Base

I am 63 years old & am on ill-health early retirement because of a head injury which mainly affects my short-term memory and reaction time. I was advised that learning a new language or learning to play a musical instrument were my best option to stop things getting worse. I passed the GCSE in Irish a few years ago & went to a week-long course in Belfast. I continued going to a class in Manchester (The Manchester Irish Language Group) for a couple of years, and spent a week on Inis Meáin, but I had trouble keeping up with conversations, partly because of my limited vocabulary & partly because of my slow reaction time which makes it dificult for me to keep up with a conversation when there is more than one other person speaking; even in English (but I enjoyed it). I was then too busy for lessons for a couple of years & tried joining a class at MILG on line earlier this year; but found it a bit too much to keep up with. We were working through a course book & a story book & I found the translations very time-consuming because of my lack of vocabulary. I have been reading Gaeilge Gan Stró (Lower Intermediate Level) off & on for a few years & have started attending a monthly Pop-Up Gaeltacht in Manchester in August.