Scots Language, Creativity and the Expressive Arts

1. Introduction

In this unit you will have the opportunity to learn from the much-celebrated artist Gerda Stevenson. Not only has she written the content of the unit, but she is also sharing her own Scots language poetry throughout – specifically from her 2018 collection Quines. 

The unit is written in the first person as it provides a unique perspective of Stevenson's work. She has crafted a rich unit of material for practitioners to engage with in their own study, including recordings of her reading the poems she discusses. At the same time, we hope that you will find many opportunities for using parts of this unit in your own classroom for your pupils’ learning of and about Scots.

We at the Open University and Education Scotland were delighted to gain such access to both Stevenson’s poetry, many other of her creative projects, as well as to the thinking, planning and writing process which lead to the creation of her fabulous collection of poetry celebrating women from across both Scotland’s landscape and the history of Scotland.

This theme of traversing across both space and time is of particular importance for practitioners using Scots language in learning settings. Stevenson’s creative output is so vast and diverse that we cannot simply describe her as a poet, she requires the title of an artist in the truest sense of the word. There will be opportunities throughout the Unit for you to make links between Scots language and Scotland the place, between poetry and history, between people and ideas, between artforms, and across a great many aspects of the Curriculum for Excellence – particularly the Expressive Arts. All too often the study of Scots language is confined to literature, but as you have been learning from studying this course so far, Scots goes much further than only Literacy and the English classroom. It is a way into Song, Music, Textiles, Painting, Drama... explore this unit to read plenty about each of these and more!

Because Stevenson has included ample interesting and unique content in her unit – particularly audio content for you to listen to, but also media clips to watch, paintings or textiles to study – we would encourage you to take your own notes throughout on the great many ways such material could be used in your classrooms, even though you might not teach an Arts or Social Science subject.

Despite the different format, this unit, as all others, includes the application of what you study here, engagement with research and the reflection on your teaching for the professional recognition award for this course.

Key learning points:

• to engage with Scots language in various forms, registers and voices within a variety of art forms, including poetry, drama and song, with particular focus on my poetry collection Quines;

• to learn how one art form can connect with and provide inspiration for another – e.g. across literature, music and the visual arts, including painting, textiles, sculpture, film, and theatre;

• to understand the role of various elements as stimuli for creativity – place and landscape; connecting with Scottish literature; poetic form; voice and register; imaginative leaps; research; dictionaries and translation;

• to engage with local communities to create art, using interviews and museum artefacts as a basis for drama and song.

Activity 1

To start your study of this unit, we think it will be useful to learn about the context of Stevenson’s literary works. Therefore, engage with Unit 18 on Scots poetry of the Open University’s Scots language and culture course to get an introduction to poetry in the Scots language. As Stevenson is a prolific artist who has created work in many genres, Unit 9 on Drama, TV and film in the Scots language will provide useful background information on other aspects of what you will be introduced to in this unit.

Undertake as many activities as you can in the units, taking notes on aspects that are relevant for the key learning points of this unit. You may want to take your notes in the learning log for future reference.

Learning Log

Activity 2

1. Read Stevenson’s introduction to her poetry collection Quines and pay particular attention to the connections with the Scots language, from reasons why she has written in Scots to connections her parents had with the language.

2. Take notes on all these connections and think about an activity you could design for your classroom where your pupils can explore their own connections with Scots at different levels, from family, to education to geography etc.

In this section I will focus on my second poetry collection, Quines: Poems in Tribute to Women of Scotland (Luath Press, 1^st edition 2018, 2^nd edition 2020). This book celebrates Scottish women from Neolithic times to the 21^st century – scientists, artists, politicians, sportswomen (including a whole football team), missionaries, social reformers, a salt seller, queens, a fish gutter, a ship’s captain, and many more, including the greatest fishing fly tyer in the world.

