Aistear: A Fresh Journey for our Customers
Aistear is a new platform by Bitesize Irish, launched for our customers in March 2022. Aistear features a new foundational Irish language course, Tús Maith, plus all your favourites courses like Sing a Song in Irish and Crack Irish Pronunciation. New features will help your Irish language journey, including quizzes, certificates, and the ability to ask us questions. Aistear will replace Bitesize Cúrsaí.
Tús Maith: New Foundational course for Irish language learners
Tús Maith is a self-study course, similar to the old Bitesize Cúrsaí. There are ten modules, based on ten different topics, each of which was 9-10 lessons on vocabulary, grammar, conversation and culture. Tús Maith means “a good start“, from the seanfhocal “tús maith leath na hoibre” (a good start is half the work). As the name suggests, it’s intended as a beginning course, rather than a complete course: there are/will be other channels to develop your conversation, independence and creativity in Irish.
As an active Irish language learner, Tús Maith will give you the chance to ensure you’ve covered all the foundational concepts for learning the Irish language. It’s a structured course, guiding you from modules 1 to 10. Quizzes will help you ensure you’ve understood the key concepts. As you complete the course, you’ll be able to download certificates
A structured journey through ten modules. Guiding you through the fundamental concepts of the Irish language with practical subjects.
Quizzes and certificates to encourage you to keep going each day – Gaeilge Gach Lá!
Plus Aistear will feature hundreds of new Irish language audio recordings, and entirely new modern conversations that you can role-play in your own time.
Three new Bitesize Beo Conversations
For Grow members, you’ll have access to three new Bitesize Beo conversation scripts, complete with recorded video. We’ll cover these new conversations through role-play during our weekly Bitesize Beo session for Grow members.
Learn to express yourself even more.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does this mean to me an existing member?
Aistear is an entirely new platform that will replace Bitesize Cúrsaí.
Importantly for Grow members, you’ll need to move your membership to Aistear to maintain access to Bitesize Pobal. The reason for this is that Bitesize Pobal’s login will be switched over to Aistear from Bitesize Cúrsaí. We’ll communicate the timing of this to you ahead of time, so that you’re sure you have continued access to Bitesize Pobal. Plus Bitesize Beo will start covering newly-developed conversation scripts on Aistear!
As an existing member we’ll offer you exclusive benefits when moving over.
What about the existing Bitesize Cúrsaí online courses?
The courses on Bitesize Cúrsaí are available on Aistear. You will not have your existing progress in those courses moved over to Aistear. If you have taken lesson notes in Bitesize Cúrsaí, they will not be moved over, and you can request an export of your notes at no extra cost.
As we develop and improve the courses on Aistear, the old Bitesize Cúrsaí courses will be retired gradually when the content in them is addressed in newer courses.
Our vision for Aistear is a guided journey for beginners all the way through to self-expression in Gaeilge. Our customers’ feedback was that Bitesize Cúrsaí did not offer a guided journey, for knowing where you are and where you need to go.
Who has developed the new content?
Niall Ó Siadhail at Bitesize Irish is our dedicated learning content developer. He has years of experience teaching Gaeilge to adults in Ireland and abroad. He is a qualified Irish/English translator, which requires an intricate knowledge of the language.
The entire Bitesize Irish team has been working together to bring you the new experience.
How will the membership move work?
The membership on Aistear is separate to Bitesize Cúrsaí. After you sign up for Aistear, please cancel your Bitesize Cúrsaí membership.
What if I don’t move my membership to Aistear?
Importantly for Grow members, you’ll lose access to Bitesize Pobal if you keep your membership on Bitesize Cúrsaí, as Bitesize Pobal’s login will be migrating to Aistear on Thursday 24th March. Don’t worry, we’ll communicate with you ahead of time and will guide you through this.
If you stay on Bitesize Cúrsaí or Bitesize Classic, you won’t benefit from our new foundational course Tús Maith, or from future courses we’ll be adding over time. With your membership on Aistear, you’ll benefit from continually improved interactive modern content.
Which currencies will Aistear support?
Good news! Bitesize Cúrsaí was only able to support US Dollar due to the limitation of that platform. Aistear is available in multiple currencies: Euro, US Dollar, British Pound and Australian Dollar. Since your membership is currently in US Dollar on Bitesize Cúrsaí, you’ll have the opportunity to choose a currency that’s perhaps more suitable to you.
I have more questions, how can I ask you?
Email us directly at [email protected] or use our online Contact form.