Advance ticket sales have ended but door tickets remain available.
Profs and Pints DC presents: “Ireland 101,” a Saint Patrick’s Day introduction to the Emerald Isle’s language, poetry, stories, and songs, with Seán Ó Coistealbha, Fulbright foreign language teaching assistant at Catholic University, and former chief executive officer of a non-governmental organization providing human-resource development in Ireland’s Irish-speaking regions.
Start your Saint Patrick’s Day off the smart way with a crash course on Ireland’s language and culture from Seán Ó Coistealbha, a native of An Spideal and accomplished poet and actor currently working with the Catholic University of America’s Irish Studies program.
He’ll start by familiarizing you with the origins and current use of the Irish language, teaching you basic sounds and words. You’ll learn common phrases and sentences in the Irish language pertaining to traditional sayings, greetings, and simple questions that might be posed by a tourist.
From there the real fun begins as Ó Coistealbha uses poetry, story and song to immerse his audience in the sound of the language and introduce Irish place names, history, folklore, and mythology. Everyone will get involved in learning the refrain of one of the most popular Gaelic Language songs, “Oro se do bheatha abhaile,” memorably covered by Sinead O’Connor and many others.
You’ll emerge well-prepared for the rest of your Saint Patrick’s celebrations, regardless of whether it will involve practicing what you learned in the comfort of home or out in an Irish bar. (Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later.)
Image: The huge Irish flag outside the Boston Harbor Hotel. Photo by John Hoey / Wikimedia Commons