My aim in this collection is to create a sweep of history which examines the contribution that women have made to Scottish society throughout the ages, in spite of the considerable barriers thrown in their path. The poems are written in a range of voices, all monologues in three modes: in the voice of the woman in question, or of another woman who knew her, or something, related to her. Thus, sometimes a human being is speaking, and, at other times, an inanimate object – e.g. a novel, a bank note, or a building. (There are only two poems in my own voice – the first and last.)

In finding voices for these women, I’ve considered the question of Scotland’s three native languages – Gaelic, Scots and English. The missionary Mary Slessor, for example, was born in Aberdeen, brought up in Dundee, and lived most of her adult life in Nigeria. She was fluent in the Efik language, and spoke with a strong Scots accent – indeed often in Scots – as did Jane Haining (another missionary), from a small croft in Dumfriesshire, who was also a linguist.

I’m often asked: “Why do you choose to write in Scots?” This question carries an assumption, i.e. that the act of writing in Scots is a choice, and possibly a political one. For me, it is neither. I write simply in the voice that suggests itself to me, based on instinct and research. And I’m fortunate to have access to two languages – English and Scots. I was born and raised in the Scottish Borders, a daughter of English parents. I grew up hearing Scots spoken in my home village. Around one third of the 62 poems in Quines are in Scots. The majority are in English, and a few refer to Gaelic. Although I’m married to a Gael, and am familiar with Gaelic, I don’t speak it with any fluency. So, where the voices in Quines are Gaelic, I’ve attempted to suggest that language with a hint of its syntax and the inclusion of some Gaelic words within the English. The book contains an extensive glossary.

My father was a composer pianist, who set the words of many Scots language poets to music, including Hugh MacDiarmid, William Soutar and Helen B. Cruickshank, all of whom were involved in the Scottish Renaissance, at the forefront of the revival of the Scots language. So, from early childhood, I was exposed to literature in Scots and connections across art forms, in this case, music and literature, through the creation of songs.

In Quines, various art works have acted as stimuli for the poems – e.g. songs, films, objects and paintings. One of the Scots language poems – The Abdication of Mary Queen of Scots (written in response to a painting of the same title, by Gavin Hamilton), has already been examined in Professor Alan Riach’s Open University unit on Scots language and culture – Part 2, where he discusses a range of Scots dialects in poetry: 

https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=147540&section=2.1

Quines has an international theme. Many of the women celebrated in its poems are immigrants and emigrants. This international aspect connects with Billy Kay’s existing Open University units on Scots Abroad: Scots language and culture Part 2:

https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=147431

In this context it may be relevant to note that Quines is currently being translated into Italian, for publication by Edizioni Ensemble in Rome, 2020. In recent years I’ve given three poetry reading tours of Italy, with the translator, Laura Maniero, and it’s interesting to note that Italian audiences have shown real appetite for the Scots language poems in Quines. Maniero has also translated ‘If this were real’ into Italian. As the work of Robert Burns demonstrates, the Scots language travels well!

Learning Log

Activity 3

In this activity you will be able to gain a unique insight into Gerda Stevenson's way of working and the approach she took in writing the poetry collection Quines. The themes addressed in Quines are wide-ranging, including politics, religion, justice, war, peace, class, art and culture, racism, sexism, disability, bullying and the environment. In the six activity strands Gerda has also tried to represent a geographic spread of Scotland within the book, from Shetland to Dumfries and Galloway, from the Western Isles to East Lothian, and everywhere in between.

This activity is divided into six subsections. In each of these subsections there is text from Stevenson discussing her thoughts and creative practice in relation to writing Quines and exploring these particular themes or approaches. There is poetry for you to study in each subsection, as well as recordings of the author reading these poems herself.

• Work through the sections using the links below, where Stevenson explores the themes of her poetry collection Quines.

• Take notes on aspects interesting and relevant to you and your pupils as you go along.

• Again, take some notes on ideas for teaching activities you might have that derive from what you are reading in the sections. You will find a link to your learning log in each section.

1. Voice and register

2. Imaginative leaps

3. Place and landscape

4. Research

5. Connecting with Scottish literature

6. Dictionaries

In this section Stevenson outlines some creative developments – tangible links between art forms – which have occurred as a result of the publication of Quines.

