About Club Gaeilge Chois Fharraige
Irish Language Club, Cois Fharraige
The working language of this website is Irish. But we’ve provided this overview in English for complete beginners and for other visitors who aren’t proficient in that language.
News
14th March 2025
Birdwatching ⁊ heritage walk at Dumhach na Leanbh
We had a great day on the 8th March. Here are a couple of photos.
(Click/tap to enlarge.)
5th March 2025
Birdwatching ⁊ heritage walk
And don’t forget the Birdwatching ⁊ heritage walk at Dumhach na Leanbh this coming Saturday. Beidh fáilte rómhat!
23rd February 2025
Cóisir na mBáb
new launch date confirmed
4th March 2025
at 8.30 p.m
Cois Cuan, An Spidéal
music ⁊ singing
Ruairí Mac an Iomaire
Fearghas Mac Lochlainn
Stiofán Mac Suibhne
Ronan Ryan
Constance Patten
Birdwatching ⁊ heritage walk at Dumhach na Leanbh
- 8 March 2025.
- Starting at An Poitín Stil (H91 Y8X6)
at 10.30 a.m. - With Ríona Mac Aodha ⁊ Mamie Ní Chualáin.
- Presentation on the coastal birds of the area.
- Presentation on the history and folklore of Dumhach na Leanbh.
- Refreshments available in the Potín after the walk.
(At about 1.00 p.m.)
28th November 2024
The Wednesday Class
- In gTeic, Na Forbacha (H91 NHT4).
- 11.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m.
- Medium to advanced level.
- Conversation, poetry, prose ⁊ grammar.
- Tá fáilte roimh chách!
Cóisir na mBáb
This play will now be launched in February 2025.
We’ll announce the exact date
and venue as soon as we have them.
Almost a year on from Raic ar an Trá, Club Gaeilge Chois Fharraige is delighted to announce the launch of its latest play.
Again, a radio drama and again written by Máirín Mhic Lochlainn.
This time, the setting’s a hen party — at the end of a long day and the start of a long night!
20th December 2023
Raic ar an Trá
🎅 We have a Christmas present for you! 🎅
Club Foghlaimeoirí Gaeilge Chois Fharraige is delighted to present our latest play, Raic ar an Trá by Máirín Mhic Lochlainn.
This is a radio play, with a running time of about half an hour.
You can find it in the drama section of this web site.
Bain taithneamh as!
6th August 2023
Summer Programme
Our evening classes and Ciorcal Comhrá and drama group will resume in September. However our Tuesday morning class, Rang na bhFeabhsaitheoirí, will continue during the summer from 11.00 am to 1.00 pm. If you are interested in participating in this class please contact us.
The Club will be organising some social activities (outings and walks) during the summer. On 22 July a group from the Club visited Inis Meáin; on 9 September we will have a guided walk around Menlo, the Breac-Ghaeltacht on the north-eastern edge of Galway city, and on Friday 15 September we will attend the drama Maggie Mhór (Big Maggie) in An Taibhdhearc.
2nd June 2023
The learners’ club summer programme
Our evening classes and Ciorcal Comhrá and drama group have now concluded but will resume in September. However our Tuesday morning class, Rang na bhFeabhsaitheoirí, will continue during the summer from 11.00 am to 1.00 pm. If you are interested in participating in this class please contact us using our contact form or at the email address at the foot of this page.
The Club will be organising some social activities (outings and walks) during the summer. These arrangements will be posted on this page in the coming weeks.
Cultural and heritage tour
Oifigigh Pleanála Teanga Chonamara will be running this tour on Wednesday 21st June. It will be stopping at Tobar Naomh Anna, Teach Scríbe, An Dóilín ad An Garraí Glas. Minibus leaving Casla at 9.00 a.m. Prior registration essential (083 010 6294 / optchoisfharraige@gmail.com). Fee: Eur10; includes the tour and lunch. The tour will be in Irish.
About Club Gaeilge Chois Fharraige
So. Where are we, who are we and what do we do?
An Spidéal (Spiddal in English, and pronounced, roughly, as on spid‑ALE) is a village in Cois Fharraige, part of the West-Galway Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking area). The village itself is located about twelve miles west of Galway City.
Cois Fharraige (pronounced, roughly, as cooshARRigi) is the region that stretches along the north coast of Galway Bay from just east of Na Forbacha to Abhainn Chasla in the west.
Club Gaeilge Chois Fharraige, formerly Club Foghlaimeoirí Gaeilge Chois Fharraige, is an Irish language learners’ club based in An Spidéal. Established in 2015, the Club provides a wide range of formal day- and evening classes.
These are taught by native speakers of Conamara Irish and are targeted at various levels of ability, from complete beginners (including people who haven’t studied Irish at school) to improvers, intermediate improvers and the advanced.
We also offer a range of informal activities (including guided walks, outings, concerts and drama productions) to help support and encourage the naturalistic use of Irish in everyday settings.
New members are always welcome! Feel free to get in touch.
Irish language classes
Generally — although this can be subject to change from year to year — we run classes as follows.
Intermediate level:
- Monday nights.
- September to Christmas.
- January to May.
Intermediate to advanced level:
- Wednesday mornings.
- More or less ongoing…
- …but with a break in August.
You’ll find further information in the classes section (in Irish). Alternatively, feel free to contact us.
Learning Irish through drama
From the start of Autumn through to late Spring, we offer weekly Irish learning sessions based on the production of short original dramas.
Formerly, we performed these live at local venues, at Christmas and in the Spring, as part of fundraising concerts which we organise in conjunction with local singers, musicians and dancers, and with practitioners of other local traditions.
The advent of COVID made this impossible however and we were forced to Zoom-ify our plays (literally, in one case) and take them on-line. But while we can now organise the live concerts again, we’ve found that we actually enjoy making good old-fashioned radio plays!
So while we’ll almost certainly return to the stage at some point, for the time being, the Internet airwaves are where you’ll find us…
…following which, see the drama section (text in Irish) for details and recordings of previous productions.
Irish language learning resources
We support learners by guiding them toward a range of high-quality teaching and learning resources.
These include dictionaries, terminology databases, cultural archives and more, and can be helpful to students at all levels.
See a list of free on-line resources in the learning resources section.
Contact the Club
Have an enquiry? See the contact page.