Families get together to learn Gaelic in Lewis
10/08/10
Last week saw families from Aberdeen, Kilmarnock and Inverness travel to Lewis to take part in the Gaelic family week organised by Comann nam Pàrant.
While the children of the families attended Fèis Eilean an Fhraoich in Stornoway, parents brushed up their Gaelic skills by attending Ùlpan Gaelic classes, a new intensive way of learning the language.
Magaidh Wentworth, Parental Officer for Comann nam Pàrant said, “This is the fifth Gaelic week that we have organised for families and held in Lewis and has been our busiest yet with twenty adults taking part in classes and twenty six children at the Fèis. As we are hoping that this week will enable parents to increase their use of Gaelic in the home, we were pleased that more families with pre-school children took part this year and as the Fèis cròileagan only runs in the mornings we extended it to afternoons for the families on our course.
Parents were given a very intensive two lessons a day which allowed them to get a good start in learning Gaelic and an understanding of what is involved in the Ùlpan course. Encouragingly all the parents on the course were keen to follow up the week and hope to be able to access Ùlpan in their own areas.”
Keith Chandler, one of the parents who attended the Ùlpan class said:
"The Comann nam Pàrant week in Stornoway was excellent. The child care was especially good, with our children taking part in a range of activities in the Fèis, which gave us the opportunity to attend the Ùlpan classes. Ùlpan is the easiest method of learning a language, which I have come across. The teacher was enthusiastic and the learning method ensured that we left after a week of tuition with a good grasp of the basics."
The week was not all hard work, families enjoyed the events at the Fèis as well as a cèilidh held in the Stoodie Community Centre in Point where they were entertained by their own children as well as a number of local musicians.
The week is funded by Bòrd na Gàidhlig and run by Comann Nam Pàrant for families with children in Gaelic medium education and is part of Bòrd na Gàidhlig’s action plan Ginealach Ùr na Gàidhlig.