Activity 4

• Work through Stevenson's text in this section, where she explores the various themes of her poetry collection Quines.

• Take notes on aspects interesting and relevant to you and your pupils as you go along.

• Again, takes some notes on ideas for teaching activities that derive from what you are reading in this section.

In March 2020, an exhibition was mounted by EDGE: Textile Artists Scotland at Edinburgh’s Central Library: 38 textile panels were created, inspired by Quines, each poem displayed next to its relevant panel in display cases on various floors of the library.

It was fascinating and exhilarating to see the range of visual responses to the poems, and also the wide spectrum of materials used. Some are three dimensional structures which could be viewed in the display cases from various angles, while others, created from thousands of miniature stitches, are mounted, like pictures, on the walls. Collage techniques are also employed, incorporating actual words and whole lines from the poems. There are abstract works, as well as figurative: https://edge-textileartists-scotland.com/

Another artistic response to Quines came from the Scottish artist Helen Flockhart, who painted her hauntingly beautiful work Lover’s Eye, after hearing me read my poem The Abdication of Mary Queen of Scots on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour. Helen included this painting in her exhibition Linger Awhile, inspired by the life of Mary Queen of Scots, and published my poem in the catalogue. In turn, she gave permission for her painting to be the cover image for the second edition of Quines – a satisfying and comradely artistic exchange:

If you look carefully, you can see, on the woman’s dress, a repeated image in pink tones depicting the island where Lochleven Castle stands (where Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned and forced to abdicate), and the figure of a woman pushing a small rowing boat with two babies in it – Mary dreaming, perhaps, of escaping with her still-born babies – or maybe in her dream they are still alive? It’s a haunting image. Both the island of Lochleven and the miniature boat are shaped like eyes. The hills and cloud above the castle are eye-shaped too, with a sun, or perhaps it’s a moon, like an iris or pupil at the centre. And the woman in the painting (who could be Mary Queen of Scots, or could be the artist herself?) is also holding an eye on a chain.

https://www.helenflockhart.com/gallery-2.html

On the following link you can watch a short interview with Helen Flockhart in her Glasgow studio, where she talks about responding to other art forms as starting points for her paintings:

https://www.arushagallery.com/exhibitions/30-linger-awhile-helen-flockhart/video/

Another poem from Quines – Demerara – about Eliza Junor (the daughter of plantation owner Hugh Junor and an unknown slave woman) was the starting point of a blog by novelist Vee Walker. Since reading the poem, Vee has researched Eliza’s life, including the various places she lived – Demerara, on the north coast of South America, where she was born, moving to Fortrose in the Scottish Highlands with her father and brother, tracing her journey to Brixton in London, and finally back to Fortrose. In this detailed and probing blog, the author poses many tantalising questions about Eliza’s life, and one can see the building blocks of a potential novel:

https://blog.majortomswar.com/2020/07/13/looking-for-eliza/?fbclid=IwAR0CCDSMlP_b2fl7zmZ2_eQaMyOdk53TDVczR5QELZsdv5LwGdcryfLG_BE

Learning Log 

Activity 5

To prepare for the tutorial of this unit, do the following:

1. Select your favourite poem of the Quines collection to bring along to the tutorial and be prepared to say what fascinates you about this poem in particular. If it is written in Scots, try to practice reading it aloud in Scots and think about the impact of the use of Scots on the meaning it has for you.

2. Think about how you could analyse/discuss this poem using the themes Stevenson listed in section 2.

Learning log 

3.1 Lesson planning

Activity 6

In preparation for the tutorial, write a rough plan for a lesson activity involving the Scots language, building on the knowledge and skills that you have acquired through the study of this unit so far. Pay particular attention to your notes from the various aspects of section 2: Input and as required.

Bring this draft plan as well as any questions you might have about planning something suitable to the tutorial session.

You can find out when the tutorial will take place in your course timetable document.

