Prior Learning: 

• Introduction to Scots words in previous lessons.
• Opportunities to create characters in Scots in a creative writing task.
• Confidence building activities in reading and saying Scots words.
• History lessons about WW1, 1950s moves from sky scrapers to tenements.
• Introduction to the DSL.

Curricular Links / Benchmarks:

• I can recognise different features of my own and others’ spoken language. ENG 2-03a
• To show my understanding across different areas of learning, I can identify and consider the purpose and main ideas of a text and use supporting detail. LIT 2-16a
• To help me develop an informed view, I can identify and explain the difference between fact and opinion, recognise when I am being influenced, and have assessed how useful and believable my sources are. LIT 2-18a 
• Inspired by a range of stimuli, I can express and communicate my ideas, thoughts and feelings through activities within art and design. EXA 2-05a

Learning Intentions:

• We are translating a poem using Scots vocabulary
• We are using this to create a visual of how we imagine the story

Success Criteria:

• I can listen to a poem being read in Scots
• I can work with a partner to understand the story in a Scots poem with the help of a vocabulary list
• I can create a visual using my imagination and the information I read in a piece of Scots writing

Resources / Organisation:

Introduce the story using the following video. https://maggiedicksons.co.uk/maggies-story/

Discuss the vocabulary as a class and translate the phrases. Discuss the story and their understanding of what happened, where and when.

Show the YouTube clip of Gerda Stevenson reading the poem. 

Gerda Stevenson

Hand out vocab sheets for verses 1-4 (1 per pair) and translate 1 verse of the poem per pair.

Come together and go over the whole poem with each pair sharing parts of their translations.

Show some images to give ideas for their posters.

Creative task - take an image they have conjured from the poem and make a poster to illustrate this. Add the Scots phrase that best describes their image.

Plenary:

• Use prior knowledge of Scots, previous lesson learning and what they have learnt from this lesson to give 6 Scots words.
• Think of their own opinion of the poem to share with the class.

Differentiation:

• Shorter chunks of translation, half a verse instead of a whole one to translate.
• More guidance on vocabulary.
• Smaller poster with less detail if necessary, but ask pupils to challenge themselves.
• Pair with more able partners if required.

What went well?

As predicted, the theme of the poem went down really well and pupils were fascinated by Maggie’s story. They especially like the introduction where they watched the video introducing Maggie and telling them her story.

Showing them the video of Gerda reading the poem worked well as she had the correct tone and actions, and that gave a lot of clues about the words they maybe didn’t recognise.

It helped the pupils having the vocabulary sheets that I had created for them to translate their verse of the poem. This saved a lot of time as I had found in previous lessons that using the DSL is complicated and time consuming for them when we only have one or two periods to complete the task. However, this was a lot of work for me to create the sheets so I have to find a solution to this if I am doing it again for another text.

Having just one verse to translate was effective, any more would have been overwhelming, and it meant we could come together to discuss the poem as a whole.

There were some great illustrations, as expected most were the goriest parts of the poem showing Maggie being dunted by the duimster or her rising fae her mort-kist!

What would I change?

Partner working often meant that one person was doing all the work while the other did nothing. Next time they will get a verse each and they will create individual posters so everyone has to make an effort.

Next steps for learners:

Having seen the array of women that Gerda Stevenson has written about, I would like to give pupils a choice of one of them to research and create a presentation. I would choose 10-12 women from the ‘Quines’ book and give learners a list of topics they need to research. They can then present their Slides to classmates and have question and answer sessions. This would be a good opportunity for peer assessment as well as personalisation and choice.

Unit 6 Application Task – An Introduction tae th Scots Leid

Prior Learning: 

• This is designed to be the first lesson of the year in the Scots Language Award at Level 4. No prior learning is assumed.

Learning Intentions:

• We are learning that the Scots Language is a distinct language with a long and proud history.
• We are recognising that we are already Scots Speakers
• We are learning to play Bingo (students from outside Britain have not necessarily played Bingo before)
• We are improving our listening skills (something level 4 students really struggle with!)

