San Francisco Bay Area [1991-05-11] Subject: SF Bay Area Gaelic From: mike@gov.lbl.fionn (Michael Helm) Date: Sat, 11 May Here's my long-promised note on Gaelic classes in the San Francisco Bay area. I note that you have from Jim McCloskey the information on Amelda White. I have heard many good recommendations about her & her classes. ------------------------ Nora Ni/ Liongsigh (415) 431 4784 48 Haight St #11, San Francisco, CA 94102 I've been working with Nora for a couple months. Her classes are usually 5-8 people, conversational topics. I'm not sure what she's going to do in the near future & I'm not sure she's going to be here much longer. She's patient, explains well, has a lot of teaching materials, is flexible -- I can't recommend her too highly! Nora was/is a teacher in an all-Irish school in Dublin (she's on, um, Sabbatical here), & was born & raised in the Cork Gaeltacht in Ballyvourney. ------------------------ University of California, Berkeley -- I just got the Celtic Studies Program flier for the fall '91 classes, & here's what they have: Celtic Studies 115a "Modern Irish - Level 3" [This is for someone with 2 semesters' worth of intro] + 125a "Modern Irish Lit in Translation" done by Joan T Keefe, TuTh 3:30 - 5 pm also for any Welsh aficionados: Celtic Studies 6 "Beginning Modern Welsh" + 126A "Modern Welsh Literature in Translation" done by Kathryn Klar, TuTh 11-12:30 This is pretty thin but the department has lost Brendan O'Hehir, & the university itself is undergoing a severe budgetary crisis which is limiting the number of class offerings across the board. I know there is some continuing discussion in the department about classes so people interested should call Eve Sweetser or Gary Holland (643 7618, 643 7622, 642 2757(messages)). ------------------------ Joan Keefe, part of the UCB Celtic Studies Department, sometimes teaches Irish independently, so it may be worthwhile to contact her (thru the Department). She prefers to work with more advanced students. ----------------------- david george williams, 415 285 2276; 480 30th st, san francisco, ca 94131 Teaches classes occaisionally in Scottish Gaelic (I think he likes to do them on weekends). There are other sources for Scottish Gaelic in the Bay Area but I'm not yet tuned into them. They were more active about 10 years ago (taut in adult education class in SF). ------------------------ Ireland's 32 : Seamus Collins 386 7173 8 pm Wed Seamus Collins has been teaching a group on Wednesday nites. Ireland's 32 is a bar out in the Richmond District of San Francisco, about 30th & Geary. I haven't had any contact with these people (Wednesday's impossible for me & I haven't been able to track Seamus down). The phone number given is the bar's, call them for starters. ------------------------ The Irish Castle, Mary Whoaley (probably misspelled her name again; pronounced HOOLEY) 537 Geary SF; 474 7432 Mary is a native speaker (Donegal dialect) & while she has been very reluctant to teach she's helped set up a number of classes over the years, & usually knows who's active. (Sometimes she'll come to the classes to sing.) Currently she's been routing people to Nora & Amelda. It's worth talking to her -- people come & go, but the store is always there. ------------------------ There are other possibilities, too. There are a lot of set dancing & other Irish dancing styles classes around, & I know a couple of these teachers are Gaelophones. "The Starry Plough" in Berkeley & a group at the Ft Mason center in SF are the ones I'm thinking of; there are more. -------------------------- It occurs to me that there might be some Gaelic, or at least Celtic studies, at the University of California, Davis, which is about 50 miles east of here. I went to a conference recently where a woman professor from UCD[avis] gave a talk about French influence on Breton. I didn't get a chance to talk to her about what's happening there; her name is Lenora Timm, from the Linguistics Dep't. -------------------------- At the same conference I ran into an old friend, James Duran, who used to teach Irish here in the Bay Area a few years ago. He's now living & teaching Irish & Scottish Gaelic in the Los Angeles area: James Duran, 634 Cedar Ave Apt 9, Long Beach CA 90802; (213) 432 0637