Haud Yer Tongue TG - Channel 4

28
debate could be organised, with a motion of ‘Scots should
be spoken in a Scottish Parliament’, with pupils chosen to
speak for and against.
Discussion
In the programme, Billy Kay quotes Hugh
MacDiarmid:
‘Tae be yersel an tae mak that worth bein,
Nae harder job tae mortals has been gien’
What do pupils think this means?
Billy also says that ‘it’s even harder tae be yersel if folk
want tae deny ye the way ye speak’. Do pupils think this
is true? Billy also says ‘Celebrate your culture and it’s a lot
easier to accept other people’s tae’. Ask pupils to define
their culture. What does it mean to them? A discussion of
prejudice might also take place. Do pupils accept other
people’s culture, habits, language?
At the end of the programme, Billy Kay says that the
pupils watching the programme are the decision makers
of the future. Pupils might be prompted to discuss what
sort of decisions they will need to take about language
and culture. ‘May aw yer decisions be the richt yins’ is the
last comment of the series. What does this mean to
pupils? You might suggest some linguistic areas for pupils
to discuss making decisions about. For example, the use
of Scots in the media, including newspapers and
television, films, books and comics, and the exam system.
Extra-curricular activities
Some schools might consider forming a group like the
Aberdeen Scots Leid Quorum (ASLQ). It could be an
after-school or dinner-time group. The Saltire Society
encourages such groups for wide cultural themes
(see page 32 for address).
Writing
Pupils could write a weaving or working poem or
song. As demonstrated by the Dundee weaving song,
there is always a strong rhythmic movement to these
songs. You might introduce other waulkin/workin songs
from Gaelic and Scots. The rhythms reflect the
occupations of the singers, such as fishing, weaving,
sowing, planting, knitting, sailing. Repeated choruses are
usually also a feature of these songs, as is the way language
reflects the work sounds – for example, sounds of
machinery or water. Pupils of all levels of ability can
tackle this, with a greater emphasis on repetition of
sounds and words for those with limited vocabulary.
Pupils could write their own modern Scots version of a
well-known fairy tale. Activity Sheet 11 ‘Writing a Scots
fairy tale’ provides ideas for writing a tale. Pupils can
combine Scots and English in these stories and include as
much Scots as they feel comfortable with. By now, they
should have amassed sufficient vocabulary to ‘drop in’
words even if they have not mastered Scots grammar. For
pupils requiring differentiation because of either Scots or
English linguistic limitations, the ‘drop in’ method works
well. An occasional Scots word or local Scots place-name
can be sufficient to give a Scottish flavour to the writing.
Reading
Activity Sheet 12 ‘The Bonnie Broukit Bairn’ provides
the text of the poem by Hugh MacDiarmid as well as
related questions. Pupils might analyse the poem’s
meaning and gloss the Scots vocabulary. The poem raises
environmental issues of conservation and effects on the
world around, and this area might link to environmental
studies, science and study of the planets.
Knowledge about language
Michael Marra talked about Scots words ‘singing well’.
Identify onomatopoeic and rhythmic Scots words.
The word list from the programmes can be scanned and
selected from.
Expressive arts
Drama: if (as suggested in ‘Writing’ above) pupils
create a work song, they might improvise movements
along with it. The sounds can be recreated alongside these
movements.
Music: listen and learn some of the songs from the
programme: ‘Hermless’ by Michael Marra, ‘Women of
Dundee’ by Sheena Wellington, ‘Auld Lang Syne’ by Robert
Burns. ‘Auld Lang Syne’ is supplied on Activity Sheet 13.