The headmaster of Omagh's Irish-language primary school is adamant that you don't have to be young and academic to learn Irish. Seán Mac Giolla Fhiondáin is talking from experience; he didn't start learning Irish till he was in his mid-20s and the skills he developed during his years as a sheet-metal worker are a great help in teaching.
Seán Mac Giolla Fhiondáin is from the Kilwilkie estate in Lurgan. The secondary school hes attended didn't offer Irish on the curriculum. He left school at 16 with no qualifications, started welding and moved on to becoming a sheet-metal worker. "Qualifications weren't a big issue in those days," he said. "But I remember on the last day at school, going down the avenue and thinking, 'This is wrong.' knew I could have done better."
He picked up respect for Irish from his parents.
"In our house, my father and mother knew a wee bit of Irish; it was only 'druid an doras' (close the door) and 'suí síos' (sit down) and that sort of thing," he said. "They would have understood the importance of Irish; my father went to classes in the Gaelic League in Lurgan in the 1960s and early 1970s."
Sean enjoyed his work, but knew he wanted to do something else.
"When I was about 25 I went to a night class in the Gaelic League," he said. "It was doctors and solicitors and teachers. With no academic background, I didn't go back for two years. Then I did, no matter who was attending and, by the end of the year, I was teaching them the odd word."
He credits a retired teacher for changing his life, former GAA President Alf Ó Muirí from Lurgan. He encouraged Seán to persevere in studying Irish.
"I was doing shift-work at the time in a factory in Portadown and he said to me to come out before and after my shifts."
The house was five miles outside Lurgan but Seán went out every day on on his bicycle.
"Then I sat GCSE Irish and passed," he said.
The lessons continued, and Alf had a surprise in store for his pupil.
"I went to the house and he had an application form for university and he asked me to fill it in. I did, thinking I would never get in but lo and behold, I did."
In October 1989, Seán gave up his job and embarked on a degree in Irish at Queen's University. He says that a big reason he was able to do it was that he was a single man; had he been married, it would have been almost impossible.
He stresses his gratitude to Alf.
"When I was 17, I never thought I'd have a degree at 32, I never thought I'd be a school-teacher. I'd never have become one only Alf Ó Muirí handed me that application form."
Initially, having a degree opened up no great job opportunities. After obtaining his BA, he spent five years applying for the Post Graduate Certificate in Education before being accepted. For those years, he went back to his old trade of sheet-metal working.
He also worked for three summers in the Donegal Gaeltacht, at Magheroarty.
In 1996 he was accepted to study for the Certificate in St Mary's University College, and graduated the following year.
Sincethen, he has taught in Maghera and Derry. In September he began as principal at Bunscoil na gCrann at the Dún Uladh Centre, Omagh.
"Sheet-metal work and primary teaching may seem very different occupations, but the lessons learnt in his first career have been invaluable in the other. I like working as a fabricator, I enjoyed the craic with the boys," he said.
"I made some real good friends, and I'm still in touch with them. In factories, you have to think on your feet. That is one skill that is very useful in teaching. Lessons don't always go as planned.
"You are taught social skills. You have to know how to talk to people. Those skills I can adapt to my present job."
He admits his old trade had an advantage over teaching: as a sheet-metal worker, he never had to take work home.
As a male entering primary school teaching, Seán accepts his career choice is uncommon.
"To me, there is a very valuable thing I have and I was given it by an old man. I wanted to give it to the youngsters. What better way than to give it to children through education.
"To see a child at the end of seven years speaking two languages fluently gives you a great feeling of satisfaction."
He said his experience showed you're never too old to learn Irish, or any other language.
"You don't need to start at 11 and you don't need to be perceived as highly academic."
Learning Irish and getting a degree required him to be dedicated, be focused, and stay focused. He stresses it wasn't simple.
"One of the most difficult things was just to speak it, to have the confidence to speak to everybody at every level," he said.
"With me, it took time. When you're grown up, you're conscious about making mistakes. It keeps adults back from learning languages. Getting over that hurdle takes time, you just have to keep at it. If you make a mistake, learn from it. Children don't have that hang-up. Children say what they want to say. Adults want to get everything right straight away. It takes a long time – you don't learn a language overnight".
He also warns it can be expensive, because it is necessary to spend time in the Gaeltacht.
He is now married and living in Draperstown, Co. Derry. His wife, Ciara, is a special-needs teacher in the Irish-language sector. Thy have four children, Caoilte, Muireann, Lorcan and Saorla. The older three are already in an Irish-language school. He has been pleasantly surprised at how it has made them conscious there is more than just an English-language culture in the world.
"From my own kids being in Irish-language education, I see how aware they are of different cultures, different languages, in a way I wasn't at that age. They are interested in other languages. That is important with here becoming much more multi-cultural. It will become even more so."
One meeting really brought that home to Seán. He met four Kenyans in a pub in the Donegal Gaeltacht. The Kenyans had been about six months in Ireland, working at laying cables. The five spent the night conversing... in Irish.
