Unit 2 Application Task
Pauline's dialect lesson
S1 Home Economics Lesson – (brief)Discussion about names of local foods, translate a Hufsie (fruitcake) recipe into Shetland, follow translated recipe to bake Hufsie at home for homework.
What do you think worked particularly well in your classroom application?
The pupils were really engaged in the group activity speaking about local food, especially different words meaning different things even within a small isle. We had 3 versions of the word ‘brunnie’ – a fishcake, a oatmeal scone and a hufsie (fruitcake). Pupils enjoyed learning different words and the uniqueness of a mutton supper and Bannocks for a Whalsay wedding.
They liked hearing about regional differences from pupils with family from other areas of Shetland and all pupils had something to contribute to discussions.
Pupils were put into mixed ability pairs/groups and were really engaged translating the recipe into Shetland. Only few pupils were not brought up in Whalsay but having been here for so long they knew more than they thought and in the feedback said it was easy once they got going to translate. I didn't correct spelling as that wasn't the focus and pupils enjoyed the freedom of writing in dialect.
Is there anything you would do differently if you were to repeat this lesson?
(I had to adapt lesson due to technology issues - typical)
Due to having split year groups for Home Economics, I was able to repeat the lesson in the afternoon.
For the second lesson, pupils worked in pairs and that was much better, the restricted layout of the fixed stations and seats made it tricky for a group of 3 to engage.
It would have been good to have had a matching exercise to get them to think about what foods could possibly mean. I found an old Shetland cookbook to use in Term 3/4
What are the next steps for your learners?
Hufsie homework – pupils took their dialect recipes home and I have asked them to share a photo and review on Teams. A granny has already messaged to say how excited her grandson was to get this homework.
Follow up could be pupils translate other local recipes to make a dialect book of recipes, perhaps tie onto World Book Day/week.
From the feedback, it’s clear that pupils are really keen to do more dialect and could see how important it was. One pupils thought it would be a good subject to learn at school which gives me great hope that offering the Scots Language award would be popular.
Pupils already speak to me and some other teachers in dialect and they are aware of the teachers they can’t speak in dialect to. The feedback suggested that most of them do not like speaking in English as they find it hard and in a discussion one pupil said it’s like speaking another language.
I’ve always thought speaking Shetland is like being bilingual but it wasn’t really acknowledged in the past or even recently because it was seen as a dialect. It is just as hard. I would like to know more about how I can support pupils with this.
How will you provide further opportunities to practise and reinforce the use and awareness of the Scots language?
Dialect occurs naturally during most lessons so I will continue with that. Local food is a topic in Term 3 and 4 so I am already thinking about how to incorporate more dialect into that topic and the wider community.
I have contacted ICT to download Shetland dictionary app onto school ipads.
This lesson, Literature 1 (FA58 12), introduces candidates to a text written in West Central Scots; Anne Donovan’s ‘All that Glisters.’
However, this particular lesson deviatit on twa counts. Normally, this would be a two-hour slot, oan this occasion, though, it wis a wan hour class. The class endit aifter a short discussion on the readin’
The second deviance, wis the readin’ itsel. Oan this occasion I sought a volunteer. Having watched the children express themselves in Scots throughout Unit 2 I thocht it wis time to put it tae the test and forfeit ma usual starring role!
Emma fully graspt the nettle and volunteered. She wis able tae practise the week afore the class. This worked particularly well. The furst thing tae strike me wis, o’ course, the female voice. Emma performed exceptionally well and it wis guid, for me, to experience hearing the first-person narrative in a female voice fur the furst time.
I noted twa interesting trends. Firstly, when the text wis printed as ‘dead’ Emma actually said “deid.” Secondly, when she did stumble ower a wurd she wid say “Wait, aye, right.” I concludit fae this that Scots wis the language which wis mair comfortable and reassuring for hur.
I dae intend tae repeat this approach. The main difficulty wid be recruitin o’ such a willing volunteer as Emma. Regardless, I shall stairt the volunteer request a wee bit earlier-perhaips even asking fir volunteers in previous classes tae recite a short extract fae anither work in Scots.
A’h hiuv blendit the last twa points agither.
Following a post fae Sylvia Warnecke, A’h contactit Luath Press inviting Emma Grae, thi author ae The Moggie thit Meowed tae Much. In addition, A’h chanced ma airm and requestit a class set o’ wan o hir uther texts The Tounge she Speaks. Emma’s visit an the set o’texts will be a launchpad to further exploration ae Scots in this unit.
I have attached a wee selection ae feedback frae some o ma students.
Nicky's Scots Lesson
Due to minimal exposure to Scots across the curriculum in my school, I opted to take a very simplistic approach to the lesson. Using the materials available from Education Scotland (the 'Gruffalo' translations and 100 words in Doric), I planned for the pupils to firstly discuss how many Scots words they knew, look at how Scots can be different between regions, then create descriptions of a Halloween creature.
What worked well was the discussion of Scots words. What started as quite hesitant and uncertain suggestions soon became an animated exchange. The pupils were engaging with each other as they agreed and/or questioned words. I was even able to invite pupils to be 'the expert' when they suggested words I knew were Scots but didn't personally know the definition. For one pupil in particular, he was in his element, which I hadn't anticipated (perfect example of code-switching).
I'm always wary of under-preparing what work is planned for a lesson. The devil makes work for idle hands! However, I underestimated how engaged the class would be about Scots and sharing their known words. I think more activities which could either generate this discussion (for quieter classes) or create follow-up tasks (for confident classes) would have worked better than moving to a reading/writing task. Given my particular context, building and encouraging interest about Scots Language is more important than 'academic' outcomes. Yet I could easily have used the lesson to evidence a range of Listening and Talking skills.