Your plan should include the following:

1.    the age group and subject area

2.    suitable Scots vocabulary you plan to use/introduce

3.    a suitable resource or more which you want introduce, to support the use of Scots in your classroom

4.    suitable activities around the resource/s that can help develop your learners’:

• understanding of the Scots language
• their confidence in using it
• their understanding of a particular aspect of your subject area

5.    Remember to reference CfE Literacy and English experiences and outcomes (2020) in your lesson plan. Refresh your knowledge by reviewing the section on writing and taking any notes that you feel might help you in writing your lesson plan.

6.    In the midst of lesson planning it is sometimes good to remind yourself that this is an important stepping-stone to children continuing to listen to, read and write in Scots beyond the walls of the classroom. Think about how you could facilitate this.

Learning log

Compare your planning with our model answer (75.8 KB) .

 

Key aspects to consider when planning a Scots language lesson or activity

• You now need to consider what you need to do before you can use your lesson plan in the classroom. Identify what you will need, say, why, and plan which order you will structure the activities.
• Education Scotland have prepared word lists for the various regional varieties of Scots which you may wish to use as a guide to Scots vocabulary suitable for classrooms across the country depending on where your school is.
• Each lesson should be planned using the experiences and outcomes document. These describe the knowledge, skills, attributes and capabilities of the four capacities that young people are expected to develop.
• The CfE Benchmarks set out clear statements about what learners need to know and be able to do to achieve a level across all curriculum areas. Here are the Literacy and English Benchmarks.
• Learning in the broad general education may often span a number of curriculum areas (for example, a literacy project planned around science and technology might include outdoor learning experiences, research and the use of ICT). This is likely to be in the form of themed or project learning which provides children and young people opportunities to show how skills and knowledge can be applied in interesting contexts. The term often used for this is interdisciplinary learning and Scots language opens a wealth of possibilities for such lessons. Read more about 'Fresh approaches to interdisciplinary learning'.
• Should you need further inspiration, the ‘Scots Blether’ on glow has a resources section where teachers from all across Scotland have posted lesson plans and activities as well as links to teaching material from other organisations: https://glowscotland.sharepoint.com/sites/staff/scotsblether/SitePages/resources.aspx *this link requires you to be signed into glow

 

Don’t forget to share examples of the fantastic teaching and learning going on in your classrooms. Share on social media using  #OUScotsCPD, and tagging us in your posts @OUScotland, @OULanguages, @EducationScot.

4. Application

Now you will finish preparing your own lesson based on what you have studied in this unit by planning the activities and learning outcomes you plan to include.

You may wish to refer to the 3-18 Literacy and English Review (see pages 66 and 67 for specific reference to Scots) as well as the Education Scotland resources on the National Improvement Hub.

The CfE Experiences and Outcomes should be referenced as often as possible.

Activity 7

Activity 8

Using the notes and ideas that you began to gather during the tutorial, complete steps 1-5. 

1. In your own time, continue planning your chosen activity, adding more detail where required.

2. Having planned your lesson, you will now carry it out with your learners, remembering that this is a highly creative activity and therefore you may need to adapt your plan according to need.

• You might want to gather some feedback from your learners about the activity as well, which you can bring to the course and share with your fellow students. 

• If required, you can remind yourself of Gibb's Reflective Cycle here.

• Accordingly, you should think about literature choice and resources, learner engagement with warm up and main writing activities and your future goals.

3. Write an account of 250 to 300 words, highlighting the successes and challenges you encountered when applying what you have learned in terms of pedagogy and language. It may be helpful to consider these questions:
 

• What do you think worked particularly well in your classroom application? 

• Is there anything you would do differently if you were to repeat this lesson?  

• What are the next steps for your learners? 

• How will you provide further opportunities to practise and reinforce the use and awareness of the Scots language? 

4. Then post your reflective account in your Course forum. 

5. Read and comment constructively on an application task post by another colleague. 

Learning log 

Don’t forget to share examples of the fantastic teaching and learning going on in your classrooms. Share on social media using  #OUScotsCPD, and tagging us in your posts @OUScotland, @OULanguages, @EducationScot.

