Bringing home the benefit of learning in Gaelic

An increasing number of parents are choosing to master the language to keep up with their children.

The characters are instantly recognisable to any Scots child; the dialogue less so. But in the Murray household it is not only Anna, Beth and Calum following the adventures of Padraig Post. Father Andrew and mother Catriona may well cock an ear to test how much they can pick up.

The couple are part of the growing band of non-Gaelic speakers immersing themselves in the language after having sent their children to Gaelic primary schools.

Anna is now P3 and Beth has just started P1 at the Sgoil Ghaidhlig Ghlaschu, the Glasgow Gaelic School, while three-year-old Calum joins his big sisters next August.

Despite dad hailing from Lewis, the trio help make up the 80%-plus of children now attending the Sgoil Ghaidhlig who come from English-speaking families, with a handful even speaking another European language at home.

It is a trend being replicated in Scotland's other two major urban centres, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, where there has been another very tangible knock-on effect of the growing generation of young Gaelic speakers - mum and dad are learning, too.

"De tha thu ag iarraidh airson do dhinnear' is something you would hear frequently in our house", said Andrew, whose parents were both speakers.

"It means what do you want for your dinner?' Catriona and I are somewhere between beginner and intermediate level and the kids put us to shame, but we try to use as much Gaelic as possible in the house.

"I wish it was the case that we spoke Gaelic at home but if Catriona or I instigate the conversation in Gaelic the kids will continue it."

Like the Murray household, hundreds of other families are exposing themselves to their heritage and culture as a result of their children's education.

Over the past three years, as well as learning the language, Andrew and Catriona have taken their children on Gaelic- speaking holidays to Skye and Lewis and have becoming involved in a social circle focusing on heritage and culture.

While the Gaelic Language Act of 2005 gave recognition and status to the language, giving native speakers a belief and confidence, establishments like the Sgoil Ghaidhlig Ghlaschu have "normalised" it.

When parents were first given the option of having their children educated through Gaelic in Glasgow in 1986, around 50% of the roll had direct connections with Scotland's Celtic heartland of the Highlands and Islands.

Today, more than 80% have no connection to the language and some are first-generation Scots.

Roibeard O'Maolalaigh is head of Celtic Studies at the University of Glasgow and is active in Scotland's Gaelic scene, including his role as the chair of the Gaelic Books Council .

According to Professor O'Maolalaigh, courses run by the university and the efforts of the local authority mean that Glasgow is one of very, very few places in the world where someone can be educated from nursery through to PhD level entirely in Gaelic.

He said: "With the first inclusive all-Gaelic school in Glasgow opening in 2006 the language was given a certain status. It provided the linguistic environment to help children learn in a more effective way.

"Unlike the schools with the Gaelic units, the pupils could go to the playground without needing to switch back to English.

"This is the domain we want to occupy, where the language has acceptance and is seen as viable.

So what else is needed?

Professor O'Maolalaigh would like to see an examination of the curriculum as a way of extending Gaelic to the entire school population, as well as a physical focus for Gaelic activities in Glasgow, something comparable with the Culturlann centre in Belfast.

Given its history, population and a local authority many feel is much more proactive within the area than most, it is not that surprising that a major urban centre like Glasgow should be where the Gaelic renaissance is most visible.

While by the late medieval period Glas Cu had lost Gaelic as the tongue of its small population, the influx of Scottish Gael migrants, followed by their Irish cousins from across the North Channel in the 19th century, saw it rise rapidly again.

The 1901 census records a total of 18,536 people in the city being able to speak Gaelic or Gaelic and English, around one in every 40, although the real number is believed to have been significantly higher.

Following policies of official discouragement and general neglect, a fresh interest in the language took hold in the last century and today more than10% of Scotland's Gaelic speakers, the largest number outwith the Western Isles, live in Glasgow.

At the 2001 census, the number of Glasgow residents able to speak, read or write Gaelic was 10,034 but perhaps more telling was the demographic.

In the city Gaelic speakers cross all age groups, while the national picture shows it predominating in the older generations.

Glasgow also showed the greatest gain in speakers and has established itself as the host of a thriving Gaelic scene, from the establishment of choirs, to regular Gaelic religious services, the thriving pub scene around Partick and Finnieston and the Celtic Connections Festival.

However, few would argue against the statement that by far the crowning glory of the Gaelic renaissance, even on a national footing, is the school.

Malcolm Maclean, director of Pròiseact nan Ealan, the Gaelic Arts Agency, is a Govan Gael. When he was growing up in the city in the 1950s his close was dominated by Scots and Irish Gaelic, with a smattering of Polish. He said: "When you consider that a huge percentage of the population of the west of Scotland hails from Argyll, the islands, Highlands and Donegal, there are very few of us who don't have a Gaelic background.

"Glasgow is much more Gaelic than Dublin but so many people are unaware of their own histories.

"With the school, the language is becoming more and more normalised and as a consequence more people want to learn it and about it.

"We're still talking a very small number of speakers but if you take a more holistic view there are much broader implications than the purely linguistic. The impact of the school has had great resonances."

Rosemary Ward, the acting chief executive of Bord na Gaidhlig and the body's education manager, points to another factor in the rising success of Sgoil Ghaidhlig - the impact of bilingualism on a child's school career.

A comprehensive body of research, including the work of Professor Bialystok of York University in Toronto, indicates that children who are bilingual from an early age out-perform children with only one language in a range of thinking schools.

Ms Ward said: "The renaissance has been remarkable and the school numbers are mushrooming.

"One factor is that parents are undoubtedly more aware of the benefits of bilingualism and that's a large attraction.

"But from that they're now interested in the heritage, the music and the culture. We've a raft of support mechanisms for parents who want to engage with their children, and they realise that after a couple of weeks in P1 they're going to have to learn if they want to keep up with the children.

"And when it spreads from the classroom into the home it becomes a family thing and that's a crucial thing for any child."

Those in mainstream education agree. Professor Eric Wilkinson, of Glasgow University, said: "I can only guess and say that most people send their children to the Gaelic school more for the Scottish pride and identity - celebration of culture is important for a child's education.

"But all the evidence does show that becoming bilingual at a very early age does make a child better a school. It's the perceived professional wisdom. I'm all for it."

Language facts

Scottish Gaelic is a Celtic language closely related to Irish and Manx Gaelic, once spoken in practically all of Scotland.

In the late 11th and 12th centuries, Glasgow and its surrounding areas were predominantly Gaelic speaking.

Gaelic is considered by many to be the oldest written language in Europe.

3086 young people are in Gaelic medium education in Scotland where pupils are taught in Gaelic.

A total of 3641 pupils take Gaelic as a subject in secondary education.

486,987 people visited BBC Scotland's Colin and Cumberland web page, where children and adults can learn Gaelic, in its first week.

Bord na Gaidhlig received grant-in-aid worth almost £10m between 2004 and 2007 which is being used largely to assist local authorities and other public bodies to bring in Gaelic language plans.