Pauline Prior-Pitt and the Uist Writer's Group
Pauline Prior-Pitt and
The Uist Writer’s Group
(click on title for interview)A kaleidoscope of life images /leading into unknown landscapes / but realms oh so deeply known / Joy of power spoken / richness of being human. (L.P.)
Pauline Prior-Pitt has initiated (and inspires !) the Uist Writer’s Group, a bunch of people with a shared enthusiasm for creative writing.
Rita meets the Prince
Rita Dix is one of the Gaelic learners in Berneray. Here is a piece which she wrote about meeting Prince Charles when he was on an official visit to Berneray.
Ann an 1985 thàinig am Prionnsa Teàrlach ‘s a Bhana-phrionnsa Diana a Bheàrnaraigh air tadhal oifigeach.
Bha an t-sìde cho garbh nuair a a thàinig dà heilicoptear sìos agus b’ e am Prionnsa Teàrlach aon de na paidhleatan.
New Blogs on the Block
Local community voices are finding some interesting new platforms from which to make themselves heard. In addition to the recently launched Guthan/Voices page on Am Pàipear several new blogs have been started, (including audio-blogs!).
Gaelic tutor Archie Campbell started writing “Cò ach esan?” with Blogspot some months back, but has just recently started adding Ipadio phonecasts – which allows him to complement his texts with recorded speech. That’s very helpful for Gaelic learners who need to hear what the language actually sounds like.
Loriana Pauli has just started writing “From the Water’s Edge” in English on WordPress, but also including audio links from her new Ipadio channel.
And the Gaelic learners in Berneray now have a class blog, “Guthan Bheàrnaraigh”, also on WordPress. The first written contribution is by Rita Dix, on her 1985 meeting with Prince Charles.
All these “new voices” promise to provide interesting material to share – whether directly from their own sites or channelled through Am Pàipear, our local community paper. If anyone else locally would like to try out making their own contribution but is unsure how to get started, then please contact Gordon Wells on 07879 644984.
Like this:
Gaelic in the Kitchen
The Berneray Gaelic classes led by Alison Dix and Archie Campbell were invited into a neighbour’s house to learn how to make oatcakes in the Hebridean manner. Màiri also spoke about her lifelong connection with Berneray, as well as of her training and work experience on the mainland, and her interest in good homebaking. Getting to eat the oatcakes was an extra bonus – not to mention taking home the recipe!
This 5-minute audio recording of Màiri’s good Berneray Gaelic is overlaid with pictures snapped at the time with a mobile phone. It’s the work of a few minutes to put the two together and place the result online. Now Gaelic learners worldwide can listen again and again – perhaps while making more oatcakes in their own kitchen…
Like this:
Clilstore trials at Ulster
“It’s excellent, give us more!”, that was the overwhelming response from Year 1 and Year 2 students of Irish at the University of Ulster following a recent trial of Clilstore. The units created for the purpose of this trial: http://alturl.com/w6bao & http://alturl.com/s5jjh were based on sample materials from the new Third Level Syllabus for Irish (see http://www.teagascnagaeilge.ie) which is based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.
Visiting Professor
Uist welcomed a short visit from Soillse Director Professor Robert Dunbar this week. During his tour he was able to visit the offices of Am Pàipear and Sgoil Lìonacleit, as well as speak with Gordon Wells, Island Voices/Guthan nan Eilean co-ordinator. Originally from Canada, Rob’s first introduction to learning Gaelic was through teachers from Uist – and he’s never looked back!
Here he speaks also about his ambitions for the Soillse research project to engage closely with the local interest in Gaelic – in education, in the family and the community, and in relation to policy and planning.
(If you use an iPhone or an iPad you may need to follow this link: http://ipad.io/xQ5)
Public visibility of the Gaelic language in written form may be one of many factors affecting perceptions of its current state and future prospects. Rob takes an interest in linguistic landscapes, and took the opportunity to gather some examples during his visit. (Click to enlarge.)
Lithuanian Linkage
Am Pàipear is the local community newspaper for the Uists, here in the Outer Hebrides. But that doesn’t mean that interest in it is restricted to just these islands! There are subscribers in various countries around the world – wherever families with Uist connections have chosen to settle.