5. Community link 1

Stevenson has been involved in several local community initiatives which have involved the Scots language. Here she will outline two of them, both of which include a new text for you to engage with.

Pentland Writers' Group - co-writing a play on WWII

Some years ago I was a member of a local group – the Pentland Writers’ Group. Money was made available via the National Lottery for communities throughout the UK to commemorate the 60^th anniversary of the end of the 2nd World War. Our writers’ group decided to apply to this fund to put on a large-scale community drama, involving local people. The five writers, of which I was one, interviewed local residents (all aged 70 and over), about their memories of the war. We then wrote a play based on these memories, incorporating several interweaving stories. I edited the script, and directed the play, with a cast of 34 local amateur actors, ranging from 7-70 years of age. We had a live jazz band made up of local musicians, and employed a professional production team – lighting, choreography, musical direction and costume.

I interviewed a joiner, a Scots speaker, and then wrote a series of scenes based on a story he gave me about a local girl and two Italian POWs who were staying and working at Robinsland Farm. As part of this storyline, I wrote a skipping rhyme, performed by the children in the cast. Carlops Village Hall, our venue for the play, is simply a long rectangular space, without a stage. As director, I opted for our playing area to be in traverse – i.e. with the audience divided into two, seated on either long side of the rectangle. This meant that the drama would happen effectively amid the audience. The length of the playing area enabled the children to caw a long skipping rope. They chanted the rhyme chorally, while taking it in turns to jump into the centre of the rope and skip, two others cawing the rope at either end of the space, as I myself remember doing in the school playground as a child. I wanted the children to have fun at this point in the play, so I used a lot of word-play between Scots and Italian. The adults joined in the chanting on the last stanza, which turns darker:

Wartime Skipping Rhyme

Cellani and Lenati,

the braw Italianati,

P.O.Ws

doon in Robinsland Farm.

Cellani and Lenati,

nae mair spaghatti,

they miss their Tally grub

doon in Robinsland Farm.

Cellani and Lenati

diggin the potati,

they're fryin up chips

doon in Robinsland Farm.

Cellani and Lenati

say we're daft as a banani,

they're great for a laugh

doon in Robinsland Farm.

Cellani and Lenati

dinnae drive a Bugatti

but they gie tractor rides

doon in Robinsland Farm.

Cellani and Lenati

brew rosehip Frascati,

we're gonnae hae a party

doon in Robinsland Farm!

Cellani and Lenati

Cellani and Lenati

Braw Italianati,

Braw Italianati

Lenati's in la notte

speakin sotto voce

Mary's in her nightie

in the braw moonlightie

Lenati and his lassie

doon in Robinsland Farm.

Mary and Lenati,

bye-bye ma bonnie birdie,

Mary and Lenati,

so long, arrivederci,

Mary and Lenati,

tristi, tristi,

Mary, lassie, Mary,

forget aboot Lenati,

Mary, lassie, Mary,

mind on Mussolini,

ye cannae love Fascisti

cut yer losses, lassie -

leave.

You can hear me reading War Time Skipping Rhyme on my Soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/derdi-1/wartime-skipping-rhyme

You can read about the production process and performance of Pentlands at War on the following link: https://www.gerdastevenson.co.uk/directing_pentlands.htm

Learning log

5. Community link 2

Celebrating Scotland's coasts and waters

Another community project I was involved in was Where The City Flows: Newhaven, a song for Scotland’s Year of Coasts and Waters 2020, for which I wrote the lyrics, with music by composer Dee Isaacs. This was a collaboration between the University of Edinburgh’s Music in the Community (MIC) department and Victoria Primary School, Newhaven. Dee is also a lecturer at the university, where she runs the MIC course.

The song celebrates Newhaven, a coastal area of Edinburgh on the Firth of Forth, which lies between Granton and Leith. Once a small fishing village, it has a rich history. As part of the research process for writing the song, I visited Newhaven’s Victoria Primary School, on Main Street, and the exhibition there, which contains many fascinating objects – a model of the warship The Great Michael, coloured glass fishing net floats, old photographs, and information about the locality.

