Gaelic in the News today- Gaelic Medium education a parents right?

An important debate for Gaelic took place today in the Scottish Parliament. Should every parent have the legal right to have their children receive a Gaelic medium education?
I have been in the lucky position of having that option for my children to e educated through the medium of Gaelic- our local school provided that option for us, at least for child 2 and 3. But we had to fight for it. And it has been worth every drop of sweat, blood and many tears. I have no hesitation in recommending GME for any family- not only because of the cultural and linguistic benefits but also for the more broad mainstream education benefits. Learning another language opens a childs mind, they soak things up like no adult can. It is easier for a child to learn another language, that has been proven.
So this whole debate is not just about the economics of the matter- we shoudl also remember that the heart of any populace is formed by the identity of a People- and if we dont have our languages and cultures, then we are missing part of our identity - that which forms who and what we are. We must remember also that we are LUCKY to have our own indigenous language - so many countries have lost that, their own tongues submerged by English. There are economic benefits ofr Gaelic too of course- tourism for one, with the many 1000s of tourists who ocme to Scotland to soak up that Gaelic culture.
So for that culture to survive, there has to be education - and it has been proven over and again that children who have come through GME suffer NO ill effects from not learning to read and write english till they are in p3/4. Indeed my sons kept abreast - and overtook- their mainstream peers in more than one subject- in primary and secondary education.
So please, support GME- we're lucky to have that option - please dont waste all the time and effort by so many parents over the years, including myself, who have fought to have that right.

Burnsong HOuse Day 6

Day of rehearsals for the Big Gig on MOnday in the Scottish Parliament. This week has been full of revelations - and none more so than that I feel like a whole new world of music is on my doorstep, not to sound too cheesy! The people in the house are such fantasic singers and musicians and Ive been priviledge to learn so much from the. And my doo wop BV's are getting better by the minute!
the gig will be broadcast on Radio Scotland on Monday 30th at 10pm .
My songs are called Guthan air a'Ghaoith and Thuirt Thu Riumsa. Guthan was the song I won my place in the House with and Thuirt Thu is one I wrote yesterday.

Day 3 in the Burnsong House

Day 3 dawned with several very sleepy songwriters- some were 'writing' till the very wee sma oors....:0)
Still dreadful weather in the dales.
Task today wa to write in the completlely opposite way to which we normlly write- ie for me , that meant NOT writing the melody without recourse to using accompanying instrumentation - to make me look at chords etc - which- when you dont actually PLAY anything that makes chords, aint easy..... found it very hard not to just write the tune in my head. enlisted the help of Lisa who gave the me benefit of her lovely wee sheruti box but I still found it hard- we'll see what happens tomorrow....
Set list out for the Parliament gig. First set is the 'winning' songs. The gig will be broadcast on the Iain Anderson Show on BBC Scotland on Monday nigt.

Day 1 1/2 in the Burnsong House!

All arrived in the House now apart from Nuala, Ziggy & Yvonne. Weather very wet,as it has been in Dumfries for the last few days - extensive flooding as reported in the media, very wet and lots of stranded sheep and cows! W're not really affected at Barncrosh though as we're up on the hills - the llamas will look after us.........
Jennie ( our 'minder' for the week) is looking after us us beautifully and we're all settled into our rooms - the house i beautiful and full of creative potential! Methinks there will be lots of great artistic debate this week and everyone seems lovely.
Joe ( Bennett) wants us to get to work tonight ( hes also going to blog the week - http://joebennett.wordpress.com/2009/11/08/and-so-peaceful-until/- but says he'll be gentle with us as some of us are pretty tired from travelling - 2 from the US, Emily and AJ included- but we're having a musical 'get to know you circle' - bit more fun than the usual 'dynamics' session........