Learning Irish via Outdoor Activities, Falcarragh, Co. Donegal, Ireland 1981

[@jamesbradshaw3389]

When I was a very young boy, spent 4 years going to a Irish speaking school in the stunningly beautiful area of Maam Valley and yet I a hardly learned a word of Irish in all my time there, I have Dyslexia which I only learned about many years later, our school was about half a mile from the next building excluding the Garda Síochána barracks which was a 100 yards away, situated on the rear right hand side of our school. Somehow I managed to loose myself in the crowd during school days, I would never put myself forward to answer a question, I stayed In the background as much as possible but one day before our summer holiday are lovely Lady teacher lady decided that you would like us to write a story in Irish about our lives, and she would check on each one of our copies later.I was sat on a bench with three other kids and as they began to write I tried to copy a little from each of their pages, I even tried copy a little from the kids sitting in front of me, the teacher noticed what I was doing and told me to stand up and she would be back shortly, she went out the rear door of the school and marched up to the police barracks and came back with the sergeant and two policemen. The 2 policemen stood inside the door of our school, our teacher marched back up to her desk at the front of the class room followed by the sergeant, she spoke to him about me and pointed me out. I felt completely guilty of my great crime and I was praying for a quick death I was hoping that my punishment would not very painful and my life would be ended immediately by being shot, I did not want to be hung as that would take too long, after a short conversation the sergeant turned around, walked back down to the rows of seats and out the back door hollowed by the other 2 policemen, they closed the door behind them and never said a word to me. I had escaped with my life yet I never put any blame my teacher for what it happened to me for I was the stupid one could not properly read write until a little later life, Itaught myself in my own ways. I lost the shame of loving and coping with dyslexic. I would have loved to learned to speak Gaelic

[@tonemc6047]

She called the Gards because you copied someone else’s work ? They are obviously rushed off their feet around there then !

[@Janet4021]

​@@tonemc6047I'm sure dyslexia had never been recognised in James Bradshaw younger life. I love his memoirs and I'm sure a book would be appreciated.

[@Dheuedbv]

You still can, it’s your choice.

[@Janet4021]

@@Dheuedbv Do not send any more communication to my personal notifications. You might think you're clever. You are just a ignorant idiot.

[@johnnielson7676]

I’m sorry to hear that happened to you James. That must have been so scary and discouraging. No wonder some of us ditched classes at that age. There are so many people denied their right to an education due to their learning best in a different way from others. I would hope that in this day and age a teacher would be more understanding and to work with a specialist educator. It seems like you and I are of a similar age, having heard some of the greatest bands of all time play live. I’ve heard it said that learning a language keeps the mind young. Maybe there’s a community center or something similar near you that has Irish language classes for adults, and perhaps if you spoke with the instructor they might even have some training in teaching people with dyslexia? Just a thought. As always, I enjoy the reminiscences you post here.

[@brianquigley1940]

Is it unusual that the commentator speaks Irish with a British accent?

[@HaiLsKuNkY]

it sounds like received pronunciation

[@brianquigley1940]

@@HaiLsKuNkY Yes, exactly. It's jarring to my ear. Was it an Irishman who'd been to a British boarding school? Or a Brit who'd taken a class? 😉

[@HaiLsKuNkY]

@@brianquigley1940 we do have a small population of Irish speakers in Manchester, their is an Irish centre and they do Irish classes for £3 a lesson. My mum is a Scottish Gaelic speaker from the Isle of Skye and she lives in Manchester too, when my grandma was getting end of live care she moved to Manchester and was a fully Gaelic speaker as her main language and when she was in hospital Oldham hospital had a priests that could also give prayer in Scottish Gaelic so don’t underestimate the little pockets of Gaelic culture throughout the uk.

[@brianquigley1940]

@@HaiLsKuNkY Thank you for sharing that heart-warming story. Best o luck to you, friend.