The Center for Irish Studies at Villanova, in partnership with the College for Professional Studies will be offering a seven-week online language course in the spring semester, beginning Monday 25th January at 6pm.

This course is not only aimed at students wanting to earn credit but also to the wider community who want to learn a new language. As a heritage language, the popularity of Irish is growing quickly in North America. This course is designed to get the students speaking Irish from lesson one. Students will be exposed to all dialects of Irish with a particular focus on Munster Irish.

The on-line course will be capped at 16 students and will meet synchronously, via zoom, once a week (Monday 6pm – 7.30pm). As well as that, there will be a weekly program of asynchronous work, weekly pronunciation tutorial office hours and access to the Center for Irish Studies events.

The textbook used will be Gaeilge Gan Stró, each student will be provided with a copy. Supplementary material from www.teg.ie and teacher designed tasks and activities will also be incorporated. The topics covered in this course will be 1) meeting people (bualadh le daoine), 2) your background and where you live (cúlra agus áit cónaithe), 3) the family (an teaghlach), 4) the house and accommodation (an teach agus lóistín) and 5) pastimes (caitheamh aimsire).

The seven-week program costs $750. Costs vary if the student is taking the course for credit. Following this course, there will be the option to continue for another seven weeks to complete the beginners 2 program. This is a fantastic opportunity to learn Irish in a relaxed and fun environment with an experienced and enthusiastic teacher. Because our class will be small, every student will get individual attention and the program will meet their specific needs.

Villanova University is committed to advancing the Irish language and we look forward to welcoming new learners through this online course in the spring.