Lithuanian

Why learn Lithuanian?

According to the official Irish population census, there were 36,683 Lithuanians living in Ireland in 2011. Data of the Lithuanian Department of Statistics (2015) shows that the largest proportion of Lithuanian expats under 14 years old (20.7%) live in Ireland. The Embassy of Lithuania estimates that there were approximately 80,000 Lithuanians living in Ireland in 2017. Approximately 16,000 of these are children and young people. Across education, there is an imperative to support and capitalise on the multilingual abilities of young people, not only because of the currently much mooted economic benefits, but also because of the undeniable social, analytical and psychological benefits.

 

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Short Course in Lithuanian as a heritage language

Lithuanian is one of the most recent languages to be added to the post-primary school curriculum in Ireland by the Department of Education and Skills, as a heritage language in Junior Cycle. This is being done in the context of one of the goals in Languages Connect Ireland’s Strategy for Foreign Languages in Education, which is to diversify and increase the uptake of languages learned and cultivate the languages of the new Irish.

Lithuanian has been introduced as a short course for Junior Cycle in a number of schools in Dublin and Monaghan-two of the areas with the highest density of speakers of Lithuanian as a heritage language. This short course in Lithuanian as a Heritage Language aims to maintain and develop students’ proficiency levels in Lithuanian and their knowledge of Lithuanian literature and culture in order to consolidate and deepen their literacy skills and make them more self-aware as learners. This 100 hour course is based on the Generic Short Course in Modern Languages which was in turn developed using the Framework for Junior Cycle (DES, 2015) and the Junior Cycle Short Courses Draft Handbook ‘Developing Short Courses in Junior Cycle’. The course provides the ‘learning statements’ and key skills which all short courses are based upon.

Leaving Certificate Lithuanian

Lithuanian is currently offered as a non-curricular Leaving Certificate subject. This is part of a policy of the Department of Education and Skills to offer a Leaving Certificate exam in European Community languages that are not currently on the curriculum. A new Leaving Certificate curriculum specification is currently being developed by the NCCA.

Resources to support students taking Lithuanian as a non-curricular language at Leaving Certificate are available – click here.


For more information:

Specification Junior Cycle Short Course in Lithuanian as a Heritage Language – click here

Learning Language Booklet Junior Cycle Short Course in Lithuanian as a Heritage Language – click here

 

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