Will's Class

Announcements

Proposed Summer Schedule

We'll meet at Maureen's church, off the Diamond Lake Road exit on 35W:

June 5: Last class in Central
June 19, then off three weeks (July 4) to
July 10
July 24
August 7 (Irish Fair is Aug 11-13) three weeks off until
August 28
Two weeks off before resuming at Central Sept 11

Topic Notes

We've spent quite a bit of time on our favorite tenses ...

Looking forward to the rest of spring and summer, two topics that have been requested:

the copula
prepositions

I'm thinking of merging the two topics over the summer ...

Last Time (August 7) (back to top)

VOLUNTEER!

Go to our on-line volunteer form to sign up for the Irish Fair!

Comhrá

Some had quiet weeks, some had hectic weeks, but we all shared our experiences in Irish.

Seanfhocal

Go dtí leath bealaigh síos tá sult, suaimhneas, agus sásamh ann ach as sin síos tá deamhas, diabhal, agus dochar san ól.

Nice parallel structure, s-d/good-bad contrast. Basically, when you start drinking, first it feels good, and then it goes to hell.

Copula Classification Sentences

We did the homework from last time's copula handout, but we also said the English version of our sentences with Irish syntax, that is, "Is not a moon the Death Star!",

Sticking with classification sentences (mostly), I gave out a new handout for copula homework.

Article Translation

The review of Spider Man proved somewhat challenging, some unusual idioms and vocabulary in there!

Homework

For August 28

The new copula handout involves questions and the use of the copula to say where someone is from.
Since we have three weeks, I handed out two short articles that just appealed to me as somewhat whimsical topics. You can get them both in a PDF here, or you can get them from the web at article 1 and article 2.

Previous Class (July 24) (back to top)

Comhrá

We got caught up in conversation as we settled into the room, so we kept going for a good long stretch, lots to catch up on. Very well done!

Chomh #1

Instead of the usual seanfhocal, I handed out a "chomh X le Y" matching exercise, if you missed it, you can find it here.

Chomh #2

Then we shared the new similes we had come up with. Lots of creativity, lots of fun.

And more seriously, this is a structure you can use to perk up your own speech, it isn't at all limited to the traditional old expressions!

Article Translation

We went through the article on Irish illegals in the U.S., pausing to notice our favorite tenses and coppula usage, the work was excellent, as usual. We just had a few oddities here and there to untangle.

Handy Form

I handed out a form that can help us collect those idiomatic verb-preposition combinations (e.g., éirigh as vs. éirigh le). It's self-explnatory, just a tool you can use on your own to organize information as you run across examples in your reading, etc..

Copula handout

We didn't have much time to discuss the copula, but the plan is to put all our attention into just one kind of copula sentence ("classification") for now. Let's completely master that usage before tackling the next item. This handout includes assignments, so it is described in the "Homework" section below.

Quick Audio

We listened just briefly to two snippets, one about a Senate vote on healthcare, the other on Spicer's resignation. American political news is showing up a lot in Irish language news.

Comments and questions are welcome via e-mail