Culture and Lifestyle (AS theme)

You have one term before the AS speaking examination. Decide, bullet by bullet, what kind of preparation each needs and how much of the term it deserves.

1. 01Physical well-being — conversation, one week

   an tsláinte, health, feminine and s-initial so it takes t after the article; aiste bia, a diet; an aclaíocht, exercise; an codladh, sleep; an mheabhairshláinte, mental health, feminine so the m lenites. Two frames and one example about your own week. Done.

2. 02Risk-taking behaviour — conversation, one week

   caitheamh tobac, smoking; an t-alcól, alcohol, with the masculine t-prefix; drugaí, drugs; an andúil, addiction; an chontúirt, danger, feminine so the c lenites; na spóirt is contúirtí, the most dangerous sports. This bullet needs care with tone: describe and explain, do not preach.

3. 03Stress and challenges — conversation, one week

   an strus, stress; an imní, anxiety; na scrúduithe, the examinations; an brú, pressure; an sos, the break or rest. This is the bullet every candidate can speak about honestly, which makes it the safest place to demonstrate fluency.

4. 04Hobbies and interests — conversation, one week

   caitheamh aimsire, a pastime; an ceol, music; an spórt, sport; an damhsa, dance; club, a club. Attach one real activity you do and one you used to do, because the second lets you use the past habitual.

5. 05Social media and technology — conversation, one week

   na meáin shóisialta, social media, where the plural adjective lenites; an t-idirlíon, the internet; fón póca, a mobile phone; an chibearbhulaíocht, cyberbullying; nuacht bhréagach, fake news, where the adjective lenites after a feminine noun. Two-sided answers only: this bullet punishes one-sided ones.

6. 06The arts and the festival calendar — presentation, the rest of the term

   This is where the three researched minutes come from, and it takes far longer than a week. Choose one thing — a festival, an organisation, a tradition, a place — read about it properly, and build the material that AO4 will be assessed on. Appendix 1's twelve sample titles are the model.

Result: Five weeks of one-week conversation sheets covering well-being, risk, stress, hobbies and social media, then the remainder of the term on a single researched presentation topic drawn from the arts, film or the festival calendar. The split follows the assessment: AO1 and AO3 for the conversation, AO4 for the presentation.

The examiner asks: Cén fáth a nglacann daoine óga le rioscaí? Why do young people take risks? Answer in a way that explains rather than condemns.

1. 01Refuse the moral frame at once

   I dtús báire, ní ceist mhorálta í seo dar liom, ach ceist faoi conas a fhásann duine suas. To begin with, this is not a moral question in my view, but a question about how a person grows up. Note ceist mhorálta with the adjective lenited after a feminine noun.

2. 02Give the first mechanism — the group

   Bíonn daoine óga ag iarraidh a bheith páirteach sa ghrúpa, agus is minic a bhíonn brú piaraí i gceist. Young people want to belong to the group, and peer pressure is often involved. Sa ghrúpa shows the lenition after sa; is minic a is from the grammar list.

3. 03Give the second mechanism — the brain and the age

   Deir taighdeoirí go bhfuil an inchinn fós ag forbairt sna déaga. Researchers say the brain is still developing in the teenage years. Notice that the claim is ATTRIBUTED — deir taighdeoirí — rather than asserted as your own fact, and no number is invented.

4. 04Distinguish two kinds of risk

   Ach níl gach riosca mar a chéile. Tá difear mór idir duine a théann ag dreapadóireacht le traenáil agus le trealamh, agus duine a ólann barraíocht ar an Aoine. But not every risk is the same. There is a big difference between someone who goes climbing with training and equipment and someone who drinks too much on a Friday. Barraíocht is the Ulster word for 'too much'; the standard is an iomarca — choose one and stay with it.

5. 05Concede the real harm

   Ar an drochuair, déanann roinnt rioscaí dochar buan, agus sin an fáth a bhfuil oideachas tábhachtach. Unfortunately some risks do permanent harm, and that is why education is important. Ar an drochuair is on the grammar list, and a bhfuil is the indirect relative with eclipsis.

6. 06Close on the evaluation, not the sermon

   Mar fhocal scoir, is é mo bharúil féin nach é an riosca féin an fhadhb ach an easpa eolais. As a final word, my own opinion is that the risk itself is not the problem but the lack of information. The copula with a negative, an attributed judgement, and a closer from the grammar list.

Result: Six moves: refuse the moral frame, give two mechanisms with the second attributed to researchers and carrying no invented number, distinguish calculated from uncalculated risk, concede the real harm, and close on an evaluation marked as the speaker's own. The answer explains rather than condemns, which is what the specification's equality commitment implies and what an examiner can follow up on.

Build a six-move answer on examination stress, then transplant the same six moves onto a hobby, to prove that the structure is what carries the answer.

1. 01Description

   Stress: Bíonn brú mór ar dhaltaí i mbliain na scrúduithe. There is great pressure on pupils in examination year. Hobby: Bím ag imirt peile le club áitiúil dhá uair sa tseachtain. I play football with a local club twice a week. Both use the habitual, which is correct for a recurring situation.

2. 02Attributed claim

   Stress: Deir múinteoirí go bhfuil an brú níos measa anois ná mar a bhí. Teachers say the pressure is worse now than it was. Hobby: Deir daoine go bhfuil an spórt ag cailleadh daoine óga. People say sport is losing young people. In both, the claim belongs to somebody named, and no figure is invented.

3. 03Conditional with dá

   Stress: Dá mbeadh níos mó ama againn, ní bheadh an oiread sin imní orainn. If we had more time, we would not be so anxious. Hobby: Dá mbeadh níos mó páirceanna sa cheantar, bheadh níos mó daoine ag imirt. If there were more pitches in the area, more people would be playing. Eclipsis after dá, conditional in both clauses.

