Gaelic speakers

[allnightlong]

I was just looking for some advice, I'm scottish but not a Gaelic speaker and I would like to learn along with my DC aged 4 years and 6 months.

I was just wondering if you weren't raised in a Gaelic speaking family how did you learn?

Is there any resources thats are particually good? I was thinking it would be a good idea to buy some childrens books and DVDs.

I taught myself from a book/cassette package when I was about 13, this is long before the internet existed. I have a freakish language ability though.

There are all sorts of resources:

BBC Alba: www.bbc.co.uk/alba/foghlam/

Gaelic for Parents: www.gaelic4parents.com/

Cli: www.cli.org.uk/index_gaelic.asp

There are some video book/CDs like "Tech Yourself Gaelic".

There are also childcare groups (croileagan): www.croileagan.com/

If you're in Scotland, there are plenty of options. However, to get anyway you need conversation - books, websites and CDs will only get you so far. That is even truer for children, who predominantly learn (or absorb) language through interaction and play.

Loads going on in Glasgow and Edinburgh...contact your local Gaelic school/unit. If you're in Glasgow the Glasgow Gaelic School have classes for beginners. They are very helpful and encourage parents to learn..

Thank you both with look into some of those options.

Aussie good point about actually conversing with other speakings in order to become fluent.
I wonder if there is some sort playground type of situation in Edinburgh that speaks in Gaelic?

A good place to start would be www.gaelic-edinburgh.net/GaelicSchools.html

There is not yet a GME school in Edinburgh like Sgoil Ghàidhlig Ghlaschu, but Tollcross has the main GME unit from what I understand although there is some talk of making the old Bonnington Primary a pure GME school. GME is Gaelic Medium Education, where kids are taught through the language. However, there are a small number of schools that are completely Gàidhlig but most are Gàidhlig units in otherwise English-speaking schools. The issue there is that the playground language defaults automatically to English as the Gàidhlig-speaking kids are mixed with monolingual English speaking kids. Thus pure GME schools are preferred to provide as much a totally Gàidhlig space as possible.

GME is very controversial in Scotland (and to a lesser extent is Welsh-medium eduction in Wales) and there is usually a torrent of abusive letters to the editor every time an article is published in the paper on it.

It's a big advantage to learn alongside your kids, both linguistically and psychologically. There are large numbers of parents who don't speak a word of the language who send their kids to GME schools. Whilst the kids get the language, there's no social context for the language and the sociolinguistic dominance of English is reinforced. Plus to be mercenary, being a speaker or learner of the language will give you an edge if you are trying to get your kids into GME.

It's the default language in the playgrounds of the dedicated schools too.

If you're serious about learning yourself, I would get in touch with Cli (in AussieCelt's link) and find out about Ulpan courses going on near you - at the moment they seem to be the best supported and effective classes available.

You're not going to learn in the same way as your kids are - brain no longer wired in the same way! So if you actually want to get a reasonable level of linguistic ability you need to put in some time in at least semi-formal learning.

As far as the kids go, think about getting to four year old into Tollcross; not sure what they'd do with a four year old just now given that we're mid year, but the nursery class will take kids for part weeks, so it might be worth inquiring if they've got any spaces. For the little one, come along to Croileagan! Monday mornings in Corstorphine, Wednesdays and Fridays in Tollcross community centre. Corstorphine details; Tollcross details.

Low key, friendly, will introduce Gaelic through songs and activities.

Best of luck!

I would love to learn it again as i was fluent untill about 4 when i moved from the western isles to mainland scotland and sort of lost it as my mum and my dad spoke english as my dad did not speak gaelic.

Will look into these links, thank you.

Bumping just 'cos it's a good day for Gaelic in Edinburgh!

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-15486388

OhBuggerandArse

Great isn't it!

(I'm now wondering who you are...!)

Likewise! [hwink]

Thought I'd bump this as we used to have a thread about GMU but it's very ancient now!

I've got 3 kids at SGG, eldest starting the Ardsgoil after the summer. I'm not a great speaker myself ( though after 3 goes around my phonics are stunning!) but love the school and its ethos/culture.

So any ghaidhlig mamaidhs out there?