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User:rorynoonanDate:04/03/2013Time:12:08:44Edition:04/03/2013ACAllAboutCork040313Page:1Color:
Monday, March 4, 2013 ALL ABOUT CORK 1AC - V1
Monday, March 4
Seachtainna GaeilgeschedulelaunchedTHE Lord Mayor of Cork,Cllr John Buttimer, right,has launched Cork CityCouncil’s schedule of eventsfor Seachtain na Gaeilge2013 which runs from todayto Sunday, March 17 atvenues across the city.
One of the highlights of thisyear’s celebrations will be theshowing of a double bill of seminalIrish movies Budawanny (1987) andCré na Cille (2007) at Triskel Christ-church at 2pm on Saturday, March9. Tickets for this event are avail-able free of charge from the CentralLibrary, Grand Parade.
Cork City Council also separatelysupports a range of events organ-ised by Gael Taca and GaelgóiríCois Laoi in the city, effectivelyturning March into Mí na Gaeilge.
At the Council meeting of Febru-ary 25, the Lord Mayor advised theCouncil, that in recognition ofSeachtain na Gaeilge 2013, thatcouncillors would be encouraged tomake contributions to motionsbefore the Council at its meeting ofMarch 11 through Irish and that alist of commonly used Irish lan-
guage phrases had been distributedto them and uploaded to the CityCouncil website.
Speaking at the launch the LordMayor said: “It’s wonderful to havesuch a comprehensive programmeaccessible to all, regardless of theirIrish language fluency.
“I would encourage young andold to “bain trial as” at as manyevents as they can.
Happy Talk programmehelping children to read
‘IT’S never too early tostart with books’ —this is just one of themessages which com-muters on Cork citybuses are getting.The poster features
Glen, at five weeks,looking at a book withbig sister, Amanda. Itis part of a series ofposters which featurelocal children andtheir parents from theGlen and Mayfieldareas of Cork. Eachposter gives parentstips on how they cansupport their youngchild’s language devel-opment.The posters are an
initiative of ‘HappyTalk’, an early yearslanguage projectwhich is workingwithin the local com-munity to help chil-dren’s language skillsto develop.‘Happy Talk’
provides programmesfor parents, childcarestaff and primaryteachers. Parents ofbabies as young as ninemonths get ideas to
help them develop.It supports children
from 0-6 years andworks with PublicHealth Nurse clinics,in toddler groups,crèches, pre-schoolsand junior infantclasses.Children learn
listening skills withthe help of ‘Nibbles’and ‘Twitch’, theHappy Talk rabbit pup-pets. In the pre-schoolsand Junior Infant
classes, parents workalongside their childand are coached by oneof the ‘Happy Talk’speech and languagetherapists. They learnto model words andsentences for theirchild.They learn to add
new words to whattheir child has saidwhich helps expandtheir child’s language.They also learn the im-portance of nursery
rhymes.Happy Talk Coordin-
ator Sheila Dillon said;“Through early inter-vention in language,the Project aims to sup-port better school read-iness and promotebetter future educa-tional outcomes forparticipating children.“Parents, childcare
staff and teachers arevery enthusiasticabout ‘Happy Talk’ andthey can see it makinga difference.”Happy Talk is led by
a consortium involvingCork City Partnership,Barnardos, Cork CityChildcare Company,Cork City Council, Cityof Cork VEC, theHealth Service Execut-ive (South) and Uni-versity College Cork.The project is funded
by Tomar Trust andthe National EarlyYears Access Initiative(NEYAI) and is one of13 demonstration pro-jects which will feedinto national policy onearly childhood careand education.
HAPPY TALK: Matthew O’Sullivan, aged three, withYlenia D’Agostina.
Amanda Weldon reading to her baby brother Glen, who is just five weeks old.