merrion street

The Minister of State with responsibility for the Irish Language, the Gaeltacht and the Islands, Joe McHugh TD, today launched the ‘Edcite as Gaeilge’ project at Gaelscoil Míde in Kilbarrack, Co.Dublin.

Edcite As Gaeilge is an initiative, funded by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and An Chomhairle um Oideachas Gaeltachta agus Gaelscolaíochta (COGG), to share a bank of Irish digital resources with teachers. Managed by Camara Ireland and Edcite, this initiative has developed 200+ digital tasks that can be used in the classroom as well as two translated educational platforms: Edcite.com and PhET science simulations into Irish. The 200+ digital tasks were created by teachers from Gaelscoil Míde and Coláiste Ghlór na Mara and proofread by professional Irish translators at Snasta. All materials are free and available for primary and secondary teachers to begin using in their classrooms this week.

In addition to the content and simulations, Edcite As Gaeilge has partnered with the Speech and Phonetics Lab, TCD to provide teachers with text-to-speech capabilities built into the webpage. The Trinity Phonetics Lab has developed a synthesizer (ABAIR), with funding from the Department of Culture, Heritage and Gaeltacht, that can provide read-aloud functionality in three dialects and multiple speeds. All Irish content created on Edcite will be available to students with this text-to-speech capability.

Speaking today, Minister of State McHugh said:

I am delighted to launch this new innovative project, Edcite as Gaeilge. This is a fantastic resource for schools, developed by teachers, which also offers teachers the opportunity to create their own content in Irish. We hope that the translation of the platform, the complementary science simulations, and the initial bank of content will encourage teachers across the country to build digital resources and share into the publicly available library for other teachers in Ireland to use.

I am particularly pleased to see this project partner with ABAIR, another project funded by my Department. IN the digital age in which we now live, the provision of digital resources such as these are vital if the Irish language is to thrive. I would like to thank all involved and wish the project every success going forward.