My remit was to create a song of about 8-10 minutes in length for a choir of 160 school children and fifteen university students. My lyrics begin with an upbeat verse, in the rhythm of a Scottish dance: a 21^st century child, heading home after a long day at school in Newhaven, is enjoying the freedom of being out on the street. The pace slows down – it’s bedtime. The child reads a book about Newhaven, and nods off to sleep, dreaming of images from the past which appear in the book: children’s street games, colourful glass fishing net floats, an old woman mending nets, the song of whales (Newhaven was a whaling harbour), and finally The Great Michael, Scotland’s huge 16^th century royal war ship built in Newhaven, the biggest dry dock of the period – the only one which could accommodate ship-building on such an unprecedented scale. In the morning, the child wakes up, hearing the disturbing daily global news from the media, and decides to send out a message to the world.

Like many songs from Scotland’s coastal fishing areas, this song is in Scots, the language which can still be heard in the Newhaven part of Edinburgh. Words like willie-gou – a seagull, and gandigowster – a sudden gust of wind, or breenge – to rush in, and breel – to dash about, are deliciously vigorous, like salt on the tongue.

Composer Dee Isaacs and musician Victor Gama, along with the students of the University of Edinburgh’s MIC course, worked with the pupils of Victoria Primary School, creating their own musical instruments, to be played as part of two programmed performances in Edinburgh’s McEwan Hall. However, these were cancelled at the last minute due to coronavirus. Nevertheless, Dee at least managed to gain access to the McEwan Hall a couple of days before lockdown, enabling her to record a rehearsal of the song there, with her students. You can see Dee conducting the rehearsal on the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D17XZZwJw1g

Dee is an English composer, and this was the first time she had engaged with the Scots language. She writes:

It was a real challenge for me to compose in Scots. What I have learned though is that the feel of the language on the tongue, the way that the words strongly dictate the rhythmic impetus of the music gives the piece its own momentum. Gerda’s words tell a story, a story about history, and a story that reminds us that we have a part to play now.

Newhaven

(honouring Greta Thunberg)

Heel-kickin hame frae a lang day at school,

lowpin ow’r the cobbles, like a wee whirlpool,

I breenge, I breel, and the willie-gous squeal,

gandigowsters blaw like a carlin’s reel!

Herrin fur tea, then I lay doon ma heid,

tak oot a book, and hae a bit read

aboot Newhaven, the toon whaur I bide,

the mercat, lichthoose, harbour, and tide;

the white horses ride, ma een are closin,

nod-nid-noddin, doverin, doverin,

the blue saut watter croonin, dronin,

I’m driftin, sweemin, showdin, floatin

in a dwam on braid waves o sleep,

boats drift by on the Firth sae deep.

I hear a lanely sang o whales like ghaists;

nets in the moonlicht wave like lace.

Newhaven, Newhaven, sing tae me,

ma hame, Newhaven, wi yer dancin sea!

Fishin floats glent and drift –

tirlin globes like planets i the lift;

an auld wumman bendin

ow’r the net-mendin:

ma great grand-mither –

her darg niver-endin;

bairns playin peevers, lauchin in the street,

but when they faa, skint knees mak them greet!

They’re stackin fish boxes tae mak play-huts,

Och – the clarty guff o deid fish guts!

Newhaven, Newhaven, sing tae me,

ma hame, Newhaven, wi yer dancin sea!

The tide rides in, and the tide rides oot,

sails they blaw and ships they hoot,

I’m nod-nid-noddin, doverin, doverin,

driftin, sweemin, showdin, floatin;

I see a braw ship – leamin, glisterin,

The Great Michael! – gowd decks skinklin,

a war ship built frae the forests o Fife,

its guns wud mak ye feart fur yer life!

Newhaven, Newhaven, sing tae me,

ma hame, Newhaven, wi yer dancin sea!

