Haud Yer Tongue TG - Channel 4

PROGRAMME
2
12
Coorse and Fine
Programme outline
This programme considers the difficulties which can arise
for Scots speakers. We hear ‘Listen tae the Teacher’ by
Nancy Nicolson and the writer talks about her
experiences as a child. Adults and young people describe
their own experiences of being corrected for speaking
Scots. Alison Flett recites ‘Saltire’.
We visit Orkney and hear pupils and adults talk about
living on Orkney and speaking their local dialect.
We go to the north-east and hear about the influence of
American and English on Scots. The poem ‘It’s ile rigs
brings the breid, man’ is recited.
Student Barbara Ann Burnett sings ‘The Farmyards o
Dalgety’.
Dr Jimmy Begg from Ayrshire talks about going to help
during the Lockerbie disaster, and we hear the poem
‘Lockerbie Elegy’ by William Hershaw.
Matthew Fitt recites ‘Coal Pits’. We discover that the
Scots voice is capable of expressing a wide range of
sentiments.
Throughout the programme we hear about the
importance of retaining your own culture and language.
Learning outcomes
Pupils will become aware of:
● bilingualism and code-switching;
● varieties of speech forms;
● the fact that the Scots language is capable of
describing deeply serious issues;
● issues and attitudes surrounding the use of Scots.
Leid leet
dinna (don’t)
hoose (house)
richt (right)
wrang (wrong)
leid (language)
gantin (desperate for)
Doric (north-east Scots)
thrawn (stubborn)
drookit (soaked)
kye (cattle)
chappit tatties
(mashed potatoes)
breeks (trousers)
yestreen (yesterday)
flix (frighten)
stammygaster (astonished)
ginger (lemonade)
syne (since)
H A U D Y E R T O N G U E
Before viewing
The focus during the first part of this programme is
on pupils being corrected or prevented from speaking
Scots. Pupils might discuss their own experiences before
hearing the views of others in the progamme. You might
prefer to let pupils first hear others’ views before
discussing their own, although this may depend on the
number of Scots speakers in the class. A class with very
few speakers may not have enough experience of
language repression to discuss it fully at this stage.
During viewing
Using Fact File 1 ‘Dialect map’, pupils might locate
the Orkney Islands, north-east Scotland, Lockerbie, and
Ayr in south-west Scotland.
After viewing
Knowledge about language
Discussion could take place around the issue of
language repression. Older pupils might cope with this
better. Pupils’ knowledge and experience will vary
according to their own spoken language and where
they live.
Fact File 3 ‘Short history of the Scots language’ might
be useful during discussion. It informs pupils that Scots
was banned by the 1872 Scottish Education Act and
encouraged in the 1990s. Examples are given in the
programme of language repression. Billy Kay talks about
the days when the belt was given for speaking Scots. He
highlights the phenomenon of pupils being allowed to
speak Scots in January when they study the work of
Robert Burns, but not at other times. Dauvit Horsburgh
of Aberdeen University says that some people think you
are ‘nae sae bright’ if you speak Scots. He states that ‘you
can’t get wrang words’.
Pupils could be asked about their own experiences
and reactions to these statements. Do they agree with the
speakers? Have they ever been asked to alter their voices?
Have the pupils ever been asked to speak ‘properly’?
What does ‘speaking properly’ mean to pupils? Do they
think that Scots could be ‘spoken properly’?
Activity Sheet 4 ‘Speaking Scots’ suggests Listening,
Talking and Writing tasks related to this area.