Using Gaelic with your child
- Display copies of simple words and phrases in your home. Gaelic4parents has a selection of words and phrases.
- Read Gaelic books to your child or listen to Gaelic stories with them. Acair Books and the Gaelic Books Council sell Gaelic books, CDs and DVDs for all ages.
- Choose Gaelic medium childcare. More information about Gaelic childcare is avalible through SCMA(Scottish Child-minding Association).
- If you can speak Gaelic, speak the language to your child. Children will pick up the language easily if they hear it spoken regularly.
- Play Gaelic songs to your baby. Play Gaelic CDs at home and in the car.
- BBC Alba has lots of different programmes that you could watch to familiarise yourself with the language. You can also watch and listen to Gaelic programmes on the BBC Alba website.
- BBC Alba has a range of programs suitable for young children.
- Attend your local Pàrant is Pàiste (parent and child group).
- Encourage other families to speak Gaelic with their children.
Character Advantages
In this video we find out about the advantages gained and challenges faced by bilingual children. Wilson McLeod explains that bilingual children do not feel bound by a singular perspective and that bilingualism opens the mind to a sense of tolerance and equality. As a bilingual person, Victoria Kilgour feels at home in the big city and in rural areas, as Gaelic acts like a bridge between the two different types of community. Finally Anne MacDermaid gives insight into the many artistic opportunities available to bilingual children, namely the chance to sing at the Mòd and to perform on television. According to Antonella Sorace, even though some children may reject the second language through a feeling of difference, many do indeed return to the language as teenagers.
