Improve your Gaelic conversation

Yakety Yak Language Café offers the opportunity to improve your Gaelic in small groups (maximum 6) with fluent tutors. We learn in the relaxed atmosphere of cafés so you can enjoy a chat over a tasty wee treat.

Whatever your level of fluency, you will join a group of similar ability in which you can improve your conversation and meet people with similar interests. Please note these sessions are not suitable for beginners. You should be able to have a basic conversation before you come along.

No need to commit to a block of sessions – drop in when it is convenient for you. You can pay as you go – £6 per hour’s conversation session or you can pay for 5 sessions upfront and get the 6th session free.

Our Gaelic conversation sessions take place at

Monday 9.30-10.30 am – Cuthberts Coffee and Sandwich Bar, 94a Fountainbridge (opposite Tollcross Primary School), Edinburgh
Thursday 10-11am – eteaket Tea Boutique and Cafe, 41 Frederick Street, Edinburgh

For more information, please see www.yaketyyak-languagecafe.co.uk
or phone 07826 555134.

Email
mail@yaketyyak-languagecafe.co.uk

Fri 10th June

8.30pm

232 Canongate, Edinburgh

£3 at the door

Bothan is delighted to welcome renowned Gaelic singer Kathleen MacInnes on stage with friends.   Kathleen who belongs to South Uist and was brought up in a Gaelic speaking home has been described by music writer Norman Chalmers as having “unique vocal colour and the ability to breathe dramatic life into her songs”.  Her debut album Og-mhadainn Shamhraidh (Summer Dawn) was awarded “Best Folk Album released in 2006″ by Scotland on Sunday and in 2010 her vocals featured on Ridley Scott’s  Hollywood blockbuster film Robin Hood. Kathleen is also no stranger to TV, having made numerous appearances as both an accomplished actress and singer over the years.  This will the last session of Bothan before the summer break and a great  way to end on a high note.

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Thursday 20 January, 17.15

Conference Room, 27 George Square, Edinburgh Dr Bernadette O’Rourke (Heriot-Watt University) ‘New Speakers of Minority Languages: Comparisons Between Galician and Irish’

Thursday 27 January, 17.15

Conference Room, 27 George Square, Edinburgh Dr Lindsay Milligan(Glasgow Caledonian University) ‘Status Planning through Gaelic (Learners) Education’

Wednesday 2 February, 17.15

Conference Room, 27 George Square, Edinburgh Dr Annis May Timpson(University of Edinburgh) ‘Indigenous Languages and the Settler State: The Complexities of Creating a New Official Languages Act for Nunavut, Canada’

Wednesday 9 February, 17.15

Conference Room, 27 George Square, Edinburgh Fiona Dunn (Gaelic Officer, University of Glasgow) ‘Promoting Gaelic in the University of Glasgow – and Scotland’s Other Universities?’

Tuesday 15 February, 17.15

Conference Room, 27 George Square, Edinburgh Dr Christine Robinson (Scots Language Dictionaries) ‘Towards a Strategy: the Report of the Ministerial Working Group on Scots’

All Welcome

A national conference developed by Holyrood magazine examining the future sustainability of Gaelic Medium Education will take place in Edinburgh on 17 November 2010.
Highlights of the day will include Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning Mike Russell MSP delivering a keynote presentation on the Scottish Government’s vision for Gaelic Medium Education and the launch of a much anticipated report on attainment and choice in Gaelic Medium Education. Fiona O’Hanlon, Dr. Wilson McLeod and Professor Lindsay Paterson of the University of Edinburgh who conducted the Bòrd na Gàidhlig-funded research will be on hand to answer attendees’ questions on their research findings.
If you would like further details or to confirm your place, please visit holyrood.com/gaelic

Window to the West

This interdisciplinary project is a collaboration between the Visual Research Centre of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art (University of Dundee) and Sabhal Mòr Ostaig (University of the Highlands and Islands Millennium Institute).

Its title is adapted from Sorley MacLean’s poem Hallaig: ‘Tha bùird is tàirnean air an uinneig / triomh ‘m faca mi an Aird an Iar’; ‘The window is nailed and boarded / through which I saw the West.’ Funded over five years (2005-2010) by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. It is driven by three strands of activity: rethinking of the history of visual art in the Highlands and Islands; the making of contemporary art in a Highland or Highland-related context; and the exploration of the visual in Gaelic language.