The Great Michael sails me intae the dawn,

ma tired een appen on a Newhaven morn;

news o faimilies drooned in the sea,

news o muckle men wha cannae agree;

news o wars, far, far awaa,

ile slicks spreidin on the oceans ow’r aa –

I dinnae want war, I want war tae cease,

a brave new warld that’s a haven o peace,

Newhaven, Newhaven, sing tae me,

ma hame, Newhaven, wi yer dancin sea!

Daurk the sky, and cauld the wund blaws

throu ma hert, like jaggit ice floes;

but I tak a bit paper, and I scrieve a note,

float it in a bottle, like a bonnie wee boat –

tae the warld a message: tak tent o the young,

mind on oor lives, and this sang we hae sung;

mak the warld a new haven – hear oor caa!

a braw new haven fur ane and aa.

Note: The Great Michael was a carrack (a war ship) of the Royal Scottish Navy, built by King James IV of Scotland from the oak forests of Fife. She was too large to be built at any existing Scottish dockyard, so was built in the new dock at Newhaven, and launched in 1512, the biggest and most heavily armed ship in Europe at the time. 

You can hear me reading the words of Newhaven on the excellent Scots language educational resource website, Scots Hoose. (Newhaven is the 4^th item on the page, when you scroll down): 

Poems - Scots in Schools - http://www.scotsinschools.co.uk/poems.html 

(Please copy and paste above link into your browser)

Learning log 

6. Research on teaching Scots

Activity 9

Many claim that artists like Gerda Stevenson are drivers and advocates of the revitalization of the Scots language.

The research publication you are going to engage with in this unit takes a closer look at the views of children of engaging with minority languages. The article is by the sociolinguist James Costa, who has done important work on minority and indigenous languages, also on the Scots language in educational contexts.

Costa’s (2014) article addresses the much-discussed topic of language revitalisation or reclamation, without which, many claim, languages like Scots will not survive. Entitled ‘Must we Save the Language? Children’s Discourse on Language and Community in Provençal and Scottish Language Revitalization Movements’, the article poses three questions:

• What do the children have to say about the minority languages they are made to study?

• How does this shape their understanding of their human environment?

• In what way is the children's understanding relevant to the academic study of language revitalization?

1. Read the article here (154.3 KB) .

2. While reading, take notes to record how Costa answers the three questions he poses at the start of the article.

3. Now think about and take notes on whether Costa’s findings could have an impact on how you engage in teaching Scots in your own classroom.

Learning Log

Now compare the notes on point 2 in this activity in our model answer (98.3 KB)  with the notes you have made.

7. Professional Recognition

Activity 10

In this activity you will write your reflective blog post for the professional recognition element, which should be informed by your learning during the unit. You should write critically and in some depth about at least one of the following: 

• your understanding of/thinking about the theme of the unit in general, 
• a particular experience/incident arising either in the peer community of the course or in your workplace, 
• a specific piece of reading associated with the theme. 

 

Your post should: 

• be 500-750 words in length. You may write a longer contribution if you wish.
• address the programme’s three Masters level criteria: 

1. Knowledge and understanding 

2. Critical analysis 

3. Structure, communication and presentation 

In writing your post, you may choose to: 

• use one or more prompt from the bank of reflective prompts provided to frame your writing, 

• make connections between readings related to the theme and your practice,  
• explore the extent to which you agree/disagree with or were surprised/impressed by an aspect of the peer discussion in the course forum. 

Reflective blog

Further Engagement

Activity 11

i) A new Scots language project which may be of interest is a short film I wrote and directed, entitled Skeleton Wumman, commissioned and co-produced by the National Theatre of Scotland and the BBC. This was an excerpt from a stage play I had previously written and directed, originally with a cast of three performers – including a live musician playing electric cello, with a looping pedal. I based the drama on an ancient Inuit tale, setting it in a Scotland of the future, during a moment of environmental catastrophe. The text is in Scots, and there is also a deaf character who communicates in British Sign Language.

