Have completed Irish 201 and commenced Irish 202. Both are interesting but not engaging me as much as I would like. So have reset Duolingo Irish and have restarted from the beginning. Will also try to pick up Gaelige gan Stro in a few weeks: my dissertation is due in a few weeks and that … Continue reading →

All levelled up

So yesterday I finished my last suite of lessons in the Duolingo Irish course. The technical term for my achievement is a shit tonne: I have completed a shit tonne of lessons. Every module has five levels; each level has several--often numerous--lessons. Jaysus Mary and Joseph it was a grind at times. But for someone looking for a … Continue reading All levelled up →

Broduil as

Every module. Every lesson. All five levels. Done and dusted. I wish I could say it feels like an achievement. I mean, it is one. But mostly it feels like persistence and stubbornness. I will take this week off, then start back with Gaelige gan stro.

na briathra

Rinne mé na briathra go léir ar duolingo. 🙂

Votáil!

On Saturday there was an election for the Irish Dáil. For the first time a left party topped the poll: under the Irish STV system, some form of coalition or confidence and supply arrangement is required. Exciting! Māori Things are progressing with my reo too. I've booked in my last assessment for Papa Reo (week … Continue reading Votáil! →

Level 2 plus kete 4 = :)

Earlier this week I returned to the topic in Duolingo Irish that's vexed me the most: Verbal nouns. It was only slightly vexatious this time: I had only stumbled through two early lessons when I'd lost the will to live. So this represents finishing most of level 1 and all of level 2 on verbal … Continue reading Level 2 plus kete 4 = 🙂 →

Nollaig shona duit agus meri kerihimete

This last fornight has been crunch-time, work-wise. It's been something of a shite year work-wise too. So last week I decided to pull the plug a couple of days early: the 18th was my last working date for 2019. W00t! Aotearoa does some things really well and some things less so. Christmas here is awesome. … Continue reading Nollaig shona duit agus meri kerihimete →

done and dusted; will continue

Yesterday I presented my paper at the World Conference on Online Learning here in Dublin/i mBaile Átha Cliath. Te Whakapaipai, Dílárúchán: Towards Decolonisation via the Digital Self-Directed Study of Indigenous Languages Here's the abstract: In this paper I reflect on the praxis of being a self-directed (Knowles, 1975) second language learner in two Indigenous languages—one … Continue reading done and dusted; will continue →

Tá mé san Eoraip!

Cen chaoi bhfuil tú? Kei te pehea koe? Tá mé tuirseach Kei te ngenge ahau. And I have every right to be tired! Greetings from Vienna Airport. I left Auckland around 21h on Saturday night. It is now 05h41 in Auckland on Monday morning. Yup, 37 hours en route, and still have one more (shortish) … Continue reading Tá mé san Eoraip! →

ka pai!

This week I've somewhat re-dedicated myself to my work in te reo Māori. When I started the week I was about halfway through 175 pages of learning activities in Kete 3. Suffice to say I was rather daunted...and not doing well at motivating myself to crack into things again. I'm reminded how reliant I've become … Continue reading ka pai! →