Double Gaelic nomination for Skye teachers
A WEBSITE of resources for Gaelic-medium education, run by two primary school teachers from Skye, has been shortlisted for a Scottish Gaelic Award for the second year running, writes Mark Entwistle.
The website, Lasadh, is managed by Gaelic educational resources organisation Stòrlann Nàiseanta na Gàidhlig and led by teachers Gwen Culbertson and Mairi Macdonald, who both teach in Sleat Primary School (Bun-sgoil Shleite).
Lasadh is up for the Innovation in Education Award in the Daily Record’s Scottish Gaelic Awards, as it was last year, but is also nominated in the Learner Award category.
The awards, sponsored by Bòrd na Gàidhlig, will be held on November 15 and aim to reward all aspects of Gaelic culture, education and language.
Lasadh is an online, digital and interactive resource for primary school pupils and teachers, created several years ago by Gwen and Mairi, who had realised there was a shortage of language-related resources for Gaelic-medium education (GME).
Found online at www.lasadh.co.uk, the website focuses on literacy activities and provides a range of resources for use in the classroom or at home, and for individual use or group work. There are many downloads which can be edited as required, and the number of available downloads, digital games and other resources is growing all the time.
Use of the website’s resources has been increasing across Scotland. To support this demand, the Stòrlann team has delivered training sessions on Lasadh via video link to teachers on the mainland.
Another new development is that Gwen and Mairi have been seconded onto Lasadh since August for a day a week, thanks to support from Bòrd na Gàidhlig via the Gaelic Language Act Implementation Fund (GLAIF). The money means Stòrlann can fund the necessary class cover for Gwen and Mairi. Previously, the pair were working on Lasadh in their own time.
Gwen told us: ‘The day a week each out of class for this year means that we can have a clear focus for development of materials and dedicated time to research and create them. Until now it has been quite a juggling act with my young family of three and teaching full-time, trying to fit it all in.
‘Our secondment is only newly established. However, thus far it has provided us with much-needed opportunities to work together with Stòrlann to meet, discuss and plan the road ahead for Lasadh.’
Teacher Mairi added: ‘It’s a great feeling to be nominated again. We are getting great feedback from teachers all over the country. This is the only online, accessible resource for Gaelic-medium teachers. They would like to see more resources over the curriculum, so that’s something we are hoping to develop with Stòrlann in the future.’
Gwen added: ‘We both hope to attend the awards ceremony and are very much looking forward to it. We are not entirely sure who might have nominated us, but Lasadh is very grateful. Fingers crossed for Lasadh on the night!’