The graphics and audio file below give you just a glimpse of the assistance available if you enrol with us to study the twenty sample texts we are providing to help you prepare for the Oral Irish Exam in the Leaving Cert.

These sample texts will give you sentences, phrases, idioms, and vocabulary to enable you to discuss the content of each series of six or more pictures. Learn them well and practise continuously so as to be able to change and adapt them to express your own impressions of the characters, situations, places and activities portrayed.

The first sentence, or the title, of the passage associated with each picture is intended as a summary for those less familiar with Irish They will enable such students to express the "gist" of the events in the pictures.

The paragraph that follows is intended for higher level students and aims to cover all the vocabulary and teach good phrases and sentence structure as well as reminding students of the lively expressions used by Irish speakers. Please adapt these to suit your own dialect. Include your own favourite phrases and sayings. There are other ways of expressing the ideas suggested by the pictures. If you know alternative expressions be sure and use them.

Many of the pictures include items which require modern terminology. A student seeking top marks will take care to learn such terms as diltálaire for a (saline) drip or córas fógartha poiblí for a public address system.

The pronunciation on the audio files is not that of a native speaker but nevertheless pays heed to the essentials of Irish stress and pronunciation including slender consonants, nasalization, aspiration, and diphthongs. Listen to the recordings below and judge for yourself.

If you need help with pronunciation you could try an extra lesson from Studybase on a one-to-one basis via Skype. You'll find details here.