Portree’s enterprising Gaelic project

The children of Portree Primary School and a school enterprise company called De-an- Duigh have produced the first DVD/CD dualdisc for children.  This dualdisc is a single CD which can be played as a DVD on a TV and then turned over and played as a CD in any music system.

This enterprise was carried out by the children of Gaelic Medium 6/7 and the children of the Sgoil Araich 4, as a joint venture.
 
The children of GM6/7 had been working on a task in school and a conversation arose about the lack of provision for Gaelic children in respect of DVDs.   They decided to work in partnership with the 4 year old Gaelic nursery group in the school to produce a DVD with Gaelic songs for younger children to sing along to.   They spent several months researching which songs to select and they then began teaching the songs to the four year olds themselves.

The group were offered cameras and editing software to use, but the children decided that they wanted a professional to do the work for them so the final product was of a high quality.

The filming was carried out in May and the finished version of the product is now ready.  The DVD is about 35 minutes long and the CD is 10 minutes long.  The DVD has a very simple storyline which young children will be able to follow.  It begins with the children listening to a song from their teacher before she and they fall asleep in class.  On waking, the toy clown, which has been in the corner of the classroom, comes alive and takes them on a magical tour of the school.  They meet many magical animals on their way whilst looking for a magical word. 

The enterprise company will also be selling books containing the lyrics of the songs on the DVD.  The profits from this booklet will be going to Children in Need. 

The premiere of the DVD takes place on Monday 10th November at 6.30 p.m. at the Aros Centre. Attendance is by invitation only.