Success Criteria:

• I can listen to short films about the Scots Language
• I can take part in discussions about the Scots Language
• I can play Scots Wurd Bingo
• I can recognise that I already use Scots Language words in day-to-day conversation

Resources / Organisation:

·         Introduce the history and modern-day usage of Scots through the powerpoint Introduction tae th Scots Leid

·         Discuss any new vocabulary as a class and their prior experience with the Scots Leid. 

·         Play Scots Wurd BINGO! Giving a translation and sentence demonstrating usage of each word.

Plenary:

·         Each student to share their favourite Scots word that they already use in everyday speech.

Differentiation:

• No differentiation needed. It is likely that some students will feel more able to share in class discussion than others. Some students will need more encouragement to share their thoughts.

What went well?

·         Students enjoyed watching the ‘funny’ clips

·         The talking and watching part of the presentation allows students who are nervous at being in college with people they do not know to ease into being in the group.

·         The chance for discussion gave students a chance to reflect on ‘language o th hame’ and share personal anecdotes which served as an icebreaker for the group.

·         Two students from outwith Great Britain played Bingo for the first time.

·         Students recognised all the words on the Bingo cards. This made them realise that they knew more Scots than they previously thought.

·         The fact these words are only used in Scotland reinforced that Scots is a distinct language.

What would I change?

Watching clips and general discussion is great for confident students but allows other students to ‘coast’. There is an opportunity to add group work for next time e.g. Get into groups and make a list of ‘Top Three Favourite Scots Wurds’.

Next steps for learners:

The next lesson will set the scene for what is the Scots Language Award, what we will be studying, what the assessment criteria is etc.

At present I teach both the history and development and understanding and communicating in Scots as an integrated unit. We study a period of history relating to the Scots language and then look at a piece of writing in Scots from the literature of that period.

Unit 6 Application Task

Context:

An S1 4-week rotation (double periods), where the focus was to be interdisciplinary skills.  The perfect opportunity for a taste of Scots!  In previous lessons with other groups I had asked learners to read Scots poetry about weather and then produce weather forecast scripts in Scots.  This time, I repeated the lesson, but experimented with introducing ideas about voice and register to convey characterisation in their writing - inspired by Gerda Stevenson’s variation when writing from different perspectives in her poetry collection, Quines.  

In short, learners had to produce Scots weather forecast scripts in the voices of chosen characters, reflecting their characters’ backgrounds, ages, and personalities through their Scots usage.

Prior Learning: 

• A basic introduction to Scots, e.g. discussion of historical influences, language features, and dialects
• Some introductory games to build confidence and Scots vocab
• Some discussion of different Scots texts and media, e.g. clips from “Still Game” and poetry such as Stuart Patterson’s “Here’s the Weather” and Gregor Steele’s “the Pizzenous Pet Shop”.  This included some discussion of voice and register / tone.

Curricular Links / Benchmarks:

• I can recognise different features of my own and others’ spoken language. ENG 2-03a
• I can… discuss the writer’s style and other features appropriate to genre. ENG 2-19a
• By considering the type of text I am creating, I can select ideas and relevant information, organise these in an appropriate way for my purpose and use suitable vocabulary for my audience. - LIT 2-26a

Learning Intentions:

• We can write scripts about the weather in Scots, using Scots vocabulary.
• We can use other language features to make our Scots richer and more complex.
• We can write using different Scots words and styles to convey different characters.

Success Criteria:

• I can write a short weather forecast script in Scots using a range of Scots vocab and language features.
• I can develop characters whose Scots speech reflects who they are.
• I can record the scripts with my group to practice speaking in Scots.

Resources / Organisation:

Starter: a blooket (online game) to familiarise learners with a variety of Scots vocab relevant to the lesson.  Extension wordwall: categorising Scots words by who might use them (e.g. a child; a grandparent; a Doric speaker…).

Brief discussion of prior learning, especially around voice and register.  Leads to discussion of words a child might use vs. an adult; words you might hear in different parts of the country; etc.

