Foundation Irish (Learn Irish with the Michel Thomas Method)

Patricia Mac Eoin is a lawyer and accredited translator who has spent a number of years working in the EU Commission in Brussels as an Irish language translator. She now lives in Galway, on the west coast of Ireland, where she continues to do both legal and translation work. She also runs the online business www.allaboutirish.ie. She has written her own series of children's books in Irish, and translated many children's books from English and French to Irish. She loves learning and teaching languages, and also speaks French, and basic Spanish and German. She particularly loves to explain the distinctive features of Irish to those who have no previous experience of learning a Celtic language, and enjoys seeing students discover the richness of the Irish language. Eilís Ní Dhúill worked for TG4, the Irish language television broadcaster, as editor and director of Cúla4, an Irish language programming block for children. She then returned to the world of academia to undertake a Master's Degree in Irish Studies before completing a PhD in Modern Irish. Eilís's doctoral research involved working closely with the Irish speaking community of Corca Dhuibhne on the Dingle peninsula in West Kerry. During her Master's and PhD studies Eilís continued to teach Irish and to lecture in the Irish and Education departments at the National University of Ireland, Galway, where she continues to work today. She is currently involved in an Irish language media audience research project. She has also lectured in Gaelic literature at the Welsh and Celtic Studies Department, Aberystwyth University, Wales. She has been involved in the development, modernisation and delivery of a number of undergraduate and postgraduate Irish language modules and is dedicated to promoting the Irish language and culture. Michel Thomas (1914-2005) had an amazing life. Born in Poland, he spent his early years in Germany and then in France, where he studied psychology at the Sorbonne in Paris. When war broke out, he fought with the Resistance and suffered imprisonment in labour camps. At the end of the war he joined the US liberation army and later settled in the US where he established his world-famous language school. Languages, being his strength and passion became the focus of the next 50 years of his life that he spent developing a method that he hoped would change the way we teach and learn - so that everyone could succeed. He developed this method 'that works with the brain'. After creating several courses of his own, he passed on his method so that other teachers might use it too. Eilís Ní Dhúill worked for TG4, the Irish language television broadcaster, as editor and director of Cúla4, an Irish language programming block for children. She then returned to the world of academia to undertake a Master's Degree in Irish Studies before completing a PhD in Modern Irish. Eilís's doctoral research involved working closely with the Irish speaking community of Corca Dhuibhne on the Dingle peninsula in West Kerry. During her Master's and PhD studies Eilís continued to teach Irish and to lecture in the Irish and Education departments at the National University of Ireland, Galway, where she continues to work today. She is currently involved in an Irish language media audience research project. She has also lectured in Gaelic literature at the Welsh and Celtic Studies Department, Aberystwyth University, Wales. She has been involved in the development, modernisation and delivery of a number of undergraduate and postgraduate Irish language modules and is dedicated to promoting the Irish language and culture.