Families’ Week Helps To Build A Gaelic Home

Issue Date: 17 July 2006

Parents of Gaelic school children from all over Scotland are at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig this week in order to learn Gaelic as part of a course that it is hoped will help to create a Gaelic home and environment for children.

As the number of Gaelic pupils steadily rises, there are more and more parents without Gaelic who want to learn the language. Families’ Week at the south Skye Gaelic college gives them the opportunity to learn at a variety of levels and also to take their children with them for the week.

David Byrne, the Short Courses Officer at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, said: “While the adults are in class, the children are enjoying a variety of games and events in our play scheme held at the local school which we run all week, and the under-fives go to Fàs Mòr, Sleat’s local childcare facility.

“The course has grown tremendously since it began three years ago as the rolls of schools such as Glasgow’s Gaelic Primary School have increased, this means that there is more demand for Gaelic courses for non-Gaelic speaking parents. Everyone enjoys the course, and we hope that it will help to create a Gaelic home and environment for the children.”

Mr Byrne added: “We are very pleased that the course continues to grow each year. The week is a really useful opportunity for parents who do not have the opportunity to hear or speak Gaelic often to do so in a relaxed and supportive environment. The children themselves also get a chance to speak Gaelic to children from all over Scotland.

Amongst those attending the first Families’ Week last week were families from North Lanarkshire, Glasgow and across the Highlands, and this week there were parents and children from Edinburgh, Inverclyde and the Highlands at the college.

The course is run as part of a partnership between Sabhal Mòr Ostaig and The Highland Council with help from Glasgow City Council, North Lanarkshire Council and Inverclyde Council and receives funding from Community Learning and Development (CLAD). Parents are given funding towards some of the costs of the course and the play scheme and childcare at Fàs Mòr are fully funded.

Notes to the Editors:

1. Sabhal Mòr Ostaig is Scotland’s Gaelic College (situated in Sleat on the Isle of Skye) and has received numerous awards for the quality of education that it provides. The college offers courses at Diploma, Degree and Postgraduate level as well as distance learning courses, all through the medium of Gaelic.

2. The full-time courses that Sabhal Mòr delivers include: Cùrsa Comais, Gaelic and Communication, BA and BA (hons) Gaelic Language and Culture, BA and BA (hons) Gaelic and North Atlantic Studies, BA Gaelic and Media Studies, Diploma in Gaelic Media and a taught post-graduate course in Material Culture and the Environment. In addition to the full-time courses the Gaelic Access Course is available and a series of short courses run through the summer.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

FIONA DUNN (MARKETING OFFICER FOR SABHAL MÒR OSTAIG)
sm00fd@groupwise.uhi.ac.uk
01471 888215

OR DAVID BYRNE, SHORT COURSES OFFICER:

01471 888240