Language at Letham - The Project Evolves
Gathering Evidence
Matthew, Angela and Muriel have put in a lot of work during the first term of the project to very good effect, developing the children's vocabulary, making links across the curriculum, reading stories and beginning to explore the complexities of writing in Scots. Lessons have been observed by staff from Glasgow University and Literature in Learning, and interviews have been conducted with the children as well as with Angela, Muriel and Matthew.
Talking to the Children
Interviews with the children have provided some lovely insights into the work, and suggestions for how they might like things to develop.
Sense of Identity
The children all expressed a strong sense of entitlement and identity associated with working in Scots:
E: When we're speaking Scots we are speaking properly. We are Scots, we are Scottish, so we should speak Scots . . . Some people may think that speaking Scots is like slang, but it’s not, it’s like our language.
R: Sometimes in school we used to be told to speak English, but now that we can speak our own language, I like it.
J: I think it’s really good, it’s a good thing to learn about where you come from and how people still speak here.
Language Awareness
The children are becoming aware of variations within Scots:
R: Our teacher doesn’t come from the same place that we do, she comes from down in the Borders . . . and she sometimes says things differently.
And variations between Scots and English:
J: Well, when Matthew first came in, it isn’t always about the language, it’s about the accent, too, of words, cause some of the words are nearly the same, except the accent changes them a bit.
They are also aware of when it is appropriate to change between Scots and Standard English, though sometimes it is difficult to stop!
J: I was writing up everything else in Scots, so it can get you carried away a bit.
The children were also aware that writing in Scots is more difficult than writing in English:
I: What about writing in Scots?
G: Aye, that was a bit difficult
L: Because you didnae know how to spell most of the words
D: When you’re speaking it just comes normally, but when you see it you become very confused."
C: That’s what I can actually write in, in English instead of Scots.
But then another child observed:
J: We’ve done it [writing in English] since Nursery, really.
So it is not surprising that to suddenly have to write in their own, unpractised, language is a much greater challenge.
Parental Responses
The children recorded the reactions of their parents:
E (of her mum): She said she wished she’d had the opportunity when she was at school to really learn Scots.
R: My Dad says he’d rather me write in my own language, like the way I speak.
Resource Implications
The children relied heavily on their teachers and one another for support, and found exisitng Scots dictionaries difficult to use. There is a need for suitable support materials for use in primary schools.
Further suggestions
One child asked for more story books in Scots and another wanted books about the history and geography of Scotland:
C: More stories, like in Scottish.
J: And more Scots history maybe . . . I don’t know a lot about Scotland. I know a lot about like Edinburgh, but I don’t know anything really about Glasgow. Or anywhere else in Scotland really.
Another child was keen to learn to count and do her tables in Scots:
D: See how we got One, Two, Three – would there be like words in Scots?
F: Yeh – Yin, Twa, something like that
D: I would like to learn that.
Motivation
One child left us with an abiding sound-bite and a powerful endorsement for the project:
R: Well, like, Aa’m no fan o writin, but Aa like writin in Scots.
Another child agreed:
G: I dinnae like daeing that much writing, but in Scots I like doing words and all that.
A common response when the children were asked what they had enjoyed was: "Everything!" and "All of it, all of it!"
