Learning With Us

A bheil thu air a bhith airson Gàidhlig ionnsachadh?
Is urrainn dhuinn do chuideachadh

Have you wanted to learn Gaelic?

We can help.

Registration is Open

for the 2022-2023 Academic Year

A chairidean chóir,

Tha sinn an dòchas gum bi samhradh math agaibh uile. (We hope you are all having a good summer.)

Registration is now open for the 2022 – 2023 academic year. Classes start after Labor Day on 6 September and run through 23 June.

Maybe you come across our Language Village at a festival. Maybe you participated in our Facing Our History: The North American Gael podcasts. Maybe you saw us online. Maybe you know someone who is already learning with us. However you found your way to this page, you are most welcome. Will this be your year to join us? We hope so.

Tòisicheamaid air slighe na Gàidhlig an-diugh!
Let’s Start Down the Gaelic Path Today!

To read about our faculty, click here. To learn more about us as an institution, click here. Please read more about our classes below. Scroll down for instructions on how to register. We hope you will join us.

Our curriculum – Developing Gaelic Speaker and Gaelic Thinkers

Sgoil Gàidhlig is dedicated to cultivating new Gaelic speakers and thinkers using methods that honor and perpetuate Gaelic culture and language.

We started as a small study group in an Irish pub on North Avenue in Baltimore, Maryland. As interest grew, we pivoted to an online format. We took that step because we believed it would lead to enhanced language learning in the context of a growing Gaelic language community in the Chesapeake region, and we are very excited about the Gaelic learning community growing here. While most of our students are still within the Chesapeake watershed, we now have people learning with us from San Francisco to Vermont, and Halifax to Alabama. Even with that growth, we remain driven by the desire to maintain a warm, intimate approach to language learning that builds community.

Our curriculum is now divided into seven levels:

New Beginners
Advanced Beginners
Intermediate 1
Intermediate 2
Advanced 1
Advanced 2
‘Fluent’

Learning Gaelic with us

Language lessons are provided once a week for 1 hour, using Zoom from 6 September 2022 – 23 June 2023.
Replacing the individual classes in the last week of each month will be an all-school 1 1/2 hour Language Lab on the last Thursday of each month. We started the Language Lab in the 2021 – 2022 academic year to foster a forum that allows learners to use their Gaelic in a casual, social setting. The Language Lab will divide learners by learning level, and a teacher will be assigned to the lab for each learning level.
The units of the curriculum provide progressive, integrated, measurable content that prepares the student to move up levels with confidence. Each individual level requires about one calendar year to complete.
The syllabus for each level is based primarily upon the Gaelic grammar lessons found on the Taic.me.uk website, enhanced by educational materials from Teach Yourself: Complete Gaelic, by Boyd Robertson and Iain Taylor, and other educational Gaelic material that Mr. Morrison has used over the years or has been developed within our school.

Class hours are important to learning the language, but it’s only one part. Contact hours with the language are also crucial. Some contact hours like the Language Lab are organized experiences, but we hope that all learners in our community take advantage of other opportunities outside the curriculum. We hold a cèilidh at least four times a year, a Language Village at area festivals, and encourage learners to become friends and meet or talk by phone socially. There are also a wide range of online possibilities sponsored by other organizations, which we encourage every to explore.

Our Approach: Developing Gaelic thinkers and speakers

Many language learning systems emphasize either fluency or literacy. While few, if any, are purely one or the other, most emphasize one or the other. A strict emphasis on fluency in spoken language might lead to faster conversational ability, while a strict influence on literacy might produce conversational ability at a slower pace while grammatical or theoretical understanding of the language develops faster.

The pedagogical approach of Sgoil Gàidhlig attempts to balance the two. While designed to foster conversational ability in Scottish Gaelic, the curriculum has at its core the principle that the worldview of the people is embedded in the language, and that familiarity with the culture permits a more nuanced and deeper understanding of the spoken tongue.

The program overall will strive to strengthen the student’s understanding of meanings behind the grammar and vocabulary. Each unit incorporates reading comprehension by using texts that are both of a conversational and, as the modules progress, a literary nature. Further, we incorporate historical and cultural material aimed at developing a deeper understanding of Scottish Gaelic heritage.

In all units we strive to immerse the students in the flavor, character, mindset, thinking processes, and worldview of Gaelic and the Gael. Hopefully the result will be that we produce Gaelic thinkers as well as Gaelic speakers.

Tuition & Registration

Tuition for the year is $540, including all classes, Language Labs, access to instructors for study assistance, and admission to student-only events.

Payment Schedule

Option A: If the tuition is paid in full in a single payment the student may take a $25 discount. Therefore, $515 is paid upon acceptance of the registration.

Option B:

$180 due upon acceptance of the registration
$180 due by 15 November 2022
$180 due by 15 February 2023

If this payment plan poses a hardship, please contact us to make satisfactory arrangements.

To register, write to sgoilgaidhlig@gmail.com. Please include your name, physical address, email address, telephone number(s), and some information as to how you became interested in learning Gaelic, including prior study, if appropriate. We will contact each person to arrange an interview with our head teacher, Scott Morrison.
If you have questions about the program or which learning group is appropriate for you, please write to sgoilgaidhlig@gmail.com.
If you cannot commit to the online sessions, but are interested in the conversations, céilidhean, or other activities we may host, please write to sgoilgaidhlig@gmail.com and we will include you on our mailing list.

Late Registrations

New students can be admitted during the course of the year, but integrating students into the classes once classes have started can be challenging. Therefore, such admissions are made on a case-by-case basis following a telephone interview with the Head Teacher, Scott Morrison. If you would like to apply for admission during the year, or be placed on a waiting list, write to sgoilgaidhlig@gmail.com.