Main activity: learners work in pairs / groups to write short weather forecast scripts.  Learners are provided with a word bank; “what a good one looks like” model answers; access to online DSL; and character prompts (e.g. “a posh Edinburgh lady” or “a wee ned fae Glesga”!).  Learners can use the prompts or come up with their own characters; the idea is to write scripts with characters whose use of Scots reflects who they are.  

Extension task: Recording the scripts and uploading.

Plenary: A couple of examples of good work are shared with the class.

Differentiation:

• Differentiation by outcome (some pairs will produce short scripts with limited Scots and will show only some awareness of how to reflect chosen characters in their use of Scots language; others will write richer scripts and communicate character through Scots usage more successfully).
• Peer support: teacher to ensure appropriate pairings / groups
• Resources: some groups may benefit from annotated versions of the word banks and can be encouraged to rely more heavily on model answers.
• Different opportunities for success in different elements of the task
• Challenge: there are extension tasks and pace and challenge inbuilt into the lesson.

What went well?

Students engaged well with the idea of different characters and how they might speak in Scots.  Discussion became quite animated, with learners suggesting phrases they might use and coming up with other characters.  I had to work quite hard to keep a hold of the reins during this element of the lesson, mostly due to learner enthusiasm - which was generally aimed in the right direction!

Almost all groups produced scripts that demonstrated some knowledge of Scots and had some elements indicative of the characters they had chosen.  Compared to previous groups writing “straight” scripts, there was a sense of increased motivation.  However, the motivation did not necessarily result in improved outcomes, as I will discuss in the next section.

There was significantly increased Scots being spoken in the classroom.  Perhaps because the task leant itself to “othering” Scots - using it for humour or to play a character, rather than speaking “straight” Scots - learners in general seemed more comfortable speaking it and playing with it in their groups and pairs.  What was lost in written productive Scots was gained in spoken Scots!

What would I change?

I had to cut short the discussion of different characters’ use of Scots in order to make time for the main task.  This seemed a shame as the discussion had been particularly engaging, rich and helpful; in future, it perhaps merits its own lesson, time permitting.  

Some pairs / groups did not embrace the characterisation element of the task when it came to actually writing the scripts.  Perhaps writing in Scots was challenge enough, or perhaps they needed more time and more support to find a way in to this element of the task.  

Although the introduction of the “characters” Telement lead to increased motivation, it did not necessarily lead to improved outcomes.  Some groups were too excited and did not manage to get the key task done.  There was also a sense of “too much going on” - too many instructive elements; too many resources; too much cognitive overload.  This caused some students to become disregulated, and others to disengage.  I will look at streamlining in future.

Shy (and often more academic) learners struggled with the characterisation element - especially when it came to playing with words and language in front of other people.  Some of these students would have produced better work and engaged more fruitfully had the task been individual.  This would also solve the issue of learners who were disengaged and over-reliant on the work of others in their groups.

As I anticipated, the lesson felt a bit short for time.  Ideally, I would do this across two double periods in future, rather than the one I had available.

Next steps for learners:

The learners that got on to the recording element of the task really benefitted from it.  It would be helpful to support more learners to record in Scots, and to do so more regularly.

There is clearly an appetite for discussing characterisation through Scots usage in greater depth.  I could use Gerda Stevenson’s work as a jumping-off point for this.

These learners have had very limited exposure to Scots overall, and would benefit from further exploration of the subject matter.

Hi Charlotte - your "admission" that writing an example answer in Scots was a first attempt at writing in Scots yourself is something I can definitely relate to!  As you say, though, I do find that being "on the learning journey" with learners really motivates and encourages some of them and I have had some lovely conversations with students as a result.  Generally speaking, I find being open about my own learning of Scots (or any language I am teaching) strengthens lessons rather than undermining them... although it doesn't always feel like that!

Really interesting to get an insight into how you deliver scots language learning online to a group of students.  The fact that you were able to quickly find an extension task that the group of students enjoyable and found benefical is brilliant and shows real skill as a teacher.  Really enjoyed reading this lesson.