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Students from Kildare and Dublin clinch the four team spots out of 100 of Ireland’s top young problem-solvers at the National Final of the All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad.

Four students have qualified to represent Ireland at the International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL) this Summer. Making up the team are Justin Cunningham from Patrician Secondary School, Newbridge, Co. Kildare who is the 2021 ADAPT All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad (AILO) National Champion. Justin also made the team last year when the internationals were unfortunately cancelled, and is a previous Junior Champion. Joining him on the IOL team are Oscar Despard (Sandford Park School, Ranelagh, Dublin) who got second place, Natalia Timulakova (Holy Faith Clontarf, Dublin) who came third and David Wright (Lucan Community College, Dublin) who placed fourth. Natalia’s twin sister, Dominika, also did exceptionally well in the competition, getting fifth place overall. 

AILO also runs a Junior (under 16s) category to encourage younger students to take part. Megan Boland from Ursuline Secondary School Thurles, Tipperary is the Junior Champion this year as well as placing 7th overall. Hannah Clune and Emer Phelan, from Coláiste Muire Ennis, in Clare got second and fourth respectively, while Cormac Hannon, from Gonzaga College in Dublin got second place to round out the Junior Category.

The National Final saw the students tackle some of the toughest puzzles in logic and  linguistics in little-known languages from all over the globe.The final, and the Preliminary Round in January, were both held online remotely due to the pandemic. Depending on government restrictions etc., AILO is aiming to run the International competition papers remotely from Dublin City University during the week 19-23 July.  

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About AILO

The All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad (AILO) challenges students to use their lateral thinking skills to solve puzzles in languages from all over the globe. Students must analyse the data they are given to work out the ‘rules’ of this new language. These transferable skills are very important in other subjects such as Maths, Coding and learning new languages. 

In 2020, AILO was awarded the prestigious European Language Label (ELL) for the “very successful transition to online AILO”. The current 2020/1 AILO season has moved fully online to continue to engage with students at home with ADAPT tutors running 25 free online workshops and the preliminary round running fully online from home. AILO teacher, Olivia Moore of Methodist College Belfast, said of the preliminary round, “for our AILO candidates this year, for 2.5 hours on a Monday morning in January, the world seemed almost normal!”

Sample puzzles from the Olympiad can be downloaded at http://tempailo.adaptcentre.ie/sample-puzzles/

Updated 30 March 2021, Ireland: 

Justin Cunningham from Patrician Secondary School, Newbridge, Co. Kildare is the 2021 AILO National Champion. Justin also made the International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL) team last year (but the IOL as cancelled) and was a previous Junior champion. Joining him on the IOL team are Oscar Despard (Sandford Park School, Ranelagh, Dublin) who got second place, Natalia Timulakova (Holy Faith Clontarf, Dublin) who came third and David Wright (Lucan Community College, Dublin) who placed fourth. Megan Boland from Ursuline Secondary School Thurles, Tipperary is the Junior Champion as well as placing 7th overall.

An online awards event will take place in April to celebrate the team and the top four Junior Winners.

Depending on government restrictions etc., AILO is aiming to run the International competition papers remotely from Dublin City University during the week 19-23 July. Ahead of this, ADAPT will provide the team with online evening training from May/June.

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Talented problem-solvers from all over Ireland tackled the world’s toughest puzzles in logic, language and linguistics in the National Final of the 13^th ADAPT All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad (AILO) on Wednesday. The competition was held remotely from home, with Zoom invigilation, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Run by ADAPT, an SFI research centre, the contest challenges secondary school students to apply logic and reasoning skills to solve complex puzzles in unfamiliar languages.

The national finalists qualified after coming through the Online Preliminary Round of AILO at the end of January. Students from forty-eight schools from fifteen counties on the island of Ireland qualified for the National Final. Four winners of the national final will have the opportunity to represent Ireland at the International Linguistics Olympiad, from 19-23 July, which is likely to be held remotely in participating countries around the world.

The All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad (AILO) challenges students to use their lateral thinking skills to solve puzzles in languages from all over the globe. Students must analyse the data they are given to work out the ‘rules’ of this new language. These transferable skills are very important in other subjects such as Maths, Coding and learning new languages. 

In 2020, AILO was awarded the prestigious European Language Label (ELL) for the “very successful transition to online AILO”. The current 2020/1 AILO season has moved fully online to continue to engage with students at home with ADAPT tutors running 25 free online workshops and the preliminary round running fully online from home. AILO teacher, Olivia Moore of Methodist College Belfast, said of the preliminary round, “for our AILO candidates this year, for 2.5 hours on a Monday morning in January, the world seemed almost normal!”

Sample puzzles from the Olympiad can be downloaded at http://tempailo.adaptcentre.ie/sample-puzzles/

100 of Ireland’s top young problem-solvers, from 48 secondary schools all over the island, competed in the National Final of the All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad on Wednesday 10th March.

11 March 2021, Ireland: Talented problem-solvers from all over Ireland tackled the world’s toughest puzzles in logic, language and linguistics in the National Final of the 13^th ADAPT All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad (AILO) on Wednesday. The competition was held remotely from home, with Zoom invigilation, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Run by ADAPT, an SFI research centre, the contest challenges secondary school students to apply logic and reasoning skills to solve complex puzzles in unfamiliar languages.

The national finalists qualified after coming through the Online Preliminary Round of AILO at the end of January. Students from forty-eight schools from fifteen counties on the island of Ireland qualified for the National Final. Four winners of the national final will have the opportunity to represent Ireland at the International Linguistics Olympiad, from 19-23 July, which is likely to be held remotely in participating countries around the world.

The All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad (AILO) challenges students to use their lateral thinking skills to solve puzzles in languages from all over the globe. Students must analyse the data they are given to work out the ‘rules’ of this new language. These transferable skills are very important in other subjects such as Maths, Coding and learning new languages. 

In 2020, AILO was awarded the prestigious European Language Label (ELL) for the “very successful transition to online AILO”. The current 2020/1 AILO season has moved fully online to continue to engage with students at home with ADAPT tutors running 25 free online workshops and the preliminary round running fully online from home. AILO teacher, Olivia Moore of Methodist College Belfast, said of the preliminary round, “for our AILO candidates this year, for 2.5 hours on a Monday morning in January, the world seemed almost normal!”

The results of the National Final of the All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad will be released next week. Sample puzzles from the Olympiad can be downloaded at http://tempailo.adaptcentre.ie/sample-puzzles/

The ADAPT All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad (AILO) has been awarded the prestigious 2020 European Language Label (ELL) for the “AILO at Home” project. The ELL award was presented by Léargas at an online awards ceremony today.

AILO at Home, which is led by Dr Cara Greene of the ADAPT EPE team, provides bite-size information on a little-known language on social media and links to a related linguistic problem-solving puzzle. The initiative was devised just after secondary schools closed in March in order to continue to communicate with AILO students, their parents and engage with the public.  The initiative scored highly, with 14 points out of 15. The jury considered the project “in a class of its own” and commended AILO at Home for its “quantum leap” over the last few months. Referring to AILO’s “very successful transition to online AILO”, the award highlights how AILO successfully ran the Preliminary round online and pivoted to running remotely just ahead the Covid-19 lockdown with students doing the National Final from their schools for the first time. 

Building on Online AILO in the new school year, ADAPT Centre researchers will run free online problem-solving workshops from November to January to help students and teachers with problem-solving strategy and help prepare them for AILO 2021. The season will be able to run fully online if necessary, with students able to take part in all parts of the competition from their own school.