And now, through the Island Voices/Guthan nan Eilean connection a growing body of language learners (of both Gaelic and English) are also taking an interest. There is a new “Guthan: Voices” tab on the Am Pàipear website featuring homegrown lifestyle pieces created in English or Gaelic by local community members, and it’s proving popular with online visitors from around the world.
And another area of interest is the development of the Clilstore online learning platform with multiple dictionary access, in a partnership with the European TOOLS project. So now, for example, vocational students at the Marijampole Vocational Education and Training Centre in Lithuania are finding out all about Am Pàipear as they test drive an early prototype English learning exercise with online Island Voices video, wordlinked transcript, and supporting Hot Potatoes crossword exercise. This project has some way to run yet, but it looks like connections between our “offshore” islands and mainland Europe are getting shorter already!
Like this:
Bilingual Community Drama
English tutor Mary Morrison and Gaelic tutor Archie Campbell put on scriptwriting hats recently in a remarkable collaboration that saw cross-community involvement in the staging of a traditional tale – Gille an Fheadain Duibh (The Lad with the Black Chanter). The story was chosen from the “Thugam agus Bhuam” collection, as told by Pàdruig Moireasdan, with his own grandson (also Pàdruig) taking the central role – as well as adding to the musical accompaniment.
Originally a Gaelic tale, the full stagescript was written bilingually, giving the option of English or Gaelic for each character – with an English “subtitling” system in place for any members of the audience who might struggle with the Gaelic sections. Could this be a model for replication elsewhere? The local group would be pleased to offer advice and encouragement to others who wish to try it out.
Mary talks here in English about how the project came about, and the high degree of community involvement (of both young and old) in all aspects of the production – dramatic, musical, and artistic:
Archie talks here in Gaelic about the challenge of writing for speech, and discusses how participating in this kind of project can be helpful for learners:
Live Demonstration
There was an encouraging turnout for last night’s meeting on “Community Voices in a Digital Age”. It started with a presentation by Gordon Wells of some of the easy-to-use online platforms that are integrated in the Guthan nan Eilean project. This included two live demonstrations of the Ipadio audio-recording function which instantaneously converts a telephoned voicemail into a webpage with sound embedded.
First to go was Iain Caimbeul, the project manager for the Soillse inter-university Gaelic research network, who, speaking in Gaelic, explained the main aims of the organisation and what it was keen to explore in partnership with island communities.
In the second test run local resident Volker Labitzke, speaking in English, compared his experiences of learning English and Gaelic, and talked about how he felt his language learning helped him to settle in his new home.
In the second half of the meeting there was open discussion of ideas for supporting language, and particularly Gaelic, development in the community. The new “Guthan: Voices” tab on the Am Pàipear website was cited as a new opportunity for “lifestyle” contributions, in writing or speech, from members of the public. Also highlighted were community drama, community lunches, and community radio, as well as the importance of links to schools and young people, though it was noted that the use of Facebook and Twitter is by no means restricted to the younger generations! The meeting finished with Volker remarking on the enthusiasm within the group, and the desire to see some or all of the ideas mentioned taken forward as a result.
Future meetings may continue to be held in Balivanich, but there is no reason why interested parties in North or South Uist should not prefer to meet closer to their own homes. Or individuals may feel inspired to work on their own! Gordon is happy to assist in any appropriate manner, and can be reached on 07879 644984. It will be interesting to see how, if at all, engagement with the new media affects patterns of language use – a topic which Soillse is keen to explore.
Up for an International Award!
The English component of the Island Voices video collection has been nominated for a prestigious award, the British Council ELTons, sponsored by Cambridge ESOL – “a celebration of excellence in English language teaching (ELT) from around the world.”
Michael Carrier, Head of English Language Innovation at the British Council said: “The ELTons have grown to become an essential fixture in the ELT calendar. They are a wonderful opportunity to showcase innovative ELT products and creative ELT authors from around the world, and we are very proud to be able to bring the ELT community together to celebrate innovation in our profession.”
The Island Voices Videos have been nominated under the Local Innovation category. The full press release is available via this link. Exciting times! We wait to see what May brings…
