I started learning Irish when I was nine years old. Mrs McQuaid was my P5 teacher in the Convent of Mercy in Dungannon.
Out of the blue one day, she told us that a window was a 'fuinneog', door was 'doras' and floor was 'úrlár'. Like most children my age, up until that point in life, my experience of language was whatever brand of English I heard amongst family and friends, on TV and radio. This new language both captivated and fascinated me. It was almost magical.
Mrs McQuaid was one of the pioneers in the town who spoke Irish and kept it alive.
When I was 10, she suggested that I go to a place called Tír na nÓg (land of the young). If I went there, I could learn Irish for two whole weeks, plus go on holiday. A great idea in theory, but my family couldn't afford it.
On realising this, Mrs McQuaid and the other pioneers got to work and gave me my first scholarship. Off I went to 'the Gaeltacht' - a two-week residential Irish course held in St MacNissi's in Carnlough. The experience was as close to a stay in Hogwarts as I'll ever get.
Once I had mastered 'An bhfuil cead agam dul go dtí an leithreas', I was all set. I don't remember having to learn Irish ever again. It was never a chore for me. I might have learned by osmosis.
Seven years in Acadamh na gCailiní (The Girls' Academy) built on the solid foundations.
I started to use Irish for real - to communicate. We entered quizzes, singing competitions and my favourite, the debates. I spent what felt like days almost glued to Bríd Devlin's desk when we were fine tuning arguments.
Our team's diligence and dedication was put to the test when we reached the latter parts of the debating competition, and came up against the big guns from Belfast.
There was a particular team from St Mary's CBS Glen Road who wiped the floor with us, with their confidence and fluency.
I wanted the experience they had. These fellas had attended an Irish speaking primary school. They had Irish all around them. This kind of wizardry was only available in Belfast.
Bunscoil Phobail Feirste celebrated its 50th anniversary last week. The school started out as a couple of huts on land adjacent to a group of houses which then were known as 'The Irish houses'.
In the late 1960s a group of friends who loved Irish, built an 'urban Gaeltacht'. From securing land, to mortgages to plans for the houses, to the building work, they did it all themselves. The ambition was to create an Irish speaking community in the Shaw's Road area of Belfast.
The first chance I got, as an eager-to-be-fluent teenager, I went to Belfast on work experience and spent time amongst the Belfast pioneers.
I spent a few days in the recently established Cultúrlann on the Falls Road. This one building housed the offices of a working, daily Irish language newspaper 'Lá', and Meánscoil Feirste - the Irish language secondary school - in its infancy, operating out of two classrooms.
There was also a café - An Caifé Glas. The experience of seeing the language working like this in an urban setting was mind blowing and it all stemmed from the vision of Pobal Bhóthar Seoighe - The Shaw's Road Community.
Some of the pioneers of The Irish Houses were present at Bunscoil Phobail Feirste's 50th birthday celebrations last week. It must be very special for them to be part of such a celebration, given how the women in particular spent many late nights making work books and formulating teaching plans in order to ensure that the handful of pupils could be taught through the medium of Irish; 400 children now attend the school.
From small acorns, many mighty oaks have grown. There are now over 30 bunscoileanna in the north, and even more naíscoileanna - including in my home town.
I recently had the opportunity to work on a TV series which tells the story of the Shaw's Road Irish speaking community. It was a dream come true to help tell such an inspiring story.
The pioneers who are still with us are incredibly humble about their achievements, and are quite rightly celebrated in their own locality and by the wider community.
:: The Irish Houses - Scéal Phobal Bhóthar Seoighe is a two-part series made by Clean Slate TV for BBC Gaeilge and is available to watch now on the BBC iPlayer