4. 04Imperative

   Stress: Déan plean, glac sos, agus labhair le duine éigin. Make a plan, take a break, and talk to somebody. Hobby: Tar chuig traenáil uair amháin agus feicfidh tú. Come to training once and you will see. The imperative is on the AS list and almost nobody uses it in the examination.

5. 05Past habitual

   Stress: Ba ghnách liom a bheith ag staidéar go dtí meán oíche, ach níl sin ciallmhar. I used to study until midnight, but that is not sensible. Hobby: Bhíodh mé ag snámh sula ndeachaigh mé leis an bpeil. I used to swim before I went in for football. Note the dependent form deachaigh after sula, with eclipsis.

6. 06Closing judgement

   Stress: Mar fhocal scoir, is é an rud is tábhachtaí ná cothromaíocht. As a final word, the most important thing is balance. Hobby: Mar fhocal scoir, ní hé an bua an rud is tábhachtaí ach an craic. As a final word, winning is not the most important thing but the enjoyment. Both close on the copula superlative.

Result: Six moves — description, attributed claim, conditional, imperative, past habitual, closing judgement — that work identically on two unrelated topics. Learn the six structures once and every one of the seven bullets in the theme becomes answerable, because the only thing that changes is the vocabulary.

The examiner asks: An bhfuil na meáin shóisialta go maith don Ghaeilge? Are social media good for Irish? This is a genuinely contested question. Answer it honestly.

1. 01Name it as a debate in the first sentence

   Is ceist í sin a bhfuil daoine in adharca a chéile faoi, agus níl freagra simplí uirthi. That is a question people are at loggerheads over, and there is no simple answer to it. Saying so immediately is not evasion; it is accuracy, and it sets up a two-sided answer.

2. 02Give the case for, attributed

   Deir daoine áirithe go bhfuil an Ghaeilge le feiceáil gach lá anois ar líne, agus go raibh sin doiligh a fháil roimhe seo. Certain people say Irish is visible every day now online, and that this was hard to find before. Doiligh is the Ulster word for 'difficult'; the standard is deacair.

3. 03Give the case against, also attributed

   Deir daoine eile gur béarlagair measctha atá ann, agus nach í an Ghaeilge cheart í. Others say it is a mixed jargon and is not proper Irish. Nach í ... í is the negative copula, and the whole claim belongs to daoine eile, not to you.

4. 04Add the observation you can actually make

   Is féidir liom féin a rá gur féidir liom scríobh i nGaeilge le mo chairde ar an fón, rud nach raibh fíor de mo sheanmháthair. I can say for myself that I can write in Irish to my friends on the phone, which was not true of my grandmother. First-person, concrete, and unarguable — the strongest kind of evidence available in an oral examination.

5. 05Refuse to resolve it, and say why

   Níl mé cinnte cé acu is fearr, mar níl an teanga ann fada go leor ar líne le fios a bheith againn. I am not sure which is better, because the language has not been online long enough for us to know. An honest 'I do not know, and here is why' is a better answer than a confident wrong one.

6. 06Close on what would settle it

   Dá mbeadh taighde fadtéarmach ann, bheadh a fhios againn. If there were long-term research, we would know. The conditional after dá, and a closing move that shows you understand what kind of evidence the question needs.

Result: A six-move answer that names the question as contested, attributes both sides to unnamed but real groups of people, adds one first-person observation that cannot be disputed, declines to resolve the debate and says what would resolve it. No statistic is invented and no side is taken, and the answer carries the negative copula, two attributed claims and a conditional.

You have chosen An tOireachtas as your AS 1 presentation topic, from Appendix 1's own list. Build the three minutes, and check it against the AO4 criterion.

1. 01Establish what it is, in one sentence

   Is féile bhliantúil chultúrtha Ghaeilge é an tOireachtas. An tOireachtas is an annual Irish-language cultural festival. Note the copula for a classifying statement, the adjectives lenited after a feminine noun, and the t-prefix on the masculine vowel-initial noun after the article.

2. 02Say what happens there

   Bíonn comórtais ann don amhránaíocht ar an sean-nós, don scéalaíocht, don damhsa agus don litríocht. There are competitions there for sean-nós singing, for storytelling, for dance and for literature. Specific, plural, and immediately followable-up.

3. 03Explain one thing properly

   Do not try to cover everything in three minutes; choose one strand and go into it. Sean-nós singing is unaccompanied solo singing in Irish, ornamented, and judged on the singing rather than on any accompaniment. Two sentences of real explanation are worth a paragraph of listing.

4. 04Say why it matters

   Is é an rud is tábhachtaí faoin Oireachtas, dar liom, ná go dtugann sé daoine ó gach cearn den tír le chéile agus gur i nGaeilge a bhíonn gach rud. The most important thing about the Oireachtas, in my view, is that it brings people from every part of the country together and that everything is in Irish. Note i nGaeilge with eclipsis, and the copula used for emphasis.

5. 05Add your own connection, honestly

   If you have been, say so and say what you saw. If you have not, say what you read and where. An examiner would rather hear 'I read about it in a report and I would like to go' than an invented memory, and inventing one is the single easiest way to be caught out in the discussion that follows.

6. 06Check it against AO4

   AO4 asks for knowledge and understanding of, and critical and analytical response to, aspects of the culture and society of a country or community where the language is spoken. Knowledge: what it is, what happens. Understanding: how sean-nós works. Critical response: why it matters and what it does. Three minutes, three demands, all met.

Result: Six moves that fill three minutes: define, list, explain one strand properly, say why it matters, state your own honest connection, and check the whole against AO4's three demands — knowledge, understanding, and critical or analytical response. The topic came from Appendix 1's own list, which also guarantees it is the kind of thing CCEA has in mind.