Languages | St. Cecilias College

Modern Languages

(French, Irish, Spanish)

Welcome to the Modern Languages Department

Department Members

Catriona Toland – Head of Department

Angela Carlin

Bernadette Ó Mianáin

After School/Extracurricular Activities

Languages are not just school subjects as we are very proactive all year round. ‘European Day of Languages’ is celebrated on 26th September with many fun, educational and cultural activities including Salsa dancing and French Breakfast, a European Quiz as well as poster and card competitions.

In March, we celebrate ‘Seachtain na Gaeilge’ with Irish quizzes, storytelling and other fun, cultural activities although the highlight of Seachtain na Gaeilge is always the Céilí Mór, where our pupils, and even some teachers, showcase their musical and Irish dancing talents.

Onatti Theatre Productions bring French and Spanish plays to the school when possible and they have proven to be a great success with the pupils.

Irish pupils get the opportunity to experience the Irish language outside the classroom when they visit the Irish-medium primary school, Gaelscoil na Daróige, and also when they go to the Gaeláras to order lunch in Irish.

Qualifications

We, as a department, are very proud of the fact that we are the only all ability school in Derry to run parallel GCSE classes in Irish, French, and Spanish. The results are consistently high every year and then some pupils go on to study ‘A’ level languages as part of our Foyle Learning Community.

We give Year 10 pupils the opportunity to achieve an accreditation in their chosen language by entering them for the CCEA Online Languages Assessment (OLA). The success rate to date has been outstanding.

School Trips

School trips are organised every couple of years and to date we have visited places like:

Paris,

Normandy,

Salou,

Barcelona,

Malaga,

Brussels,

Bruges,

Berlin,

Cologne,

Boppard,

Lake Garda,

Verona,

Venice,

Florence,

Pisa.

Modern Languages Information

Year 8 pupils who study Irish undergo the ‘Cúpla Focal’ exam each year – a badge which shows their ability to speak Irish. An Fáinne Airgid is also undertaken by Year 10 pupils.

We have excellent language assistants who help us in every way possible and who are very much a part of languages team here at St. Cecilia’s College.

We are always proud of our pupils’ achievements and celebrate their success on Twitter, Facebook and the St. Cecilia’s website. We reward pupils for different categories in all three languages each month. We incorporate the House Point System into all our activities to foster a healthy competition among the pupils, but more importantly to reward effort and excellence.