Our education team are supporting a series of ‘Languages Lost and Found’ events, which begin on Saturday 18 November and will be taking place in Dundee, Edinburgh, Falkirk, Glasgow, Inverness, Kilbirnie and Oban. Here’s a quick overview of what's planned from Hannah Doughty, Professional Development Officer at Scotland’s Centre for Languages (SCILT).
We often ‘lose’ the fact that languages really are all around us; this is an opportunity to ‘find’ them again.
In Dundee you have the chance to explore new languages or listen to multilingual readings of children’s classics such as the Gruffalo and The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
In Edinburgh, there's an exhibition on the many language resources available in your local library, together with a photographic display featuring works by our very own British Council Modern Language Assistants from Dumfries and Galloway in the south all the way to Orkney up north.
Falkirk is celebrating its twinning links in the main town square, and Oban is holding several events focusing on Gaelic speakers and the learning of Gaelic.
The Multicultural Friends Society of Inverness has organised a range of activities, including calligraphy; bi-trilingual stories; personal stories of mother tongue memories.
In Kilbirnie, primary school children and their parents have been invited to some Gaelic lessons.
Finally, in Glasgow, several events are happening around language lessons and storytelling.
Lead organiser Marion Spöring from the University of Dundee is encouraging as many people as possible to get involved:
"Scotland is a diverse multilingual country, undiscovered and unknown sometimes. Scots , Gaelic, Italian, German, Arabic, Chinese , Polish, British Sign Language, French and Spanish to name but a few are part of everyday life in Scottish communities. Come and discover new languages and cultural experiences."
The events are all part of the Being Human Festival. With so much going on, you're sure to find something of interest.