Patchy

Could not recommend patchy enough.

Did some reading today of a short story. Definitely enjoyable. I still do not understand ever sentence of course. Patchy is encouraging and patient. I have a few more classes already booked and at this point i think i will be increasing them to hour long classes (30mins really flies by). Early days to know how i will feel after these but thats what im thinking at the moment.

Thar cionn!

Dia Duit! Another wonderful lesson with Patchy. This was a kind and gentle introduction to written Irish with accommodation for my dyslexia and poor ability to see. Through spaced repetition and VERY PATIENT focus on articulation and phonemes, we made our way through a set written script between two people. The entire lesson was immersive and I must say that I was thinking in Gaelic the entire time. Well, put it this way, my brain was forming new neural pathways and learning "new words" rather than "translating." Patchy anchored the script with our names so I was able to follow along, even when I didn't understand. He was VERY patient with my struggles with the new writing system and quick to make kind corrections to my articulation and pronunciation of phonemes. Another amazing lesson! Thank you, Patrick!

After working with Patchy for a few months now (15 lessons completed i think) I can say I am still so encouraged and inspired to learn... Irish has been a hard language to learn, but I knew I wanted to and Padraig has made it a lot smoother. His immersive approach is both challenging and rewarding, and you can tell he knows what he's doing as a teacher, he knows how the latest understanding of how human brains learn languages well and has mastered his own craft of teaching. I recommend working with Patchy mainly because of how passionate, light hearted and patient he is~~ it is very rare to find such teachers.

Today was my very first lesson in Gaelic (Irish) with Patchy. We conducted the entire lesson in Gaelic. Patchy sent me a message ahead of time to tell me what items I would need for the lesson and what to expect. I also had the choice of which dialect I would like to learn. We had a LOT of fun! I let Patchy know in advance that I have dyslexia and poor vision, and these were absolutely accommodated and the lesson was wonderful. I would say that the main takeaways for me were immediately being able to speak Gaelic (albeit parroting my teacher) and slowly coming to understand phonemes, grammar concepts, (there are initial mutations in Gaelic) and words--in the target language, not by translating through my native language. Immersion Gaelic is the way to go. Patchy also provided me with homework for our next class. I'm so looking forward to it that I immediately bought a package of 5 more lessons in addition to the 5 I've booked! Thank you, Patchy!