As for next steps, I was honest with this class (S1) and explained I was doing a qualification so I could become a Scots teacher (not strictly true but it helped them understand the process!) and that I would be doing Scots lessons with them every so often throughout the year. Interestingly, this week, almost all of them asked if we were doing another Scots lesson - they might not remember 'why' they had to do it, but they remembered the different (and hopefully engaging) experience. I'll be interested to see how they respond to the different ways of incorporating Scots into their learning over the year.
Referring to the following experiences and outcomes of the CfE- LIT 0-01a, 0-11a, 0-20a, 0-02a, 0-09a, 0-09b, 0-31a, 0-10a, 0-01b, 0-11b and EXA 0-16a, 0-17a- I decided on teaching a literacy/ expressive art lesson with my Nurture group. These students range from S1 to S4, with complex additional needs. Most of them are non- verbal, or only speak a few words. Some use a few Makaton signs. They all respond fairly well to listening or printed signs. They all seem to understand a fair bit of spoken language.
We read out the book "Aul McDonald hid a Fairm" by Aaron Gale (Doric), had a look at the pictures, and let them point at the animals mentioned. We also shared a good laugh, as the book is incredibly funny. We sang along to the relevant passages.
Afterwards we had flash cards and animal toys out, and let the students pick the picture matching with the word we said. The verbal children were encouraged to repeat after us, or just speak in Doric.
The most interesting fact was that the students all listened very well (we quite often get all sorts of noises), sang along or moved their body with the singing, and all were quite motivated to join in with the follow-up activities. It was a Friday afternoon, so this was astonishing.
We decided on doing Doric activities every Friday afternoon from now on- repeating the book next week, and possibly the week after, to reinforce the language learning; then try different books, or maybe short films. Follow-up activities will vary.
I also encouraged the PSAs to speak Doric to the students, if they could.
It was certainly an additional fun element for everybody hearing a Northern German read Doric- good practice for me as well! So many words are close to Plattdeutsch or Dutch.
We all had a really good time.
Theme: Weather and Shaetlan language
Main Aim: Pupils will be able to understand, use, and pronounce key Shaetlan weather words confidently and accurately, and apply them in a short Shetland weather forecast.
Learning Intentions (linked to CfE Outcomes)
Language & Literacy (English / Scots):
- LIT 2-02a: When I engage with others, I can respond in ways appropriate to my role and show understanding of what is said to me.
- LIT 2-10a: I can communicate clearly when engaging with others within and beyond my place of learning.
- MLAN 2-07a / ENG 2-03a: I can explore the sounds, words and phrases of Scots and use them to share my thoughts and feelings.
Social Studies:
- SOC 2-12a: I can interpret information to describe the physical features of my local area and compare them with other areas in Scotland or beyond.
Expressive Arts:
- EXA 2-01a: I have experienced the energy and excitement of presenting and performing for audiences.
What do you think worked particularly well in your classroom application?
The class are enjoying our topic on extreme weather, with hurricanes and typhoons on the news recently they were keen to find out more about weather in other parts of the world. This lesson fitted perfectly into this topic as it brought our own weather into focus, but explored in a way that they hadn’t done previously.
After an initial discussion, our first task was to find out for homework which words and phrases are commonly used in the family. This allowed me to understand how much prior knowledge they had.
I was pleased that this sparked some interesting discussion at home. We had a super range of words shared, some familiar to most like snaa, caald, drushie wadder and some less familiar terms, pirr o wind, blind moorie. One Dad said that they had a good conversation with Grandparents too regarding the homework, and added that their child had found the phrase ‘ standin aff da aert’ very funny, I loved that it had sparked interest and imagination and encouraged intergenerational conversation. I think because families had engaged well, the bairns came in enthused and keen to contribute.
The class listened well to “A Coorse Day” by Rhoda Bulter, it is a lovely descriptive poem and she is actually the great grandmother of one of our pupils in class, who then commented in their learning log on the Friday that listening to the poem (read by Rhoda from the ShetlandForWirds website) made them feel really proud and happy. They also loved Da Wadder Wan (from same group) which was a great introduction to the lesson and helped consolidate words they knew as well as hearing some more unfamiliar ones. I really liked that words like Flukkra were pronounced in two different ways, this was good to hear so they knew one way of pronouncing was as valued as another … although the good natured is it a tottie or a tattie debate rages on!
The use of technology worked really well. They designed their maps and used the visualiser to present them on the IWB or used google images or a map on word as a backdrop – having choice allows for better ownership and creativity, with one group creating their own weather icons to stick on as they went – very old school! I liked how they linked their weather into what this might mean, most had ‘steekit mist’ at Sumburgh (where the airport is located) leading to a comment on how that may disrupt flights – something I am sure they are probably all too familiar with! Needless to say, the Westside probably got most of the sunshine.
Is there anything you would do differently if you were to repeat this lesson?
Yes, I think I would perhaps only give a few Weather sayings or maybe even one between two to translate rather than giving too many due to time constraints and keeping the flow.
What are the next steps for your learners?
Next steps are to use the vocabulary we have learned and make posters of the words to share with symbols to aid understanding. We have an English/French Daily Calendar to change the weather daily reinforcing our understanding of language, it would take no time to include the relevant Shaetlan words to this to both help consolidate vocabulary and also because in some cases, there really isn’t a more descriptive word that fits better.
How will you provide further opportunities to practise and reinforce the use and awareness of the Scots language?
I think each time we look at a new topic I will consider if there are meaningful opportunities to include Scots language. I would not shoehorn it in, but since starting this course this has been very much in mind, and there are far more opportunities to include in a relevant way to enrich language and indeed the curriculum, than I would have really given consideration to previously.