About

Spleodar

Spleodar is a not-for-profit Irish language youth organisation.

Our main aim is to teach students Irish in a fun way and to instill a grá for the language that they can carry forward into later life.

View our Child Protection Policy: Child Protection Policy

Our Summer Courses

Spleodar wants everyone to enjoy our courses while studying the Irish language. Our timetable is meticulously planned, as we like to keep students busy throughout the day. We have found the more active the student, the more they learn, and the more they enjoy the experience. Our timetable includes Language Classes, Art, Drama, Sport, Céilí, Music, inter-house competitions, trips to the beach and much much more: we like to keep a few surprises for our first-time students.

On all our courses, students stay with a Bean an Tí and our own trained leaders. This gives the students an opportunity to listen to native Irish speakers, and to practice speaking with them. It all ensures that the environment is immersive, and that the Irish language is used for all kinds of communication throughout the entire period of the course.

The courses are all situated in the Connemara Gaeltacht, currently using six different locations, and run over three summer periods (basically June, July, and August).

We are conscious that not all students who attend Spleodar for the first time will have enough Irish to communicate in what they may perceive as a comfortable way. Plenty of students arrive with barely the “cúpla focal”. However, they will notice after 3 or 4 days that they have much more Irish than they thought, and are soon speaking as Gaeilge without even thinking. In addition, if a student is having trouble, we try to provide extra, informal, classes to help them grasp what they need to get involved.

After Care

We organise youth clubs throughout Ireland. The reason for this, is to give all our students an opportunity to practice their Irish during the school year and keep their engagement with the language alive. This offers our students an opportunity to not only maintain the Irish they learnt with us during the summer, but to continue to improve it. We also plan trips, which include Scléip na hÓige, Béile na Nollag, and Lá Mór na gClub. The cost of the club is just €3 for 2 hours, and everyone is welcome.

Below are some images from Spleodar’s instagram account.

As you can see, we like to keep all students active in a fun and inclusive way. We encourage participation in our national heritage and arts. Games are also important, as they help students get to know one another, and settle in from the moment they arrive.