Forbairt na Fónaice: Focus on English-medium schools (P) 

DATE:         Tuesday, 21st April 2026
TIME:          7pm - 8pm
VENUE:       Online Via Zoom

Target Audience: Primary Teachers

Phonics is recognised as a foundational skill for reading and writing. In the Irish orthography, phonemic knowledge has the potential to broaden children’s experience with reading and writing in Irish, major contributors to oral language development. Many literacy skills transfer across Irish and English and in the learning of phonics methodologies and approaches can be adapted across the two languages. However, phonemic knowledge in Irish is specific to the orthography of Irish. This workshop aims to heighten awareness of the progression of phonics learning in the English-medium primary context, outlining the steps required to enable children to decode words in Irish text and to spell and write in Irish.   



Presenter: Dr Jacqueline de Brún

Jacqueline de Brún is a lecturer in Teagasc na Gaeilge in DCU in the School of Language, Literacy and Early Childhood Education. In her former role as a teacher/education adviser she developed the phonics programmes Fónaic na Gaeilge and Cód na Gaeilge for immersion schools. As a lecturer in DCU she has adapted her phonics teaching to prepare initial teachers to teach phonics in English-medium schools. She developed the NCCA guidelines for teaching phonics in L2 settings (2025).