Sir, - It seems from recent reports that the status of Irish in the curriculum is being questioned again and, of course, one can always rely on Kevin Myers (An Irishman's Diary, February 27th) to add his tuppence worth.
Should we get rid of Irish? Is it taking up too much valuable time? Have the textbooks failed to deliver; indeed are they little more than latter-day instruments of the Murder Machine?
In this information age, too many young minds are suffering from overload. Personally, I wouldn't mind too much if someone decided to abolish Irish-language textbooks - at least in the junior cycle - replacing them with dynamic deep-immersion sessions.
Listen! Does a mother consciously teach language skills to her children or refer to the vocative or genitive case? No. She says, "Eat up!" or "Come in out of the rain!" The child responds, blissfully ignorant of the modh ordaitheach, or imperative. This is language acquisition as it should be. Nothing to it!
Once this deep immersion is achieved, extra nuggets can be playfully introduced: songs, poems, proverbs, stories, riddles, legends, prayers. My own good grounding in Irish - oh happy day! - began when I learned Brahms's lullaby in Irish. It has stayed with me.
Let us free the singing birds of the imagination, substituting a litany of failures with a song of praise! Learn 12 songs in Irish in a year - that's 36 in three years - and you will know an awful lot more about the language and its ancient richness than you are likely to acquire by ploughing through tedious textbooks. You will encounter the free, wild spirit of the language and wish to explore more. Therein lies its unchained future! - Yours, etc.,
GABRIEL ROSENSTOCK,
Gleann na gCaorach,
Co Átha Cliath.