The short film version for NTS and BBC, 2020, was a lockdown project, with only one performer. The entire process of making the film was conducted online. None of the production team met each other. I’ve never worked in this this way before, but enjoyed the challenge. The actor, Amy Conachan, and I rehearsed online via Zoom, she filming herself on her mobile, setting it up with a tripod. She had to film everything on her mobile, alone in her flat in Liverpool, where she was furloughed from the TV series Hollyoaks. At my request the NTS sent Amy lighting and fabric to drape around her room to create the ’set’, and, based on our Zoom rehearsals, I gave her a shot list. She then recorded herself, sent me what she’d filmed, via WeTransfer, which I downloaded. I then made notes, e-mailed them to her, and then she filmed it all again. It was an absolutely extraordinary process, and totally new to all of us! We never had any physical contact with anyone, yet we worked well as a team, all online – the producer, assistant producer, me as director/writer, the actor, the technical assistant, the sound designer and the editor. View the short film SkeletonWumman, on Facebook:

ii) Translation is a fascinating way of engaging with languages. I have recently translated a Norwegian song – Til Ungdommen – into Scots: Tae the Young. I heard it on the radio, sung in Norwegian by Ingebjørg Bratland, and was so impressed that I wanted to sing it myself. The song was written by Nordahl Grieg, in 1936, in response to the Spanish Civil War. He was a Norwegian poet, and distant relative of the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg. The melody of the song is by the Danish composer Otto Hübertz Mortensen. I hunted online for English translations of the poem, but couldn’t find any that I felt were comfortably ‘singable’.

On close examination of the original Norwegian, it struck me how similar some of the words are to Scots language:

kringsatt = ringit = surrounded/besieged

spør = speir = ask

åpen = appen = open

våpen = wappen = weapon

styrk = sturken = strengthen

går = gar = go

til = til = to

jord = yird = earth

barn = bairn = child/baby

So I set about making my own translation:

Tae Youth Ringit bi daurkest faes gang intae yer time! Unner a bluidy storm noo tak yer staun! Aiblins ye speir in dreid unkivert, appen: ‘Whit suld I fecht wi? Whit is ma wappen?’ Here’s yer shield agin aa blaws, here’s yer claymore: faith in this life we hae, the warth o man. Fur aa oor future’s sake, seek it, tak tent o it, dee if ye maun, but grow and sturken it. Quate gar the grenades, sleekit baunds. Reest thair breenge tae daith, reest thaim wi yer saul. War is a sneist tae life. Peace is fur tae mak. Cast in yer virr: fur daith maun tyne. Then aa wappens faa wi nae pooer. If we mak mankind mense we will mak peace. That that wi the tane airm bear a burden, dear and saucrit, canna murther. This is oor leal hecht ilk ane til aa: guidness we wull gie tae oor yird and its life. We wull tent wi luive its braws, its wairmth, like bearin a bairn doucely on oor airm.

Til Ungdommen Kringsatt av fiender, gå inn i din tid! Under en blodig storm – vi deg til strid! Kanskje du spør i angst, udekkett, åpen: hva skal jeg kjempe med? hva er mitt våpen? Her er ditt vern mot vold, her er ditt sverd: troen pa livet vart, menneskets verd. For all vår fremtids skyld, søk det og dyrk det, dø om du må – men øk det og styrk det! Stilt går granatenes glidende bånd Stans deres drift mot død stans dem med ånd! Krig er forakt for liv. Fred er å skape. Kast dine krefter inn: døden skal tape! Da synker våpnene maktesløs ned! Skaper vi menneskeverd skaper vi fred. Den som med høyre arm bærer en byrde, dyr og umistelig, kan ikke myrde. Dette er løftet vårt fra bror til bror: vi vil bli gode mot menskenes jord. Vi vil ta vare på skjønnheten, varmen som om vi bar et barn varsomt på armen.

By Nordahl Grieg, translated into Scots by Gerda Stevenson

You can hear me singing Tae Youth on my Soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/derdi-1/tae-youth

And here you can watch and hear me singing one of my own Scots songs Aye the Gean, from my album Night Touches Day, accompanied on lute by Norwegian musician Kyrre Slind:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnrKw0LG6PE