TACHARTAS A1+ IUCH. ’25

ALL-LEVELS EVENT JULY ’25

[English below]

  Thathar ag ràdh gu bheil luchd-ionnsachaidh na Gàidhlig nam pàirt de dh’àm ri teachd a’ chànain as ionmhainn leinn. Nach ceart sin – agus san t-seagh sin, ’s e measgachadh de thachartasan a chuireas sinn air dòigh aig An Lòchran, ’s diofar thachartasan a’ freagairt air feumalachdan diofar dhaoine, aig a bheil diofar ìrean de Ghàidhlig.

  Disathairne, an 12na dhen Iuchar, ’s ann air luchd-tòiseachaidh agus air luchd-ionnsachaidh aig a bheil beagan fileantachd a bha sinn ag amas. Agus bha taigh làn againn, ged a bha an latha am measg na feadhainn a bu bhlàithe a bh’ againn gu ruige seo am-bliadhna, ’s an teas ag èirigh gu 29° C! 🥵 Co-dhiù no co-dheth, rinn sinn deagh fheasgar dheth, ’s diofar eacarsaichean a’ dol airson cothrom a thoirt do dhaoine Gàidhlig a leughadh, a chluinntinn agus a bhruidhinn!

  Thòisich sinn le geama far an robh aig na h-aoighean beàrnan a lìonadh, ’s taghadh de fhreagairtean ann gach triop. Seo dà eisimpleir bheag:

“An e Gearmailteach a th’ ?”                          [annad | tha thu | agam]

“ ! ’S e Albannach a th’ annam.”                    [’S e | Tha | Chan e | Chan eil]

  Dè na freagairtean ceart, nad bheachd-sa?

  Chleachd sinn a’ cheist a leanas cuideachd airson còmhradh sìmplidh a chumail aig na bùird againn: Ciamar a tha thu ag ionnsachadh Gàidhlig? Innis dhuinn ma dheidhinn! Às dèidh fois le tì agus cofaidh, lean sinn air adhart le ceistean a bha stèidhichte air pìosan ris an robhar ag èisteachd. Seo cuid dhiubh.

  An uair sin, ghabh sinn dàrna cothrom a bhith a’ cabadaich ri chèile ann am buidhnean beaga, an turas seo leis a’ cheist: An toil leat an samhradh? Carson? / Carson nach toil? Aig deireadh an fheasgair, dh’iarr mi air na h-aoighean fa leth 1-2 amas pearsanta a sgrìobhadh sìos a thaobh an cuid ionnsachaidh. Bha cuideigin airson dreuchd tro mheadhan na Gàidhlig fhaighinn air a’ cheann thall, bha tè eile airson fileantachd a ruigsinn sa chànan, agus bha treas neach airson bruidhinn ri buill an teaghlaich a tha a’ dol tro FtmG (tro fhoghlam tro mheadhan na Gàidhlig) an-dràsta. Thug mise – agus feadhainn eile – taic dhaibh le bhith a’ sgrìobhadh nan tiopaichean-ionnsachaidh as fheàrr, as èifeachdaiche leinn air a’ bhòrd-gheal. Tha mi an dòchas gum bi sin na chuideachadh dhaibh air an t-slighe-ionnsachaidh aca!

  Mòran taing dhan a h-uile duine a thàinig a-steach air feasgar car blàth! Chaidh sianar dhinn an ath-dhoras chun an taigh-sheinnse às dèidh làimh, airson an còmhradh dà-chànanach a chumail suas.

  Bidh an tachartas seo air ais anns an Lùnastal. San dol-seachad: an robh fhios agad gur ann fireannta a tha a h-uile mìos na bliadhna suas ris an Lùnastal? Às dèidh sin, ’s ann boireannta a tha an còrr (m.e. an t-Sultain, an t-Samhain).

Mura robh, tha fios agad a-nis! 😎

Andy, Dàibhidh agus sgioba AL xx

[English]

   They say that Gaelic learners are part of the future of our beloved language. Isn’t that right – and in that respect, we run a mixture of events at An Lòchran, with different events designed to meet different people’s requirements, and levels of Gaelic.

  On Saturday 12th July, we ran an event for our beginners, and for learners who have a little fluency in Gaelic. And we had a full house, despite the fact that it was one of the warmest days of the year so far, with the heat hitting 29° C! 🥵 Either way, we made a good afternoon out of it, with different exercises giving people the chance to read, hear and speak Gaelic!

  We kicked off with a game where the attendees had to fill in blanks, with multiple-choice answers each time. Here are two wee examples:

“An e Gearmailteach a th’ ?”                         [annad | tha thu | agam]

“ ! ’S e Albannach a th’ annam.”                   [’S e | Tha | Chan e | Chan eil]

  Which answers do you think are right?

  We then used the following question to get a simple conversation going at our tables: Ciamar a tha thu ag ionnsachadh Gàidhlig? Innis dhuinn ma dheidhinn! [How are you learning Gaelic? Tell us about it!] After a tea and coffee break, we kept going with some questions that were based on pieces we had to listen to. The three audio clips are above (source: SpeakGaelic), here are the questions:

A1: What’s Anna saying here?

A2: What does Anna like, and what doesn’t she like?

B1: Is Finlay going on his holidays?

  After this, we took the opportunity in our groups to get some more spoken practice in, this time with the question: An toil leat an samhradh? Carson? / Carson nach toil? [Do you like the summer? Why / why not?] At the end of the afternoon, I asked each attendee to write down 1-2 personal goals in terms of their own learning. One person wanted to work in Gaelic eventually, another one wanted to become fluent in the language, and a third wanted to be able to talk to family members who are currently going through GME (Gaelic-medium education). I – and some others – helped them by writing down our top and most effective tips on the whiteboard. I hope they’ll help them on their respective learning journeys!

  Thank you very much to everyone who came in on quite a warm afternoon! Six of us went next door to the Lismore after the event ended, to keep the bilingual convo going.

  This event will return in August. Speaking of that: did you know that every month of the year in Gaelic up until August is masculine? After that, the rest are feminine (e.g. an t-Sultain for September, or an t-Samhain for November - they’d be an Sultain and an Samhain if they were masculine, just like an seòmar is masculine but an t-seachdain is feminine).

Now you know! 😎

Andy, David and the AL team xx