deirdre, the story of the Children of Lir, and a brief history of the Irish language.
Irish culture at Local Ireland
www.local.ie/arts-and-culture/
There are many valuable articles on Irish history, language and literature on the Local Ireland website, and you can access some of them from the link above. You are probably better off, however, putting search terms (e.g. Irish language, Irish literature) into the search box and following the leads.
