The group had been invited into the school by the headteacher, Mrs Ferguson, so that they could look around and find out more about the excellent facilities there, so the children took great delight in showing their parents round. It was also an opportunity for the school to find out some more about the children’s cultures. Mrs Ferguson was particularly interested to find out more about foods and dishes, so the recipe book that the learners had prepared for the midsummer party was presented to her the very next day.

You can read here Radek’s description of the Polish “wigilia”. And Mary’s notes from the discussion here add more information about Latvian and Russian traditions, as well as Polish ones.

Òg no sean, nach eil e math a bhith ag ionnsachadh mu na diofar dhòighean a th’ aig daoine airson an t-àm-sa dhen bhliadhna a chomharrachadh? Ach tha aon rud ann a bhios sinn uile ag iarraidh:

Nollaig Chridheil agus Bliadhna Mhath Ùr – nuair a thig i!

Caoimhín Ó Donnaíle demonstrates the use of Multidict and Wordlink with Gaelic Wikipedia

The latest issue of Am Pàipear carries a couple of articles with a bearing on Guthan nan Eilean/Island Voices. In the first, “Local Language Patterns: Uist’s Extra Dimension”, Gordon Wells highlights and discusses the main points arising from the recent Soillse research project he conducted through Cothrom. This may be a useful summary alternative to reading the full report, already published online.

The second article, “From POOLS to TOOLS: Sabhal Mòr Ostaig leads the multilingual way”, gives more detail on a new European project due to start in January, in which new multilingual software will be trialled. It will be interesting to see if and how a new “cyberspatial” connection can enhance language learning and use in a real community!

All 150 Videos in the Series One and Series Two Island Voices collection are now available for download in “avi” format from this page on the Sabhal Mòr Ostaig website:

http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/A-Cholaiste/island-voices_gd.html

This new facility means that, once you download a particular video to your computer, you won’t need to go online every time you want to watch it. This may be especially useful if there are some particular clips you want to use on a regular basis, or if you’re taking your laptop somewhere where there isn’t a good internet connection.

The page also gives links to the transcripts for downloading in Word format, as well as to the original YouTube locations (already available through the Series One and Series Two pages on this site, which also give links to detailed pdf catalogues for each series).

“I’m conducting research for my PhD at the University of Aberdeen as part of the Soillse Network and I am trying to find local Gaelic speakers, of any ability, over the age of 30 who would be willing to take part in a short interview. I am interested in all aspects of Gaelic use but particularly my research examines how Gaelic has been changing in recent years in different Gaelic speaking areas and I’m especially interested in studying Uist Gaelic as it is so rich and its speakers so loyal. For my research I need to record natural conversation between native speakers so interviews would be conducted in pairs or small groups. These would be very informal and relaxed situations with no strict topics of discussions. There would also be a short set of English sentences to verbally translate into Gaelic. The whole interview would last no more than an hour, and would be conducted at a time and place that was mutually convenient. I will be in Uist from 24th November to 1st December; if you are interested in being involved or would like more information please feel free to contact me (Beth Cole) on e.cole@abdn.ac.uk or 07793 937766.”

Anyone interested should please contact Beth directly.

Greek television interviews Konstantinou Bliatsios of the Georgiki Anaptixi Vocational Training Centre about the POOLS-CX workshop being hosted in Larisa

The POOLS-CX group has been meeting in Larisa, Greece, this week. This is a Transfer of Innovation project led by the University of Pitesti in Romania, building on the outputs of the original 2005-2007 POOLS project, out of which the Island Voices project was also born. Island Voices co-ordinator Gordon Wells has been helping group members from Italy, Greece, and Turkey to develop video-making techniques for language learning and teaching.

The group has been using Vimeo to upload their first drafts of videos, and comment on their progress. Up until this point this has been a closed group so that comments could be made in confidence. At this week’s meeting it was agreed to open the group to anyone who is interested in learning video skills, so that they can view how the team members have progressed over the past few months. The group can be viewed via this link, where participants’ first videos and discussions can be seen.

The Cothrom project supported by the Soillse Small Research Fund is now complete. The project was presented by Gordon Wells at the recent Soillse Conference at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, and the full report is now online. It can be accessed via this link, or directly from the Soillse website. The full project title is “Perceptions of Gaelic Learning and Use in a Bilingual Island Community: An Exploratory Study”. It sought to document a range of views among Gaelic supporting members of the Uist community, several of whom were also contributors to the Guthan nan Eilean/Island Voices project.

It is hoped to use this report as a basis for further discussion and action in the local community. The Cothrom Language and Culture group will be meeting soon to discuss ways of taking it forward.

Neil Campbell from Sustainable Uist is keen to showcase local productions alongside headlining feature films in an exciting programme for Benbecula Community Cinema over the coming months.

The “English Video Tweets” website is a portal to a large and still growing collection of videos for learners of English. Some student projects are included in the collection, including “Kallin Shellfish”.

Marie’s Story

“Since 2004, I have been living on Barra, but originally I am from the Czech Republic. I came here to learn English and to work, but this has all changed as I now have a little boy who will be three in July. I have done many different jobs; at the fish-factory, helping my friend with baking/catering at the airport, at the Co-op, evening-work in a bar, cleaning for self-catering and cockle-picking. I will try almost anything! Currently I had found work as a relief Clerical School Assistant, but because of the difficulty of finding childcare, I have not been able to do this.

I have studied ESOL Int. 2 at Cothrom and ECDL through Lews Castle College. Now I am going for an interview for a UHI Business Course.”