The research team consists of a Dundee University group consisting of Murdo Macdonald, Will Maclean, Norman Shaw, Jane Cumberlidge, Don Addison and Lesley Lindsay (research fellow), closely supported by Arthur Watson. At Sabhal Mòr Ostaig the group consists of Norman Gillies, John Purser and Meg Bateman, with key support from the SMO development director, Donnie Munro. Based in Lewis is research advisor Finlay Macleod. The skills in this interdisciplinary group include Gaelic language and culture, contemporary art practice and history of art.

The purpose of this conference is to explore that visual culture of the Ga?idhealtachd, from both the historical and contemporary perspectives.

The event begins with an evening lecture on Thursday 24th June, by Murdo Macdonald, Professor of History of Scottish Art at the University of Dundee. His topic is A Highland Art: Reclaiming the visual for the Ga?idhealtachd.

Other guest speakers include, from Sabhal Mo?r Ostaig, a distinguished list of thinkers about Gaelic culture: Hugh Cheape, Meg Bateman, John Purser and Mike Cormack; from the University of Dundee, Lesley Lindsay, research fellow with the Window to the West project, and from the Royal Scottish Academy, Joanne Soden whose work as curator of the collections has helped to reveal the significance of their Highland aspect. Also programmed for Friday is a paper from Malcolm Maclean, who, as Director of Pro?iseact Nan Ealan has made a major contribution to the development of Ga?idhealtachd art, not least through his advocacy of An Leabhar Mo?r/The Great Book of Gaelic.

To: gaeliclanguageplan@edinburgh.gov.uk

Dear Sir,
On The City of Edinburgh Council’s draft Gaelic plan, I/we believe:

• That it is excellent that the Council supports Gaelic and has a plan for Gaelic
• That the omission of substantial proposals for the key measure of Gaelic-medium education GME) is unacceptable, and the consultation in respect of this issue is not free and fair
• That GME parents must from now on be fully involved indecisions and plans that affect GME
• That in the plan the Council must undertake to seek appropriate, flexible funding solutions

That the following must additionally be included in the plan:

• Proper plans for substantial growth in GME, which address the growth projections in the 2009 feasibility study, and maintain the quality of GME
• A Gaelic school by the start of 2011/12 and no later
• Additional nursery and other pre-school provision
• Expansion of secondary provision to a level that will ensure adult fluency on leaving school
• Substantial support for Gaelic activities for families, children, young people and adults
• A community hub for Gaelic close to the school

Other comments I/we wish to make:

Name(s) Date
Contact Details:

A major photographic competition, administered by the Colmcille project, aimed at capturing the lives of speakers of Scottish or Irish Gaelic or of the life of the Scottish Gaidhealtachd/Irish Gaeltacht, has been launched by the Minister for Gaelic Michael Russell MSP.

A keen photographer himself with a long-term interest in various aspects of the history of photography, as well as being accustomed to being at the sharp end of a lens in his Ministerial role, Mr. Russell will be one of the judges casting his eye over the entrants for the 2009 competition.

Prizes of up to £2,000 are available in the competition which is for either colour or monochrome photographs depicting any aspect of the life of speakers of Scottish or Irish Gaelic or of the life of the Scottish Gaidhealtachd/Irish Gaeltacht.

There will be five prize-winners in all, in two categories:

ADULT (16+) First prize £2000 /€2200; Second prize £750/€ 850; Third prize £500/€ 565 and JUNIOR (5-15 on 31/08/09) First prize £ 500/€565: Second prize £ 250/€280. 

Each prize-winner will also receive a framed copy of the Tìr Cholm Chille map.

Launching the competition in Edinburgh, the Minister said: “This is an excellent initiative which will focus on some of the most interesting and attractive aspects of Scottish and Irish life including our landscape, culture and heritage.  I would like to commend Colmcille for taking forward this initiative.  Colmcille has an important role to play in promoting the shared Gaelic language and culture of Ireland and Scotland and this competition provides another opportunity to celebrate and promote this.  I look forward to hearing how the competition progresses and to judging the entries.”

Colmcille, (formerly Iomairt Cholm Chille, The Columba Initiative) is jointly managed by Bòrd na Gàidhlig and Foras na Gaelige as part of their mainstream activities. Mairi Murray, Colmcille’s Development Officer in Scotland said: “Since we launched this competition in its first format three years ago, we have been hugely encouraged by the innovation and imagination shown by entrants. The competition offers people within the Gaelic communities of Scotland and Ireland a great opportunity to capture their own environments, work situations, family occasions and the magnificent environments in which we all communicate. It is a great opportunity for amateur photographers to have their work recognised and offered to a wider audience through the calendars and other materials we produce through Colmcille and I have no doubt that this year will offer as a great selection and a significant challenge for the judges.”

Photographic entries for the competition must be submitted by 6pm, Monday 31st August, 2009.