I'm trying to find something I saw at Oideas Gael a couple of years ago (and more recently at the Los Angeles DSG). They had glance cards for kids preparing for Irish orals (or writing Irish essays) that were full of useful phrases and expressions. I didn't buy them at the time because the budget was running low (and I had to choose between the cards and the abridged book of Irish verbs...no brainer there!), and I'd kind of forgotten about them until I saw a set someone had at the DSG.

I thought they might still be available on the Oideas Gael/An Siopa Gaeilge website, but I'm not finding anything like them there. Does anyone know where I might be able to acquire a set?

Redwolf

Is this the kind of thing you're thinking of? Imelda showed us this, and told us we wanted one :
http://www.siopa.ie/ga/i-39-quickguide_irish_grammar/i.aspx?id=39

No...I have that one, as well as the classic glance card with the verbs and prepositional pronouns. These cards were geared toward upper school students, and had useful filler phrases for essay writing and the orals on them.

Redwolf

I don't remember seeing them, but have you tried looking at some of the educational sites? There's skoool.ie for example where they have uploaded files such as 'Speaking like the native you are' by Éamonn Maguire, Exam Centre - Guide to the Leaving Cert Irish Oral Exam (2008), 'Unlocking the language with key phrases' (which I can't open ) You can print them out and cut them up to make your own cards, if you wanted to. Have you looked at Teachnet.ie ? COGG.ie ? srl - I might have mentioned them before but there's Shortcuts to Success - The Irish Oral (Leaving Certificate Higher and Ordinary Level) ISBN 978-0-7171-3832-6 and Irish Grammar Guide (for Junior Certificate) ISBN 978-0-7171-4728-1 both published by Gill & Macmillan. There are also the various Irish educational publishers who all have their own websites. The Irish Times also has an educational supplement on languages (including Irish) which you can download.

Is it any of the ones in here?
http://www.siopagaeilge.ie/store-2.htm
(Or if you or anyone already has the other glance cards here, are any worth buying along with the QuickGuide one, once I'm already paying for transatlantic shipping anyway?)

YESSSS! Go raibh maith agat! Fuair tú iad dom!

Redwolf

I was rewarded by finding a copy of this out of print bilingual story collection in the same store. It contains one of my favorite childhood fairy tales, Children of Lir, and I've attempted ordering it from a few other places, yet something has gone bizarrely awry each and every time (I mentioned this in my foclóir thread). So I'm not entirely willing to believe in this book either, until I open the package and hold it in my hands.
Favourite Irish Legends by Bairbre Mc Carthy

You'll have no trouble with An Siopa Gaeilge. Gearoidín, who runs the place, is really on the ball.

I have that book. It puts kind of a bizarre spin on Clann Lír, but the Irish is good enough.

Redwolf

My favourite edition of this story is published by Mantra Lingua in Irish and English, though they also have it in other languages - Clann Lir/The Children of Lir retold by Dawn Casey and beautifully illustrated by Diana Mayo - the Irish text is by Máire Begley O'Shea (ISBN 978 1 8526 9818 8). I don't know if you know this but originally it was known as The Fate of the Children of Lir - Oidhe Chloinne Lir and it is one of three stories known as the Three Sorrows of Storytelling - Trí Trauighe Scéalaigheachta.

You can also download the bilingual version published by the Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language in Dublin in 1883 on the Internet Archive website.

If you want to get an idea of what one of the manuscripts of this looks like (there are several manuscript sources, which make it a complicated business when you're trying to find out where this story comes from), you can look at the Meamram Páipéar Ríomhaire website - (www.isos.dias.ie) it's included in the MS 10357 Melbourne State Library of Victoria pp 33 - 64.

GRMA franc, for more leads on my favorite story. It would be interesting project to compare all these different versions, though at this point to read any one of them will be an aspiration/challenge project for me, working sentence by sentence with dictionary in hand. I've chased down both publications to add to my list, though.

And Redwolf, GRMA for the reference for An Siopa Gaeilge -- I love finding new overseas bookstores! It looks like they have all kinds of intriguing stuff to check out.