Meet Danielle, this year’s Irish FLTA at the University, who has travelled from Donaghmore in County Tyrone to South Bend to share her love for the Irish language and culture with a new community of learners. For her, Irish is not only a subject to be studied but a living connection to history, identity, and everyday life.
Danielle studied Irish at Queen’s University Belfast, where she completed her degree in Irish and deepened both her linguistic skills and her understanding of the language’s place in modern Ireland. She then remained at Queen’s for a Postgraduate Certificate in Education in Modern Languages, preparing herself to teach Irish in schools.
After graduating, Danielle moved directly into Irish Medium Education. She first worked for a year in an Irish Medium School in Belfast. Then, she returned back to County Tyrone to teach Irish in the school she attended and learnt the language. These experiences confirmed for her that Irish thrives when it is part of daily life, not only an academic subject.
Her commitment to immersion does not stop during the school year. For the past four summers, Danielle has worked in the Gaeltacht area,Loch an Iúir, Donegal. Gaeltachts regions where Irish remains a community language. During the summer, teenagers from across Ireland attend courses, live in Irish speaking households, and spend their days learning, playing sports, and socializing through Irish. Notre Dame students also have the opportunity to attend Gaeltacht courses in Ireland, something Danielle is eager to highlight. The Gaeltacht, she explains, shows students that Irish is not just a classroom exercise. It is a language used to make friends, tell stories, sing, and play. Danielle notes that this is something that is growing more and more outside of Gaeltacht regions as well.
At Notre Dame, Danielle is on a career break from her permanent teaching post in Ireland. She has come as a graduate student and Fulbright FLTA, teaching Intermediate Irish and helping to promote Irish culture more broadly on campus. She sees her time here as a kind of “transaction of culture,” an exchange that benefits both sides. As a student, she learns from the Notre Dame community and from colleagues in the Irish language and CSLC programs. As a teacher, she shares the music, sports, and everyday expressions that shaped her own experience of Irish growing up. Danielle also mentions how Irish language and culture is alive on campus, through conversation circles, events and she has seen a growth in the use of the Irish language in Notre Dame GAA club.
That personal story is an important part of why she believes others should learn the language. Danielle herself grew up in a family that did not speak Irish, but her peers at school did, which sparked her interest in learning. She notes demand for Irish has increased dramatically, and that revival brings new opportunities in teaching, media, translation, tourism, and cultural work worldwide, not only in Ireland.
For students at Notre Dame, Danielle sees many reasons to give Irish a try. Some have Irish heritage and want to reconnect with their roots. Others are simply curious about a language that sounds unlike anything they have studied before. For all of them, she believes Irish can provide a new way to think about identity, community, and belonging. She often recalls the proverb “Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam”, which she translates as “a country without a language is a country without a soul.” For Danielle, this saying captures why Irish matters. Language carries stories and memories, and learning Irish is one way to engage with the soul of Ireland itself.
Her Fulbright year at Notre Dame is also a step toward her own future plans. Danielle will stay for the academic year and then return to her permanent job in Irish Medium Education at home. Looking ahead, she hopes to pursue a master’s degree in Irish Medium Education, building on everything she has learned as a classroom teacher, a Gaeltacht leader, and now an FLTA. The experience of teaching and studying in the United States, she believes, will help her bring fresh ideas back to her students and colleagues in Ireland.
Another proverb that Danielle likes to share with students is “Ní bhíonn in aon rud ach seal,” which means “nothing lasts forever.” Her time at Notre Dame is one of those short but important seasons. It is an opportunity to strengthen the bridge between Irish speaking communities in Ireland and learners here at Notre Dame, to welcome new voices into the language, and to show that Irish is very much alive.
As Danielle continues her work with Intermediate Irish and Irish cultural events this year, she invites students to join her in that project. Whether someone comes from a family with Irish roots or is encountering the language for the first time, there is space in her classroom and at CSLC and Irish events to listen, to try out new words, and to experience Irish culture in community.
About the CSLC
The Center for the Study of Languages and Cultures (CSLC) aims to support language learners at ND by facilitating meaningful experiences with linguistic acquisition and exchange - both in our campus community and abroad. We believe that access to the world's languages and cultures allows us to seek out new perspectives, to value the diversity of the world's cultures, and to embody global citizenship.