If you had to name this school after one thing you can see from the window, what would it be?
A hill, a tree, a wall, a pitch? Irish placenames often did exactly that. They named a place for what was really there.
You are landscape detectives: every name hides a clue.
Watch the name come apart on the map. Spot the bit that means hill, marsh or shore.
Look for the landscape word inside the name.
When your teacher names a landscape piece, show 1, 2 or 3 fingers for the piece they said.
Trust your eyes and ears: a good reason beats a lucky guess.
Now look at landscape words across languages. Decide which pairs are true cousins and which only look alike.
A true cousin shares sound AND meaning. A lookalike only looks similar.
How to answer: thumbs up = true cousin · thumbs sideways = lookalike · thumbs down = different words.
Worked example before you start:
Watch for pairs that share a root about hills, water or the land itself. Wait for the reveal after each thumbs vote.
Invent an Irish-style name for your own street, built from what is actually there, and write what it means.
Make a name you would actually want on a street sign.
You may use today's building blocks if they help:
Board models (one real local feature is enough; block + Road, Lane or Park is fine):
Real map shapes often keep the Irish look (Knock…, Ballintober). Today block + Road or Lane is fine so everyone can invent and explain.
Or build from something you can really see: a tree, a wall, a pitch, a corner shop. Write the name, then one short line that says what it means.
Many Irish placenames come from natural features like hills, marshes, trees or rocks that shaped the place when it was named. Some of those features are still easy to see; others have changed under roads and houses.
Picture a place once called after a hill of oaks. The hill is built on. The oaks are gone. The street sign still says Oak Road.
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