Special Focus
Scots - Teaching approaches
Matthew Fitt working with pupils during a Scots language event organised as part of West Lothian's 'Telling Tongues' project.
There are huge opportunities for looking at Scots language and culture in the curriculum.
Just as language penetrates every aspect of life, it can also penetrate every area of the curriculum. Scots is part of Scotland's society and history - when exploring 'people in the past' why not try to find examples of texts or inscriptions in Scots from the era you are studying?
In 'people in society' you could explore attitudes to dialect, accent and minority languages with your class.
This section contains some practical ideas for studying Scots within the curriculum. For starters, here's a wee brainstorm:
- Choose a poem in Scots and ask the children to 'translate' it into English. Discuss the results, which are usually hilarious.
- In modern studies read The Scots Parliament, by James Robertson, which happens to be written in Scots!
- Do your ABCs and 123s from these wonderful books published by Itchy Coo
A Moose in the Hoose
A Scots Counting Book - In home economics, investigate the Scottish diet and its effects on the health of the nation. Find a healthy Scottish recipe, prepare and cook the food, and eat it.
- In geography, do a local survey of street names. How many have changed from older Scottish versions (Baxter's Wynd, The Bauk) to newer anglicised ones (Bakers Lane, Malt Row)? These are real examples.
More information on the Scots origins of place names is available from Ordnance Survey. - Write a poem in Scots. (It is important not to be worried about spelling in this – write as you hear the sounds in your head.)
- How many words in Scots can you find that came originally from French? When and why?
- Find and perform any piece of music which is clearly from Scotland and nowhere else. Catherine Campbell and Ewan McVicar's book Traditional Scottish Songs and Music is a good starting point.
- Make up a series of twenty factoids (did you know?) about Scotland and present them in Scots to your class.
- Find a recipe for any traditional, preferably local, Scottish dish, cook it and eat it with friends. Some examples are Cullen Skink, oatcakes, porridge, cranachan, scotch broth, shortbread, black bun.
- If you are examining Christianity in RE/RME try using Scots versions of the Bible (e.g. The New Testament in Scots translated by R L C Lorimer (Canongate) or A Glasgow Bible by Jamie Stuart (St Andrew Press)