Fios is Freagairt (4MB cruth PDF)

It was in all honesty, a big decision to place our children in
Gaelic medium education. Neither my husband or myself
spoke Gaelic, neither did any of our parents. I did make an
attempt at Gaelic classes but failed miserably.
So with a great deal of trepidation, we enrolled our daughter
into the Gaelic class in Bowmore. Homework, back then
(we’re talking 10 years ago), consisted of books which had
Gaelic words pasted over the English words thanks to the
efforts of the Comann nam Pàrant group. Tapes that were a
lifeline to the non-Gaelic speaker accompanied these books.
I was stunned however at the speed that the children picked
up on the language. It was amazing that within 1 year our
daughter could converse, however simply, in a language
that was not her native tongue. Soon I was being told I was
pronouncing words incorrectly and what I should be saying!
As the years went on, such was our faith in Gaelic medium
education we placed our next two daughters in Gaelic. Once
again their language skills have taken off. I too have learnt
various words and phrases and how to pronounce certain
letters through their reading books and tapes.
Learning a second language is so much easier to do when
you are a child. Children do not have the tendency to
translate everything into the English language first before
they understand what has been said. European children
take having a second language as the norm, so why do we
have to be different. It is also proven that if you have a second
language learning a third or more is so much easier to do.
I now have two daughters in High School and one in Primary
and their fluency in Gaelic is to be admired. The older two
have picked up French with ease and the oldest has also been
learning Russian. They tell me it’s simple to learn!
Fiona MacGregor, Islay
15