Naíonra Thomáis Dáibhís, the Irish language pre-school situated in Mallow GAA Complex, will be featured in a documentary series on TG4 from next Wednesday, 16th October, at 9.30pm. In this heartwarming three-part series, cameras follow all the action over a school year in the Mallow Naíonra and another naíonra in Dublin. These two Naíonraí are not in a Gaeltacht, and most of these children start with no Irish, but their parents want to offer them the gift of Gaeilge – and in the Naíonra we see their first steps in becoming fluent in a second language.
Máire Uí Bhriain is director of Naíonra Thomáis Dáibhís, assisted by a great team of dedicated people, and over the past year the documentary team paid regular visits, filming the children as they went through their first year in pre-school while gaining the gift of a second language.
Speech and Language Therapist Dr. Ciara O’Toole explains throughout the series how we acquire language, and how the brain is wired to learn multiple languages from birth.
In addition to this groundbreaking series, TG4 is working in partnership with the language and education organisations, Foras na Gaeilge and Gaeloideachas, to provide educational and learning segments based on the experiences of children in Naíonraí. Foghlaim TG4 will offer 26 educational segments on their educational website – www.foghlaim.tg4.ie – supporting parents and teachers in gaining a better understanding of language acquisition and learning Irish in the early years.