Model Answer Unit 7.2.5, Activity 6B

This is a model answer, you answer might be different.

i. burn for river

ii. clood for cloud

iii. there for there

This is one of those tasks that seems so simple then the more I think about it the more complicated I find it! I chose burn as my unique Scots word because it looks and sounds completely different to river – but do I know that makes it a word unique to Scots? I assume bairn & wean for child is exactly the same? Maybe I am veering off the task here! These questions remind me of what we have been learning about shared languages, or shared words across languages, throughout this course. And it does resonate with me that if certain words which are used (I assume) very often across Scotland, like bairn and burn, which are not English and are not included in the education delivered in Scotland’s schools, then what happens to these words? They should have a place in the classroom. And if learners are bringing them to the classroom they should be encouraged to use them – CfE champions “confident individuals” after all.

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