Scots language in the primary school

Scots, until recently excluded from the primary classroom, is once again making itself heard within Scottish education.

Most schools now celebrate Scots at least once a year during the Burns recitation season but a primary school in West Lothian is currently exploring ways of introducing Scots throughout the year on a graded scale from P1 up to P7.

Kirkhill PS in Broxburn has been working since January with Matthew Fitt, Schools Officer for Itchy Coo, to develop teaching materials and strategies appropriate to the different stages of primary. Head Teacher Anne Moir believes that a more structured approach to Scots among the school community will be of significant benefit to the linguistic development of her pupils. Matthew will be visiting the school on a weekly basis during the next academic year as part of the ongoing Scottish Arts Council project, Itchy Coo, whose remit is to bring Scots to bairns o aw ages.

So far, teacher Christine Pope has been rhyming, singing and using fluffy animals as visual aids to introduce her P2 class to simple Scots vocabulary such as coo, dug and moose. Christine has found the Scots has fitted neatly into a project on farms she was already running with her class.

At P4 level, teacher Jennifer McEwen has used a tattiebogle (scarecrow) as the focus for introducing anatomical vocabulary like heid, mooth, airms and oxters. Noting the positive response of her pupils to hearing Scots in the class, Jennifer has gone on to lead her class to a show-stopping performance of the 'The Three Wee Pigs' in Scots for a school assembly.

And Cheryl Reekie who teaches P7 has had her class playing hide and seek with breeks, bunnets, jaikets and semmits in a priming exercise called 'The Claes Game'. With this and a great deal more vocabulary at their disposal, Cheryl's class has now created its own fictional Scots town where Greetin Wynd runs across the Bubblyjock Brig at the foot of Kirk Brae. This 'Scotsopolis' will soon be populated by imaginary characters whose lives and personalities may become the starting point for narrative storytelling and extended creative writing.

But Itchy Coo is not working solely on teaching strategy. It is also offering Scots Language and Literature tutorials to staff in order to develop each teacher's understanding of Scots and his/her confidence in using it with pupils.

The EU-funded organisation Mercator Education based in Leeuwarden in the Netherlands is keen to see how this particular Scots Language programme develops. It has been suggested that Kirkhill PS may become eligible at a future date to join Mercator's prestigious European Network of Bilingual Schools.

Whatever the outcome, the enthusiasm and talent of the teaching staff at Kirkhill will ensure that the project is a valuable learning experience for both themselves and the weans.

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