An Bunú Gaeilge | Foundations in Irish Gaelic was the entry point to the Grounded Connections language community. Once through the foundations we had play groups, Ros na Rún nights, and drop in conversations times. An Bunú gave you the skills you needed to play in Irish and gather information from fluent speakers and more advanced language learners. 

While this model helps you move easefully toward fluency, the introduction can bring up a lot of feelings, which is why so much of our program focused on supporting us and our bodies. Our method helps us to unlearn what school taught us; that we have to sit still and pay attention, that you need to memorize and over-extend ourselves to learn (instead of the truth, which is that we also learn while we are resting and that breaks are essential), that there is only one person (the teacher) who we can learn from, etc. The realization that we don't need to be tested or memorize words to learn Irish is both relieving and hard to let go of. 

Some participants had difficulty with the start of this process, and then once they are over the hump (with our support) they deeply enjoy this method of learning. That's totally normal. We placed a heavy emphasis on support, celebrating our mistakes, and rooting in the knowledge that we were all in it together. We can do this!!

Our method focues on building comfort with uncertainty and not knowing. Through this practice we learned to trust that the people around us will support us and celebrate our learning and mistakes. Not only can we become comfortable in this space but we (River, Jeanette, and other players) come to love this feeling, there is a beauty in not knowing and trusting ourselves and those around us. This ripples out into other parts of our lives, deepening our connections and our sense of belonging.

Once you have this foundation you can more easily learn Irish the way your brain and body are designed to learn.

Our play is based on copy-catting the most fluent person, slowly gaining the muscles and skills for pronunciation, and learning to read and write later on. Instead of memorizing words and grammar rules, we start by learning the questions, verbs, and nouns we need to get our needs met.

There is no shame, testing, or being put on the spot. Instead we cheer each other on and marvel at our mistakes and learning. You are never left scared or unsure of what to do, as there is always a person right next to you ready to jump in and support you with the next step. 

We use almost no English, rarely any at all. In your first few games we’ll use some English to help get you started, but soon we easefully transition to almost none at all. The aim of the game is to make the situation so clear that you understand what’s going on from the props and gestures we use - and if you don’t get it right away, that’s ok! You will! The key is to trust the process, and remember you’ve already learned a language this way. By learning Irish without English we build your ‘Irish brain’ - a world separate from your English understanding of the world. This is important because many Irish words have no direct translation in English. Instead you’ll learn how to describe and interact with the world in Irish.

To help us communicate without English, and build our Irish brain, we use the game’s set up and a combination of American Sign Language, Irish Sign Language, and contract sign language to help us understand one another. Not only does sign language help us communicate but it helps us to embody the language and get the Irish inside of us. This is hard to explain with words because it’s an embodied experience. It’s easier to understand once you play with us - but what we’ve found is, if you can't remember a word, but you do the gesture, the word will pop back into your mind. It’s like your body remembers, and helps your brain to speak. It’s one of the fascinating and fun experiences of Language Hunting