Part 2

Gaelic Learners' Education

Section 1

Rationale

The value of learning a second language is well attested in that the second language provides the key to a number of areas, for example:

increased cultural and linguistic awareness;

a more highly developed facility with language in general;

an apprenticeship for the acquisition of a third language;

a sense of pride and confidence and a positive attitude to multi-language use;

an enhanced contribution to pupils' social and intellectual growth;

and, in the case of Gaelic,

a heightened awareness of 'Scottishness' in a European context;

an opportunity to hear and use a language spoken by people throughout Scotland by developing inter-relationships with the Gaelic community;

an opportunity to benefit from the expanding range of Gaelic related jobs;

an opportunity to enjoy, learn and appreciate aspects of Gaelic music, poetry, song and story;

the development of a range of positive attitudes and opportunities for personal development including tolerance, enjoyment, co-operation and sharing.

Aims and Priorities

In order to establish communicative confidence and competence the over-riding priority in the initial stages will be to concentrate on the development of oral skills. In the early part of the programme pupils should be given ample opportunity to hear Gaelic, develop listening skills and be encouraged to respond in Gaelic. All attempts at using Gaelic in the initial stages are praiseworthy; the confidence and the need to communicate are more important than absolute grammatical accuracy.

When oral skills are well established teachers will introduce reading and writing to consolidate and extend language previously learnt. Pupils will become more and more comfortable using Gaelic in the classrooms, in groups, pairs, individually and in teacher/pupil interchange. If possible, resources from the community should be engaged to provide a wider range of situations and contexts. While cultural aspects should be included as part of the programme they should not dominate the principal aim of achieving communicative competence.