Although the main focus will be on producing original source materials, this is potentially a useful supplementary tool in the new push to encourage wider local community participation.
Month: February 2012
Meeting: Local Language Patterns
As a follow-up to last year’s Soillse small research fund project a meeting has been organised:
“Local Language Patterns: Uist’s Extra Dimension”
Balivanich School
Tuesday 6th March, 7.30pm
The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the findings from the report, and exchange ideas on any actions that groups or individuals might like to take in light of it. The title of the study is “Perceptions of Gaelic Learning and Use in a Bilingual Island Community: an Exploratory Study”, and the full report can be found online via this link. A half-page summary by Gordon Wells was also published in the December issue of Am Pàipear and can be found here. Everyone who took part in the project is invited to come along, and that invitation extends to any other members of the community who take a positive interest in this subject. Tea and coffee will be available!
The meeting will start with a brief presentation on the main points of the report, to be followed by questions and discussion. Some ideas for development out of the Guthan nan Eilean/Island Voices project will be presented, and other suggestions will be most welcome! If you are interested in attending, do please come along. It would be helpful if you could let Gordon know beforehand by phoning/texting 07879 644984.
Community Voices
The Island Voices project is moving into a new “grassroots” phase now. We aim to encourage community members to create their own pieces of work – whether in video, audio, or written texts. Help will be available, either with the language or the technology, to get you started, but it’s your stories, or conversations, or songs, or even movies that the rest of the community would like to hear or see. And with Am Pàipear on board we will have a local outlet for your work, ready and willing to reflect our community lifestyles.
Here’s a Gaelic example. Just click on the graphic below to see what kind of thing we have in mind.
Bear in mind that this is a bilingual project. So English is also welcome, though we’ll try to keep a balance between the languages. If you would like to know more about the project, please get in touch through Cothrom or Am Pàipear, or directly with Gordon Wells on 07879 644984.
Lorna and the Learners
Community Gaelic classes continue to meet in Berneray. One group is led by Alison Dix, and they are keen to meet and talk with local residents who are fluent speakers. Below you can hear edited highlights of a conversation held with Lorna MacKillop. The learners prepared thoroughly for the meeting by drawing up a list of questions to ask Lorna. The list of questions is here: Ceistean airson Lorna.
With Lorna’s agreement they then recorded their conversation. This has provided them with a lot of listening material for subsequent lessons, as they will be able to go over every aspect of the chat they had. The recording posted here gives just a taste of Lorna’s beautiful Berneray Gaelic, and the treats in store for the learners in the weeks ahead. Click on the image below to hear the conversation.
(Classes organised by CE Bheàrnaraigh with support from Bòrd na Gàidhlig’s scheme for Taic Freumhan Coimhearsnachd.)
TOOLS for help with English
Gordon Wells has just returned from Belgium where he and Caoimhín Ó Donnaíle were attending a workshop with other European partners for the new TOOLS project. The project has only just started, but the aim is to develop a tool that will help teachers and learners when they need to find a word in an online dictionary. Users will be able to put recordings (for example from YouTube) on a new page with an accompanying transcript. You will then be able to check any word you don’t know in an online dictionary. This should be helpful for learners, though clearly you can’t learn any language just from a dictionary alone! The team has started a blog where they will be putting up examples of their work as they progress. Here is an English example, using an Island Voices film. 
As can be seen, you can also put links on the page for following to other webpages. That allows you to build “learning units” including Hot Potatoes pages or other appropriate sites or blogs. It will be interesting to see how easy this tool will be to use in a community like Uist and how useful it will be for local ESOL learners.
TOOLS airson cuideachadh le Gàidhlig
Tha Gordon Wells dìreach an dèidh tilleadh às a’ Bheilg far an robh e fhèin agus Caoimhín Ó Donnaíle ag obair le colaistean is oilthighean eile air pròiseact ùr, air a bheil an t-ainm TOOLS. Chan eil ann ach toiseach tòiseachaidh, ach tha iad an dùil inneal ùr a chruthachadh a chuidicheas luchd-teagaisg agus luchd-ionnsachaidh ma tha iad feumach air facal a lorg ann am faclair air-loidhne.
Thèid aig luchd-cleachdaidh air clàraidhean (mar eisimpleir air YouTube) a chur air duilleag ùr le tar-sgrìobhadh ann cuideachd. An uair sin faodaidh tu facal sam bith a leughas tu a lorg ann am faclair, mura bheil thu ga thuigsinn. Thathas an dùil agus an dòchas gum bi seo na chuideachadh do luchd-ionnsachaidh, ged a tha e follaiseach nach ionnsaich thu cànan sam bith le faclair a-mhàin!
Tha an sgioba air blog a thòiseachadh far am bi iad a’ cur suas eisimpleirean dhen obair aca fhad ’s a tha iad a’ gluasad air adhart. Tha eisimpleir Ghàidhlig ùr an seo, a’ cleachdadh film a chaidh a dhèanamh airson Guthan nan Eilean.
Chìthear cuideachd gur urrainn dhut ceanglaichean a chur air an duilleig gus an leantail gu duilleagan eile air an eadar-lìon. Mar sin, tha sin a’ toirt cothrom dhut “aonadan ionnsachaidh” a thogail le duilleagan Hot Potatoes no duilleagan iomchaidh eile. Bidh e inntinneach fhaicinn dè cho furasta ’s a bhios an t-inneal seo ri chleachdadh ann an coimhearsnachd mar Uibhist, agus dè cho feumail ’s a bhitheas e airson Gàidhlig a bhrosnachadh agus a leasachadh.