Canada Is To Welcome Irish Language!
Updated : Mar 25, 2009
Minister of State Tony Killeen T.D. has urged County Clare students and teachers with Irish to apply for the Ireland Canada University Foundation’s Irish language awards.
The Clare T.D. said that the scheme offered students and academics a wonderful opportunity to gain valuable teaching practice, to experience living in Canada and to use their Irish in a new and exciting environment.
He added that the closing date for applications was Friday, 3 April 2009.
Funded by the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, the Foundation is providing a number of Irish-language teaching assistantships and visiting lectureships at Canadian universities that offer courses in Irish.
The third-level institutions involved are St. Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia; Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec; St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto, Ontario; Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland; St. Francis Xavier in Nova Scotia; and Ottawa University in Ontario.
According to Minister Killeen, “This programme will help to make the academic community in Canada more aware of the Irish language and its rich heritage as one of the oldest vernacular languages in Europe. It will place the language on a par with other European languages being taught abroad.â€
“There is just over a week left for Clare students and teachers to make the most of this opportunity, so I strongly urge them to hurry and apply for these exchange scholarships for universities across Canadaâ€, he concluded.
The Programme is funded from Ciste na Gaeilge (The Irish Language Fund), which is used to support Irish language organisations and Irish language projects. The goal of the fund is to promote the use of the Irish language.
For information about the awards, please visit www.icuf.ie or email info@icuf
VeryHappyPig is getting lessons in Irish!
